Burdy’s perspective…

I wasn’t sure what I was dreaming about… maybe nothing. I don’t remember, it was just black. My body stirred and I was awoken suddenly by a ghostly, most eerie windy howl. It was by no means loud, it was just there and barely audible.

I looked around my dark room. “Uhm… hello?” I asked unsurely, thinking perhaps it might be Lassie. Last I remembered, she was watching a late night horror, the cheesy kind, on the television.

A shiver went down my back and… I felt cold. I wasn’t sweating by any means, not even a drip, so I knew right away it wasn’t dampness or anything like that. The whistling howl returned, sending another shiver down my back. My view immediately turned to the origin…

I let out a relieved sigh. My window was open… that was all. My heart rate calming, along with my previously shaky breathing, I sat up and got off the bed. My feet touched the cold floor, causing me to curse under my breath. I jittered across the cold floor and to the window, closing it and turning back towards my bed.

I squinted my eyes but couldn’t see a thing. “Damn… it’s darker than normal in here,” I muttered. I tried navigating my way back to my bed but got lost along the way. I looked back to the window to try and triangulate my position to find my bed… but I couldn’t see the window anymore.

“Shit… Lassie! LASSIE CAN YOU COME DOWN HERE AND TURN ON A LIGHT?!” I yelled aloud, trying to wake her up. I stumbled along through the dark but I couldn’t even manage to find the wall light switch.

My heart rate began to pick up again. I didn’t like this. “Hello! Lassie!” I yelled. I stumbled across the room, but never once even staggered over weight training equipment or anything.

A ghastly voice hissed from behind me. I spun around. “Nothing can help you.” I gulped as I saw fiery, slanted red eyes, almost satanic. Tingly shivers rattled my body as I literally froze.

“Haa…uh… uhhhahh…” was all I managed in fear. Something about its gaze… I couldn’t even see its body. Just those goddess forsaken eyes… were enough to pin me in absolute fear.

A dark smog flowed across the ground as the darkness around me lit up with a dim red haze. I stepped back but reared up against my wall. I tried to run to one side but just tripped over… a desk I think.

I fell to the ground and began to yell and scream in fear. This was way outta my league. “Oh goddess… oh no… shit… SOMEPONY TURN ON A FUCKING LIGHT!” I screamed like a little filly.

The smog continued towards me, scaring me even further as the eyes began to seemingly float towards me. I ended up crawling into something hard, which stopped me in my tracks. The place lit up with a dark red ominous glow... like looking down and seeing the embers from the pits of hell itself.

My heart began to pump out of control as I started to whimper and whine, thrashing around to try and find my way to a light switch, or even just a door would do. The fog reached out with creepily long arms, that had sharp looking fingers on the ends.

It spoke out in a deep, hissing voice but what it was saying I couldn’t understand. My eyes went wide but just before the arms could reach me, a deafening roar echoed out. A massive bipedal mass slammed down in front of me, his hulking frame tensed up. "ARRRRRRG!"

He slouched his posture a bit and let out another terrifying, booming, roar that rang my ears. The dark smoggy creature tried to grasp him, but he charged forwards head on, right into the beast. However, due to its transparent body, the man went right through it.

He spun around and I saw the face of my fearless friend, Derreck. The smog creature turned to face Derreck. “Fool,” it hissed but Derreck opened his mouth wide, revealing a set of unnaturally long canine teeth, ones that looked less like a human’s and more like a wolf’s.

“I fear nothing!” he growled in a low rumbling tone, then charged it head on again, but this time an electrical aura surrounded his arms. The electrical aura was a deep hue of blue, coating the area with an illumination of the same color. He lunged and grabbed the beast by the throat, heaving it up off the ground with one hand. He cocked back his arm then spun in a one-eighty motion and slammed its foggy body into the ground, somehow managing to crush it into the ground.

He knelt down and began to slam his fists into it, roaring like a berserk animal all the while.

With a sudden movement however, the creature dissipated out from under him and arouse in a demonic form. Large pointy horns protruding from a ghastly looking face. It had rows of razor sharp teeth. Its lower body looked like something from a goat but the upper body looked like a troll or something. Its skin looked like it was leathery to the touch, but I didn’t want to find out.

Derreck tensed then pointed to the beast. “Come now! And face me!” he boomed. The creature and Derreck charged each other but as they collided, the creature vanished and appeared behind Derreck, delivering a cheap kick to the back of his head and sending him tumbling to the ground.

Within an instant, my friend was up and charged wildly at the creature, pummeling into the beast and driving its body into a wall with tremendous force. So much kinetic force had been exerted that a crater formed where its body had collided.

Derreck stepped back then hammered a punch into its head, knocking the creature’s head into the wall. As it fell forwards, he grabbed the beast and twirled it over his head, driving it head first into the ground.

A puff of fog fumed and the beast teleported over to the other side of the… wherever the hell this was. It huffed and snarled, hissing wildly at Derreck. “You fool… I! AM DERRECK! FUCKING! PARKER!” As he roared the ground beneath him seemed to push away, creating a crater beneath him. The tectonic pressure created small mountain looking formations all around.

I blinked and tried to find a light switch… anything. This was just too messed up. Just as he went to yell louder, my vision blurred and everything lit up…

I staggered around, the light blinding me along with the blurred vision from my damaged eye. “E-E-Evan?” stuttered a familiar voice. I turned to see my mother standing cautiously at the stairway.

I scurried over, still scrambling to try and get to my feet. “Quick, run it’s here!” I warned her.

“Wha-what’s here?” she stammered, looking into my room. I spun and pointed in a random direction. Not seeing anything I pointed to another direction.

“There… no there,” I said, pointing somewhere else. I blinked, pointing to yet another spot. Heart still racing and the foggy images from before staining themselves in my sight, I looked in sheer disbelief to my room, still thinking I was wherever I had been before. I still couldn’t see straight and kept breathing heavily as I pointed to my room.

“Evan… honey, are you alright?” Twilight asked and I kept looking, unsure about what to think. She stepped down the stairs and knelt down in front of me. “Sweetheart… I think you were having a nightmare,” she said and my breathing calm to a slow as I realized something more important than that.

I grabbed her and took her into a tight, loving hug. “You’re home!” I gasped and she was stunned at first from the hug, but then settled into me and returned the embrace.

“Well… yes… I just got home an hour ago but you were sleeping so I thought I’d leave you be. Sorry but… well, I’m not exactly sure what happened but the traffic out of Baltimare was brutal,” she said and I bit my lip. I wondered or not if she knew what Derreck, Lassie, Discord and I did.

I hugged her tightly. “I’m just glad you’re home, safe,” I said with a relieved sigh. She just rubbed my back.

“It’s okay… it’s okay…” she hummed to me, rocking me back and forth. I began to feel dreary and tired again. It was early I think… I couldn’t tell, my watch was over on the nightstand. “Sssh… hush now, let me take you to bed,” my mother said and gently, she grasped me in her magic and led me over to my bed. The last thing I really remembered was being tucked in to nice sheets, and her kissing me on the forehead before whispering that she loved me…

I awoke with a bit of a startle, mostly from the memories from earlier. I felt a presence beside me and quickly spun my head to see who it was. I was greatly relieved to see the purple alicorn lying beside me, snoozing peacefully.

I let out a few deep exhales and let my body settle back down into the bed as my mind remembered all that had happened last night… or maybe it was early this morning, I wasn’t sure.

I snuggled into my mother, gently nestling my face into her chest with a sigh as I held her. I was so happy she was alright.

As time passed by, the morning sun shone through my window and embraced the back of my neck with a hair prickling warm sensation. As I continued to lay awake, though dozing off from time to time, Twilight finally started to come around.

She opened her dazed eyes and blinked a few times before smiling. “Good morning,” she said through a morning yawn.

I gave her a peck on the nose. “Morning to you too,” I replied and she just grinned with a slight blush. To interrupt the moment however, my stomach grumbled. “Ugh…” I rolled over and grabbed my watch. It was nearly ten o’clock. I lay flat and flumped my head flat.

Twilight scooched over and lay one of her forelegs over my chest. “The other morning… before I left to Baltimare… I woke up and you weren’t home,” she began. “I was so afraid that maybe you… had left me,” she said but I shook my head.

“No, I would never even think about it. I was just… well…” I trailed off. She leaned up so we could be face to face then gasped.

“What happened to your eye?!... And your hair, it’s all grey!” she exclaimed and I just shrugged.

“Well… doctors say stress can cause grey hair… my eye… I uhm… something about getting water into my ant chamber or something,” I said, trying to keep what really happened a partial secret. I don’t know why I didn’t want her knowing, I just had a feeling was all.

“That’s awful. Is there anything they can do?” she asked and I looked to her with a raised brow.

“Anything who can do?” I asked, wondering who ‘they’ were.

“The doctors, the ones who told you what was wrong?” she asked and I just chuckled.

“Oh… the grey hair is something doctors back on my world say… the eye is something Discord told me,” to the last part, Twilight’s eyes went wide.

“Discord did this to you?!” she gasped but I shook my head.

“Oh, no-no… he just told me what had happened. Guess I shouldn’t have been playing around,” I told her and she looked with a worried gaze to my eyes.

“Does it hurt?” she asked but I just shook my head and grabbed my eye patch.

“No… but the entire left side of my vision is a blur unless I keep my eye closed, or covered,” I said and slipped on the eye patch. She just stared at me, namely at the eye patch. Stroking the sides of my hair, she sighed.

“Promise me to be more careful… I couldn’t bear to lose you,” she said and I nodded.

“Of course,” I said and leaned up to give her a kiss to the cheek. At the last moment, she moved her face slightly and connected our lips. I inhaled through my nose and we held the kiss for a few seconds before I pulled away.

“Evan… about the other night,” she brought up the topic I was kind of hoping to avoid.

“Yeah… I’m really sorry about that… I-I-I… I shouldn’t have done that,” I muttered disgracefully.

“Oh…” she sounded a little… saddened. I looked up to her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked but she just turned her head away.

“Nothing, it’s nothing,” she said but I could tell it was something because she was all happy a minute ago and now she wasn’t.

I tilted her chin towards me with my right hand. “Please… tell me, I want to know,” I said truthfully and with a heartwarming tone.

“Well… I was just going to say that…” she bit her lip. “I’m sorry that you didn’t like it,” she said, again, in a rather sad tone.

“Didn’t like what?” I asked.

“The other night… with us… I’m sorry,” she apologized. Wait?! She was apologizing to me?!

“Uhm… no really, I should be sorry. You were in heat and I know that estrus can do some funky things and make mares not think straight… and I really feel bad about taking advantage of you,” I apologized but she just shook her head with a somewhat stunned look.

“But I was thinking straight! Well… sort of. What I chose to do with you wasn’t entirely due to my estrus… it was very special to me…” she just trailed off with a sigh. “I just thought maybe… you would’ve liked it too.”

My eyes went wide… she wanted to do that?! “I… I…” I couldn’t get the words out. I couldn’t believe what I just heard either. “I did like it,” I blurted out, just trying to say something truthful to comfort her. She looked back to me, a little bit of blush on her cheeks.

“You… you did?” she asked, a hint of hope in her voice. I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck.

“I uhh… yeah I did… I mean, it never crossed my mind to do that with you… and I kinda thought you’d be mad at me, that’s why I left in the morning… I was trying to think up a good excuse,” I told her. She smiled and gave me a kiss to the lips then pulled back, a thrilled look on her face.

“I’m glad. For a minute there, I thought maybe you didn’t want me,” she said then rubbed my cheek affectionately. “If it’s oka-“ but my stomach rumbling cut her short and she just giggled. “If it’s okay with you… I’d like to do it again sometime,” she said and my heart fluttered a bit.

The thought… was enticing, albeit strange, but right at this moment I was hungry. “Okay… we’ll uhh… can we get some breakfast though?” I asked and she giggled.

“Of course.”

We both got out of bed, and it was at that moment, I realized I was sporting a ragingly hard erection. “Shit,” I cursed under my breath as I wiggled into some dirty pants, namely the khaki dress pants from the day before. Twilight looked to me as I slipped on a stained V-neck t-shirt.

“I’m gone a whole three or four days and you haven’t even done one load of laundry?” she teased and I just rolled my eyes with a smile and chuckle.

“Yeah… a little busy,” I told her and she just smiled back. We both puttered upstairs and I was sort of half expecting Lassie to make some grand comment about something vulgarly sexual.

But, contrary to my belief, she wasn’t even here. Then I remembered, today she was gonna go tell more stories at the Ponyville public school. “Spike around?” I asked, wondering how he was doing.

“He offered to go gem hunting for Rarity. Somepony vandalized and burglarized her boutique while we were away! Can you believe that?! In Ponyville!” she stated and I secretly bit my lip.

I’d either have to help her rebuild the place… or find some way to pay her back. But I wouldn’t say anything until I figured out what to do.

The two of us proceeded into the kitchen. “So it’s just the two of us then?” I asked and she nodded. “Breakfast for two,” I said then opened the fridge. Before I could grab anything, the carton of orange juice floated out of the fridge, covered in Twilight’s purple magical aura.

I retrieved some oranges from the fridge and began to slice them up. Twilight on the other hand, set out the table and poured us both a glass of orange juice. I grabbed the cereal box of Fruity Hoops. It had been a little while since I had some cereal.

“Cereal?” I asked and she just looked to it.

“I’d rather something a little more…” she trailed off and a box of granola cereal, levitating it out from the cupboard. I went to the fridge and grabbed some milk while Twilight retrieved the bowls and spoons.

I took a seat and we shared breakfast together, sitting across from one another at the table. I looked to her. “You know… one of these days we all need to eat breakfast together as a family. We always seem to be missing somepony,” I commented.

She nodded and as we ate breakfast she looked to me. “I heard yelling last night. I wasn’t sure if it was you or not… who’s Derreck?” she asked and I just rubbed the back of my neck.

“Uhm… he’s my bes-“ I cut myself off. I wasn’t sure if he was my absolute best friend, but by god he made the top list. “One of my best friends,” I said and Twilight rose a brow.

“Is he… a pony or?...” she trailed off in wonder.

“He’s a human like me… sorta like me. He’s a really nice guy when you get to know him on good terms but…” I bit my lip and trailed off. “He’s really mean and snarly if you cross him, or try to hurt me. He considers me his only friend and I'm kinda like a brother to him so he’s really close,” I said.

She nodded. “Oh… I see… there was quite a bit of yelling,” she said and I nodded.

“It was a really wild dream… or whatever it was,” I mutter the last part under my breath. We continued to eat breakfast in mostly silence, just enjoying one another’s company.

As we finished, we simply set away the milk and orange juice, then set the dirty plates in the sink for later. Twilight looked to me. “So what do you want to do today?” she asked and I just shrugged slightly.

“Don’t know… I’ll just go with the flow,” I commented. I entered the living room and looked to the television. “TV?” I asked and she used her magic to flick on the tube, but as the TV turned on, Lassie’s pornographic channel from last night began to blare.

Crazy, funky music played while some mare took it from two stallion at the same time. As the camera view switched to her face, I realized it was actually three stallions, as she was sucking off another stallion that jerked his load into her face.

“AHH!” Twilight gasped in shock then quickly tried to switch to a different channel, but in her haste, merely turned up the volume. The screaming coming from the mare was really loud, especially at this volume level. Twilight finally managed to change the channel and lowered the volume.

The TV showed some mare with a heavily thick English accent narrating about debt crisis with coupled ponies and how it tore them apart. Then she explained how she was going to a home to help a couple out of their financial problems.

I just rolled my eyes. I suppose this was like Equestria’s version of ‘Til debt do us part’. However, despite my disliking for the show, both Twilight and I sat down to watch it. It was fairly interesting. A newly wedded couple who hadn’t even paid the loan for their wedding, also had a loan out for a new, swanky house and now they couldn’t even afford to pay for simple things like new furniture and appliances as they tried to pay off their loans.

We continued watching the show, and the whole time I was steadily annoyed by the mare’s ridiculous English accent. I mean… it sounded as if she was trying way too hard to sound British.

The camera zoomed to the couple’s face as the host spoke. “If you continue the way you are now… in a matter of a year, you will have no home, no money and you will be twenty… hundred… THOUSAND… bits in debt,” she said and Twilight’s jaw, along with the couple on the TV, went slack.

I just blinked. “So… is that like… two million or?” I asked and Twilight thought to herself.

“No… I think it’s two hundred thousand,” she replied and I just blinked.

“Yeah but… twenty hundred is two thousand and a thousand two thousands is two million…” I trailed off and we both thought about it.

“Yeah but I think that… uhm…” Twilight trailed off and I just shook my head.

I threw my hands up in a flabbergasted way. “Never mind… she can’t just say two million because that’d be too uncouth for her,” I joked and Twilight just closed her eyes as she stifled a short laugh.

She turned off the television and turned to me. “Well what about you?” she asked and I blinked.

“What about me?” I asked back.

“Oh, I don’t know… tell me something about yourself,” she said and I just shrugged.

“I’m in a world of talking ponies... with a loving mother and a talking dog,” I said and she just laughed.

“Well… that is a lot better perspective on life then when you first started off here… but how about you tell me something I don’t know?” She suggested.

“Well… I dunno. I milked cows and shot guns,” I said and Twilight rested her head against her hoof as she listened.

“Tell me about guns,” she said and I just went a little wide eyed.

“They’re dangerous, meant to kill… bad I suppose,” I said. Ha! Me, saying guns are bad… who would’ve thought. Never in a million years.

“Well… if they’re so bad, why does someone like you own them?” she asked curiously.

“I was a bad man before I came here,” I replied but she just shook her head gently.

“No… I think you were just confused and scared,” she said and I swallowed.

“I wasn’t scared,” I told her but she just smiled.

“Not like that kind of scared… I meant more like… unable to accept what was happening kind of scared,” she told me and I half nodded.

“Maybe… maybe that was it,” I said in admittance. Truth be told… I had come so far since I had first arrived. I really felt bad now, thinking back on it, about how I acted towards her, towards Spike... towards everypony really.

I looked her in the eyes. “I’m sorry… about how I acted when I first arrived… I was really rude to you guys and you didn’t deserve that, especially how you took me in,” I apologized and she smiled then leaned forwards and kissed me on the lips.

“It’s okay, at least you stuck around and are nicer now,” she replied back then sat down and rested her head on her hoof again. “So how do guns work?” she asked and my eyes went wide as I rubbed my forehead in thought. That could be a very long topic.

“They all work differently really… some are pump action, some are lever action, some are… well, there’s lots of different ways guns work. Some were even electrically driven,” I informed her.

She nodded. “Well… how about you tell me how the very basics work?” she asked and I rubbed my head.

“Well… uhm, usually there’s… want me to show you?” I asked and she smiled.

“Sure, I’d love to learn something new,” she replied and we walked outside to my truck. I opened one of the boxes and thought to myself. I grabbed a case with the label ‘Trillium’ and opened it.

Inside was a Mosin Nagant 91/30 PU sniper rifle. On the stock was a very basic rifle stock cartridge carrier, made out of compressive material. Pinned to the cartridge carrier was a dream catcher. I grabbed a live shell from the stock, along with the rifle then closed the toolbox.

“Okay, see this shiny piece?” I asked, pointing to the bolt action of the rifle, and she nodded. “Okay basically when you action it, like this-“ I racked the bolt back. “It cocks back a thing called a hammer,” I informed her and she nodded. "Now when you push this bolt back closed, usually it loads a bullet into the chamber, right here," I said, pointing to the inside chamber of the rifle. She nodded and I closed the action.

“Okay, now see this thing here?” I asked, tilting the rifle upside down and pointing to the trigger. She nodded. “This is called the trigger. Now when the operator pulls back on the trigger it releases the hammer,” I told her, then turned the rifle so she could see the bolt again.

“Now… inside this… bolt, there’s a thing called a firing pin. Basically it’s a little pointy rod. Anywho, when the hammer is released it slams forwards and into the back of the firing pin and the point…” I trailed off and showed her the underneath of the rifle cartridge.

“The point slams into this little circle thing here, see?” I told her, pointing to the primer. “Now, this little thing is actually a capsule, called a primer, which is some sort of pressure sensitive small explosive, that when the firing pin hits it, it'll lets off a small spark to the inside of the cartridge which…” I trailed off. “Hold on,” I told her and went to the passenger side of my truck, opening the door and rooting through the back of my truck, I searched for something that I could use.

I finally found a pair of pliers and pulled the bullet off the shell. Pouring the gritty powder into my palm, I showed it to her. “This is called gunpowder. It acts as the propellant. Basically, when the primer sends off that small spark, or mini explosion, it ignites this gunpowder which pushes against the back of the bullet.” I showed her the 185g full metal jacket round which she examined closely.

“That looks pretty small,” she said and I nodded.

“They are. Basically this bullet is a wee bit larger in diameter than the actual inside of the barrel,” I said standing the rifle straight up and showing her the bore of the rifle. “Okay, so the bullets where made a wee-tiny bit bigger so that they would contain all the compression behind them,” I told her.

And she nodded. “So… so that’s how they work?” she asked and I shrugged.

“Well… they all work differently. It's actually a little more complicated than that, but that’s the basic rundown… or at least that’s how I’ve always thought about it,” I told her and she nodded then looked to the case it came from.

“So this one is called a Trillium?” she asked and I just chuckled.

“No, that’s what I named her,” I said and she blinked.

“There’s genders?” she asked and I just giggled.

“No… not quite… I just call her Trillium because… well, just like how I call Cadence a she... just because,” I told her then looked to the old beat up rifle. “These rifles are really called Mosin Nagant, ninety-one thirty. And this particular rifle was suitable for snipers so it was outfitted with a scope, see?” I asked and pointed to the PU scope.

The scope, I will admit, was weird, awkward and had a strange optic configuration. I did at one point have the original scope that matched the rifle, but the scope was already broken when I bought it so I ended up getting a reproduction scope. The scope was mounted up high, so a nice cheek weld could never really be attained unless a cushion or something was put between the user’s cheek and stock to complete the gap. Added to the fact it had the reticle bars that never actually connected, the optical was very European esque.

Twilight looked over the rifle. “So… by operating that shiny bolt thing, you cock back that thing you called a hammer while at the same time loading a shell. Then when the trigger is pulled back, it releases the hammer, which strikes a firing pin, which ignites the circle thing called a primer, which ignites the gunpowder, which propels that small little bullet down the barrel…” she trailed off and looked at the gun with a still curious look.

“Yeah… and it has a really nasty bite. One of these little bullets, when shot from this gun, can hit with about… two thousand, six hundred and fifty foot pounds of force… or, hoof pounds of force,” I told her and her eyes went wide.

“Wow… that’s enough to kill somepony… oh, right…” she said, remembering that I told her these were intended to kill.

I nodded. “Yeah… they’re not exactly peaceful objects,” I told her and she nodded before taking a grasp of the rifle in her magic.

“Can I try it?” she asked and I blinked.

“Y-you… you wanna... try it?” I asked in a baffled way and she looked to me, nodding.

“Well, not to kill anything of course. I just want to see what it’s like,” she replied.

I blinked. “O-okay, well, let’s go somewhere a little less populated so that nopony gets hurt by accident,” I offered, stuffing Trillium back into her case, then helping Twilight into my truck.

I walked around and got into the truck. "Mmm... ohhh Cadence... baby," I cooed my truck as I caressed the steering wheel, licking the inside of wheel while stroking the bottom. I slipped the naughty key into her special spot, emitting a beep sound. "Naughty girl," I said in a Robert Muldoon voice. I then began trailing circles around the insert for the ignition with the key tip, almost as if I was teasing it in some way.

Finally I slid the key into the ignition and started the truck. Like always, she rumbled to life with that iconic diesel chug.

Twilight then asked me a question I really didn’t know the answer to. “Who invented guns? Back on your world I mean?” The question stumped me.

“I uhh… well… I don’t exactly know, but they say the Chinese invented gunpowder which they used in cannons… then to give the basic infantry better, far more adequate weaponry, armies around the world started shrinking the idea of cannons to more portable sizes. The first real firearms where simply addressed as cannons on a stick… which is pretty accurate. Basically it was a tiny cannon strapped to a stick, sometimes not even that, just a tiny handheld cannon of sorts,” I told her.

She nodded as I drove us out towards a more secluded pasture field, just outside the property of Sweet Apple Acres. I parked the truck and retrieved a few things from the back, namely a resting stand for the rifle, a pair of binoculars and some paper targets, but also something very special that I never thought I’d wear, at least not around other people, or ponies.

I took long strides and mentally visualized what I believed to be about one hundred yards, then nailed the paper target to a tree nearby. I quickly ran back and saw Twilight trying to look through the scope. “So how does this work? I understand how the other set of sights works but this… is weird,” she said.

“Okay, so the sights along the top of the barrel-“ but she cut me off.

“I know. You put that little post on the front inside the notch on the rear, then the top of the post is where the bullet should hit, right?” she asked and I blinked.

“Clever girl,” I commented and she smiled.

“But how in Equestria does this work?” she asked, pointing to the scope. "It's all black."

I set up the cushioned rifle rest, binoculars, my special item, and laid down, laying the rifle’s fore end on the rest. “Okay, if you look through this scope like this,” I said leaning my face closer to the scope, but not right up against it. “You’ll see three… stick looking things,” I told her, not wanting to have to explain what reticles where.

“The vertical one has a bit of a point on it. Where that point is, is where your bullet should hit,” I told her, letting her take grasp of the rifle. “Now there’s some things to know. First off, you can’t let any shadows be in you scope view,” I said and she looked to me.

“Well that’s impossible. Sunlight gives everything a shadow,” she said and I just chuckled.

“I meant… is there… a black shadow anywhere on the sides of the scope while you're looking through it?” I asked and she looked again.

“Sometimes… but it changes when I move my face around,” she replied.

“Okay, if you move you face closer, the shadows should shrink a bit, then move your head side to side to get rid of them.” I told her and she looked to me.

“Why?” she asked and I sighed.

“Because if there’s a shadow in your scope view, then your shot won’t hit where you’re aiming. It’s got something to do with line of sight opposed to the point of impact, just trust me,” I said, not sure exactly how it worked and not really wanting to explain in detail.

“Okay… now what?” she asked.

“Okay, now pull up on that bolt, and back,” I told her and she did as I asked. I loaded a single shot right into the chamber. “Okay, now push it all the way forwards, then down,” I told her and she did as I asked.

“Alright,” I said, then took hold of my special item. It was a Soviet-bloc, jet black ushanka, made of fish-fur. I slipped it on my head, just for nostalgic purposes. Derreck had given it to me, along with some other things, and said to always hang on to them.

“Okay, now look through the scope,” I said and she nodded. “Alright, now basically put the tip of that pointy stick on the target where you want to hit, and when you’re ready, gently squeeze back on the trigger,” I said and she bit her lower lip as she tried to steady the gun on the rest.

“It keeps moving... I mean, I keep moving... I can't keep it still enough to get it where I want,” she said and I nodded.

“I know. It’ll take a bit of practice. Try and relax, control your breathing to slow your heart rate. Just remember, don’t jerk or pull on the trigger, just a gentle squeeze. If you pull or jerk, that micro-movement will shift your aim slightly and your shot will be off,” I told her and she bit her lip.

“This sounds hard,” she replied back and I chuckled.

“Hey… being a sniper was never meant to be easy,” I said. “Just relax, it’s your first time so it’s okay if you’re not bang on,” I told her. She steadied the rifle as best she could.

“So the point is where my shot will go?” she asked and I nodded.

“Generally speaking… yeah,” I said then noticed she didn’t have the rifle butt snugged up to her shoulder. “Oh, and keep the stock of the rifle snug to your shoulder. It’ll kick a lot worse if you don’t,” I told her, pointing to the stock. She looked to the stock then snugged it up.

“Couldn’t you have told me that earlier? Now I lost my aim,” she replied and I just smiled.

“Better than feeling like yah just got kicked by a mule,” I joked. I looked at her, watching her as she controlled her breathing while looking through the scope, trying to keep her aim steady. She looked cute. I went to say something but before I did, she squeezed on the trigger.

KA-BOOM! The rifle shot shocked me a little and a brief image flashed in my head. A man with a bit of a beard, a black ushanka and a rifle just like Trillium, fired through a window in an old beat-up building.

The rifle jerked slightly against Twilight’s shoulder and she still lay there, barrel smoking. She turned and looked to me. “How’d I do?” she asked and I looked through the binoculars.

“Uhm…” I trailed off. With the 8x magnification, I couldn’t tell all that well.

“Horribly, wasn’t it?” she asked but I shook my head.

“I can’t tell actually, I wasn’t watching,” I replied and she gave me a frowny face.

“Why not? That was my first shot ever!” She complained and I just smiled.

“I meant to say I was watching you, not the target. You were really cute for a first timer,” I said with a wink and she just giggled slightly.

“Okay, but this time can you watch the target so I can see how I did?” she asked and I nodded.

“Okay, now just rack the bolt back again, but be careful of the shell when it’s ejected. They tend to be hot,” I warned and she did as I asked. This time however, I loaded five shots into the rifle’s magazine.

“Woah… five bullets can go into this gun?” She asked and I half nodded.

“Sort of. It’s called a magazine. It holds more shots. You can’t fire all five with one pull of the trigger, but with extra bullets, you can have quicker follow up shots than if you just had a single shot rifle,” I informed her.

She actioned the rifle closed then peered through the scope. I waited… and waited. KA-BOOM! Again an image flashed through my mind, but this one was longer.

The man from before pulled out a twin set of Soviet Tokarev pistols, on in each hand, and fired madly into a group of soldiers. I nearly gasped from the image as it dissipated as quickly as it came. Twilight spoke up. “How was that?” she asked and I looked through my binoculars.

“Not bad,” I lied. I had no idea where she hit, I couldn’t tell really tell from this far away with the magnification, and partly due to my distraction. I needed to see the impact. She racked the bolt and very calmly fired again.

KA-BOOM! A memory flashed as the big man fired a semiautomatic rifle, the SVT-40, in quick succession. The image was brief.

KA-BOOM! The man rushed over a trench, kicking another man in the face as he leapt down, then racked the bolt handle on a sub machine gun and fired wildly. The gun spat out lead at an impressive rate, with a very distinct chatter. The other men all fell before him

KA-BOOM! The man charged and stabbed a crude blade into the throat of a man then grabbed for the deceased man’s big machinegun.

KA-BOOM! The man slung the belt of ammo over his shoulder as he began to mow down an entire platoon of enemy soldiers. The distinct chatter of the machinegun was undeniable. It was Hitler’s buzz-saw.

I gasped, my head jerking upright and Twilight turned quickly to see what was the matter. “Are you okay?” She asked, frighteningly worried. I calmed my breathing. I had no idea why those… images… memories of sorts, were in my mind. I wasn’t even close to old enough to be involved in the Second World War.

“Fine, I just... uhh… nothing, it was nothing,” I said then stood up. “Let’s go see the damage,” I told her. We walked down to the target and took a look. Most of the shots missed completely, minus two, one of which Twilight gasped at.

“Why didn’t you tell me I hit a bull’s-eye?!” she interrogated, mostly out of joy.

“Well I… I didn’t know, from that range I couldn’t really tell,” I partially lied. It was kind of the truth. I wouldn’t have been able to tell she had hit a bull’s-eye, I would’ve only knew she very hit close.

“That was fun, can I do it again?” she asked hopefully and I nodded. We returned to our shooter’s perch and spent the better part of two hours laying there, her shooting the paper target and getting an enjoyable thrill from it. I watched from the binoculars, no longer plagued by the images and was able to tell her where she was hitting.

I smiled then placed the ushanka on her head, though it was mostly impeded by her horn. “Here, maybe you should wear this,” I offered.

She laughed then took the hat and looked at the symbol. “What does this mean?” she asked, pointing at the iconic Soviet symbol.

“Well… the sickle and hammer were meant to represent the union of peasants and labourers. The hammer for labourers and sickle for peasants. The red star meant union under communism,” I told her and she looked at me curiously.

“Communism was the ideal that… everyone was equal and worked for what they needed,” I said bluntly.

“Oh… kinda like Equestria?” she asked, not understanding what I meant. I nearly laughed.

“No, not at all… see the original idea was that… everyone was on an equal level with everyone else. Everyone believed the same thing, everyone had the same things, no one was more, no one was less. You gave to the community and in return got what you needed to live,” I told her and she blinked.

“So who ran the place? If everyone was equal then…” she trailed off and I bit my lip.

“See that’s where it kind of gets difficult. Even though the original idea sounded great, there were problems because a government needs a leader, a leader needs subordinates and like nearly all leaders back on my world… power makes you corrupt and destroys you,” I said and she blinked.

“So it was bad?” she asked and I just shrugged.

“Well… that depends on who you ask. If it was ever done right, communism was good for those who were poor to begin with. They were finally entitled to the sweat on their back. It was a godsend so to speak. For the rich and powerful, it was bad because they became equal with everyone else. The problem was that communism forced equality and my species has a thing... something, I don't know what. Nearly everyone wants more than the person next to them. They strive to have more, they'll even kill to get it,” I said and she frowned.

“That sounds selfish of them,” she stated and I nodded.

“Yeah, but I came from a selfish world,” I replied.

“So… were you communism?” she asked, still unsure about how it worked.

“No…” I trailed off and thought about it. Canada technically ran under a Monarchy system which, in Canada's instance wasn't so bad but the ideals of Monarchy to me was a little far fetched. All Monarchy was to me, was a dictatorship where the dictator smiled, and it was run by a bunch of rich assholes who did whatever the damn hell they pleased and got away with it. “I came from Monarchy,” I said and Twilight’s ears perked.

“Ooh! That’s like Equestria, where a family-“ but I cut her off.

“It was worse than Equestria. We had a rich bunch of-“ I cut myself off and sighed. “A rich family that did whatever they wanted because they descended from greatness. They just kinda strolled around and were like 'Hey everybody, we're having a royal baby, so make a fuss over us',” I said and she blinked. “See… back on my world, when you’re rich and powerful, you’d hate to lose it, that’s partly why Monarchy opposed communism, they’d lose their wealth. Whereas the poorer people in Monarchy where brainwashed with propaganda so that they believed communism was terrible and such…” I just sighed and rolled onto my back, looking to the sky.

Twilight set down the rifle and hat then laid on my chest. “What did you believe was better? Which was better?” she asked and I just rolled my eyes.

“Both didn’t work in their own ways. With communism, once someone reached power, they forgot about the people and only cared about their own wealth. With monarchy, the family in power just didn’t really give a shit about the individual people at the bottom to begin with, as long as their country in full kept thriving. With communism... the problem was that they forced equality, taking away people's property and re-distributing it, which of course led to a revolution which led to a civil war... so on and so forth,” I told her and she gave me a still wondering look. “My species was doomed to begin with,” I said then let out a sigh.

“So if it was so bad, why were you always trying to go back home?” she asked and I just shrugged.

“That was the world I grew up in. It was what I knew… how I lived,” I told her and she sighed then stroked some hair away from my face before planting a kiss on my lips.

“Well, I’m just glad you’re here with me,” she told me and I kiss her back. I lay there and she kissed me again, which I returned. Feeling a little cheeky however, I tickled the space between her wings, getting a gasp from her as her wings sprang out.

“Tickles?” I laughed and she nestled her muzzle into the side of my neck, licking me gently and getting a squeaky peep from me. “AHH!” I gasped as I nearly jumped.

“Tickles,” she said, starting to play with my sides. I gave gentle stroke to the undersides of her wing and she squirmed with slight peeps. “Hey!” She laughed, her wings twitching.

We began rolling around, tickling each other playfully. I rolled on top of her, panting heavily and stopped tickling her for a moment then simply looked into her sparkling eyes as she lay beneath me.

“What?” she asked, gleaming at me with a sparkling aura of beauty.

“You’re… you’re beautiful,” I said and she looked away bashfully, blushing. I felt like an idiot, saying that to my mom but… well it was true.

She grabbed my head and pulled it down. “Come here, yah big lug,” she said, then gave me a long passionate kiss. Slowly, as we kissed, our lips unsealed and our tongues began to dance together. It was still a bit weird… making out with a pony, my mother no less.

We began to move around and rolled a bit on the ground, our lips never once leaving one another. Finally she pulled away for a deep breath of air. My hands played with the undersides of her soft, fluffy wings. She giggled and squirmed a bit.

“Have you ever heard of preening?” she asked and I scratched my head.

“No… not really,” I replied.

“You’re doing it right now… and it feels really good. It’s the cleaning and straightening of feathers… ooh… wow. Hold on,” she said then got off me and laid flat on her belly. “Can you do that some more?” she asked. I obliged and began to stroke and caress her wings, trying to straighten and smooth her feathers as best I could.

She lay there, moaning to herself as I preened her wings. There were new things I was learning all the time. With a relieved sigh she quickly tucked in her wings then rolled over, taking me with her and pinning me under her.

“For a first timer… you’re pretty good,” she said in a wildly seductive voice. I just blinked.

“I guess some of us are just naturals,” I replied, partially complimenting her shooting earlier.

“Hmm… maybe,” she said and I felt my belt get magically flicked off, along with my pants getting tugged off.

“Mom… uhm… should we… really?” I asked. I wasn’t sure about this. I mean… yeah I loved her, but…

As my boxers were pulled off and her magical aura grasped my erecting cock, she changed my mind pretty quick. ‘Dammit… stupid urges,’ I thought to myself. She began stroking me, first slowly, and then picked up the pace.

It felt so different than actual flesh. It had a mystic feeling that was neither cold, nor warm. I just bit my lip and squirmed beneath her, completely at her whim. “Somebody seems to enjoy it?” she teased and my legs stiffened as I twitched around on the ground.

She lowered her body closer to mine and I felt her soft, fleshy entrance touch the tip of my shaft. We both gasped from the feel of that special kind of contact. I was held still by the anticipation of it. I couldn’t remember all that much from the time before, I wasn’t thinking straight then.

She slowly lowered herself onto me. We both gasped loudly, the penetration alone was enough to nearly make me blow my load. “Oh… ooh… oh goddess,” I gasped and she looked to me with a warm smile.

“You don’t feel… ashamed or anything… do you?” she asked. Hardly a time to ask now that we were already having sex. I shook my head.

“As long as you’re… okay with it,” I said through a pleasured grunt. She began to slowly rock her hips into mine, and I followed suit, though due to my lack of experience I couldn’t really synchronize with her very well.

My hands trembled slightly as I stroked up and down her sides. Her wings flared out and flapped a little, pushing down the grass beneath us. Due to the way ponies hindleg knees differed from a human’s she wasn’t actually sitting on her knees, but rather on her haunches, and her full weight rode directly on top of my lap as she rode my cock for all it was worth.

It felt strange really. The feel of her fur was so… exhilarating. Her insides were so warm... slick... wet. My hands stroked down to her sides, smoothing out her fur as they passed along. I looked down to where all the magic was happening and my insides felt all tingly as I watched my erection pump in and out of her slit, a slucking sound matching my pace each time I drove into her.

The image alone made my cock twitch a bit and Twilight blinked. “Did you just…” she trailed off wonderingly. I shook my head.

“No… I just… it feels really good,” I replied back. I looked up, her body above mine. Her body was so… so beautiful. I never really took time to truly admire it, but then again, her being my mother, I shouldn’t really have been looking at her in that way.

Twilight’s body leaned back as she straddled me harder, he moans louder than before. A thought picked up, and one that I couldn’t confirm nor deny due to the tall grass blocking my view. What if somepony was watching?

The thought quickly escaped my mind as more pleasure began to build up inside me. I grabbed her hips and began to guide our motions together a little better, further ramping up the intensity for both of us. Her insides snugged warmly around my cock, the feel of her insides being stroked against my manhood was unimaginable.

Her head flicked back, he mane whooshing as she did so. The sight was one of true spectacle. Her moans were angelic, heavenly… it made my heart flutter. My hands moved slightly from her hips and I began playing with her teats.

As I played with the nipples, her moans changed tunes and she rocked her hips harder into me, which I matched as best I could. Without real warning other than her audibly louder moans, she began erratic and jerky movements, her pussy tightening around my shaft that was still lodged inside of her.

“Oh… oh goddess… ooohhh!” Twilight moaned as her wings spasmed out, straightening to their full length and flapping wildly. I slowed my own thrusts and let her ride this out.

She lurched forwards, eyes closed as her breathing became shallow. Her right side jerking, she ended up falling off from her perch. I blinked as one of her hindlegs kicked in a jerky fashion.

“Uhm… mom?! Are you okay?” I gasped worriedly. I didn’t read much about female orgasms but… I had never really heard about this happening before… then again I had never really heard much about alicorn orgasms either so…

After a moment, she calmed down. “I’m sorry… I just… I just…” she tried to catch her breath and explain. I simply planted a passionate kiss on her lips.

“It’s okay, I don’t think you did anything wrong. I was just worried you might be in some kind of trouble.” She stroked the side of my face.

“Thank you. I know you might think it’s a bit strange, but really this isn’t,” she told me.

‘Ha! Isn’t strange having sex with your mother. Now this world truly is messed up!’ I thought to myself as I leaned my face into her hoof. “Can I…” I bit my lip and trailed off, wondering if she’d let me finish.

She squirmed under me and spread her legs wide. “Only if you can make me feel that good again,” she said with a seductive wink, and a hue of blush. I nodded and lined myself up with her. She went to say something but was cut off by her own pleasured moan as I rocked myself into her.

Her pussy was wet and slick, resulting in nearly no resistance whatsoever as I penetrated her. I gasped, shutting my eyes and dipping my head as I drove myself as far as my length would go.

I let out a pleasured exhale and looked to Twilight. Her cheeks were cherry red, and she was nibbling on part of her lower lip to try and conceal her moans. I kissed the side of her neck then gave a single, gentle thrust.

“Let it out. I want to hear you,” I told her then nibbled on the tip of her ear. I began to pump my hips, and with that she began to go all out. I swear… if Applejack was working today, she could probably hear us.

I placed my hands at her sides and began to thrust, each time trying to push myself further inside of her. Her insides kept massaging my cock, adding to the overall pleasure I felt. The slucking sound that was produced from my shaft driving into her slit was drowned out, nearly entirely, by our combined moaning.

I looked down to see my cock slipping in and out of her. Marecum oozed out of her, along with vaginal fluids that dampened the fur around her nether region, along with spots along my legs and all over my groin.

I gulped. This feeling… it was a guilty pleasure. Having only had sex with her once before… I think I was hooked… no, I knew I was hooked. Twilight leaned up, eyes gently closing, and I followed suit.

Our lips connected, our moans of pleasure going down the other’s throat as our tongues danced together inside our combined mouths. As we continued to rut she pulled her head back, nearly reaching her peak. She drove her hips into me in an erratic way, one I couldn’t match.

Inside, I felt myself building up and felt a little saddened really. I kinda wanted to keep doing this and I knew once I was done I’d be tired. She began to whine, cooing out pleasured high notes. As I neared my own point, her wings flared out, flapping wildly and once or twice slapping me in the face.

I didn’t bother, merely giggling slightly. Her insides hugged me aggressively, squeezing down with a pleasurable force that was too much to handle. I gasped with a shallow grunt and jerked, blowing my load without much warning.

I took a shallow breath and shoved my cock in her as far as it would go, dumping my entire load into her needy pussy, which milked me for every last drop, not letting out a single drip.

After several moments, my cock stopped twitching but her pussy kept massaging my still erect dick. “Mmm… that was wonderful,” she told me, her wings slowly wrapping themselves around my back and keeping us united as I began to become flaccid.

I leaned into her, making sure not to put too much of my body weight on her as I relaxed. “I love you mom… a lot,” I said and she nodded with a giggle.

“I know. You never pulled out,” she mentioned and I just sighed.

“It felt too good,” I told her. She nestled her cheek into mine and I rolled onto my side. “You know… I’m not really exhausted but… I’m a bit tired,” I said. It felt different then exhaustion from physical labor in the manner that my body itself didn’t crave the need to sleep… my mind was just drowsy.

She snuggled up close to me. “I love you sweetie,” she whispered and I nodded back, giving her a rather sloppy kiss that I didn’t really aim.

“Just remind me… that when we wake up, I have to clean my gun,” I whispered and she giggled.

“Which one?”

Hours later…

We returned home shortly after I had shown Twilight how to clean the simplistic rifle. It made me laugh a little on the inside. Despite the violent and deadly nature of the rifle, not only did Twilight show interest in the subject, but once she watched me do it, she showed profession in the skill. Maybe that’s why she was Celestia’s star pupil, quick learner.

We entered the library, walking in each other’s embrace when suddenly an annoyed voice caught us off guard. “Where were you?!” Lassie yelled in an interrogative way as she rushed over to us.

Twilight answered. “Just out enjoying the sights,” she replied and Lassie’s nose twitched.

“No! You were not just out and enjoying the sights. You were out shooting a gun and enjoying each other’s genatalia!” She yelled like a bratty little kid. “While I was stuck here starving because there’s no food!”

I chuckled and Lassie looked to me. “WHAT?! IT’S NOT FUNNY! You can’t just starve your pet! Even Owlowiscious agrees! Isn't that right my minion?” she asked and the owl just blinked. “If he could talk he’d say yes.”

Twilight just looked at her pet. “Actually, he looks rather content-” she stated but Lassie interrupted her before she could continue.

“Ah-ah-ah-AHH! NO! We’re starving. There’s nothing to eat!” She cried. I just face-palmed and walked into the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I looked to all the food.

“There’s apples, oranges, grapes, eggs-“ but Lassie cut me off.

“There’s nothing to make lasagna!” she interrupted and I just dipped my head. I was going to say something then just didn’t. I simply nodded.

Twilight looked to Lassie and spoke. “You know Lassie, you’re acting a little spoiled right now.” Lassie just looked at her in a quizzical way.

“Do you like eating leaves off trees when you could be eating a fresh cooked meal?” she asked and Twilight just blinked. “Exactly. Yes, I could have eaten…” she trailed off and looked into the fridge. “Grapes and an orange…” she looked back to Twilight. “But I want lasagna. And besides, that theatre we went to before is offering a free lasagna with a purchase to that new horror flick ‘Draculetta’,” she informed us. “And the movie starts in like… twenty minutes!” She sat on her haunches and gave me a look. A gaze with wide, gleamingly tearful puppy dog eyes.

I simply chuckled. Oh… she had her ways that was for sure. I procured fifty bits for Lassie. “This enough?” I asked and she nodded with a smile before hopping up to her hindlegs and planting a kiss on my cheek.

“Thanksloveyoubye!” She said in a hurry before rushing off. I let out a sigh.

“I know… I spoil her rotten,” I said, knowing exactly what Twilight was thinking. We both wandered back into the living room where Owlowiscious fluttered down and handed Twilight a note.

“It’s from Spike. He wrote that he won’t be home until late. Rarity needs some extra help with collecting enough things to compensate for the robbery,” she said. At that moment, my heart sank.

“Hey… uhm… I’m just gonna go for a walk. Take a stroll through town. Relax a little,” I said, giving my mom a sweet kiss to the cheek before walking off. As I began through the streets of Ponyville, I wondered to myself what I was going to tell Rarity, how I’d approach this and such. I didn’t really make my way towards the boutique, rather I mingled through the streets and avoided it.

I scratched my head, trying to make up an excuse. I could come out and tell her the truth, but if she didn’t like it, then told somepony then I’d be in double trouble. “Haaaa…ahhhh…” I let out a deep sigh.

I turned down a dark alleyway. It was getting late in the day. Not many ponies were out and about. As I strolled along, I brought my right hand up to my face and caressed my nose. Suddenly a tingly feeling went down the back of my neck.

I stopped and turned to look down the alleyway. It looked dark… luminous… eerie. A wrapper of garbage floated along. The screeching hiss of a cat, followed by the crashing sound of a metal garbage can echoed. My senses flared to full alert, tingly feelings shivering my spine.

From the corner of my vision, I saw the shadow of a figure lunge at me. My right arm shot straight up, letting the arm come underneath my chest rather than around my neck like it originally would have.
My left arm instinctively grabbed the forearm and yanked it to my far left. I felt the body tumble a bit and I swiveled my stance, yanking the arm further to the left and sticking out my right foot a bit to trip the perpetrator.

As the pony fell I grabbed at the throat and gripped tightly, then took a kneeling position over it, driving my right knee into its chest. As the perp hit his or her back off the ground, I pulled the arm I still had in my left grip over my knee, bending at the elbow joint.

Incapacitated, the perp squirmed beneath me and I finally had a moment to take a look. It was a mare. She had light golden fur and a multi-colored grey mane…

“DARING!...”

Author's Notes:

Now before anyone flips shit thinking I'm a commie, I'm not. I mean, yeah... the ideology of communism in my mind... technically it works, but again, power destroys people so it's never more than a theory. But on the flip side, I'm not much of a monarchy loyal kind of person, I'm more towards democracy but again, with today's politics it just seems like some dudes trying to take away people's rights and that to me is kinda like dictatorship just not as extreme (I know, I'm kinda acting whiny right now compared to my usual jar-headed-ness)
So, as always, cheers to all you guys and gals out there, and for those that have to go back to school... you have my sympathy, and know that you have courage to face the very thing that still gives me nightmares to this day.