Logan, Savannah, and other remnants of their militia were gathered at Ghastly Gorge, on the outskirts of Ponyville. They all watched as three chariots flew down from the skies. Each was ready for a long explanation. They had everything set up. Training dummies, scopes, everything was set.

Each one stood straight, choosing their way to greet the royals that had arrived(Princess Twilight and Rainbow Dash following soon after), some choosing to bow, others, to kneel, and the last opting for the salute.

Princess Celestia had opened her mouth as to say something in kind greeting, but Luna, once again had beaten her to the punch. “At ease, and rise.”

“Hey Logan. Like the dyed hair look.” Rainbow chuckled, pointing out Logan’s new hair color of grey with near blood red stripes going along it. Logan simply returned a warm smile.

“It’s not dye. The symptoms it seems have started for us.” he said cryptically, his butterscotch gold eyes showing hints of humor.

“Symptoms?” Celestia asked, concerned.

“The ambient magic in our world is being absorbed by their bodies, but since they aren’t well adapted to this kind of world, so their bodies are slowly changing into ponies Prin- I mean, Celestia. It starts off simply and painlessly enough.” Twilight began.

Logan quickly took over. “First, our eyes, hair, or mane in your language, then our senses. Sight, smell, sound, all amplified to pony levels. After that, our internal organs will shift. They will no longer respond to an omnivorous diet-”

“Omni-what?” Rainbow whispered, hoping no one would notice.

“Omnivorous. It means our species is fine with eating virtually anything. Salads, fish, breads, yadda yadda. Then… meat.” Savannah explained. ‘why did I just answer that?’ she asked herself.

“Meat? you mean you would eat living creatures?” Cadence asked, fearful.

“No we wouldn’t eat anything while it was still squirming around. Anyway, our diets would be the next to go. Our bodies will slowly change, and I’m sure it wont be a painless process. Now may we begin as to why we’re here?” Logan finished impatiently.

“Of course. Please.” Luna chided, giving her best poker face. “This was to be a demonstration of weapons from your world correct? Now, if I may ask, why are we in Ghastly Gorge?”

“I was wondering that myself.” Cadence added.

“OH! Before I forget Cadence, some friends wrote some letters to you.” Twilight said brightly as she levitated the two scrolls over to the pink alicorn.

“Down range we have set up targets. Shining Armor, I presume you have brought the standard weapons for the royal guard?” Logan said, matching Luna’s tone and face.

The unicorn prince nodded “I have.”

“Care to demonstrate them for us?”

The first weapon Shining Armor chose was the standard long bow. He aimed, pulled back the draw, and fired the arrow. It flew for less than a second before becoming lodged in the third target’s chest. Next was a Javelin. It was promptly thrown magically with a loud grunt. Again, hitting the third target. The last of the weapons were meant for close quarters. A long sword, double edged, a dagger, also double edged, a quarter staff, and a spear.

Looking down towards Logan and his sister, they saw Savannah looking through a small device that appeared to be some kind of telescope.

“Both arrow and javelin were direct hits on the 75 yard line.” she said.

“Good shots BBBFF.” Twilight smiled.

Cadence of course seemed too distracted, reading the scrolls she had been given.

“Thanks sis.”

“Alright. Good shots. Although, to be honest, with your level of technology, we expected something a little bit more advanced than swords and spears.” Logan chided. “Once our species hit a level of tech you had, we had weapons FAR less… shall we say, primitive? Show them what we had at that time frame ‘Tombstone’.”

A second human stepped forward. He wore a hat like Applejacks over his(almost literally) golden hair, a bandana covered his face, and a dark brown coat covered almost everything from his shoulders down to his shins. Under the coat, all the ponies(except Cadence) noticed several belts. He then pulled out two small metal objects. Each with a metal cylinder in the middle, extending outwards into small tubes. Behind the tubes and cylinders, were little spurs, and under them, what appeared to be an over sized ring.

“These are called ‘Revolvers’. There are two types. Single action, as these are, and Double action. Which we shall demonstrate later. These were our culture’s first successful repeat-fire sidearm.” Logan explained as he nodded towards the cowboy.

“You may want to cover your ears.” Savannah warned as ‘Tombstone’ raised the two revolvers. The six ponies(four princesses, a prince, and a racer) each suddenly felt a set of ear muffs appear on their heads. All conjured by the youngest of the four princesses.

The next thing they heard, were small clicks as the cowboy pulled back on the spurs. Moments later, they all were shocked to hear loud ‘BOOMS’. The sounds continued. Alternating. Left, right. Left, right. Each one fired off six times, resulting in twelve booms.

Celestia, Shining, Rainbow, Cadence, and Twilight all stared, wide eyed at what was a silhouette cut out of both human and pony. Each target sporting 6 holes each. The only one un-phased by the show, was Luna. The look on her face clearly showed she was intrigued.

As the cowboy reloaded his weapons, he stuck them back into small pouches on his hips. Reaching down, he picked up another weapon. This one seemed to have two long tubes, horizontally parallel with the other, the top one being octagonal in shape. The two tubes were then connected by what seemed to be a steel block. On both ends seemed to be wood the cowboy used as grips. Underneath the rearward wooden plank, was what seemed to be two rings, one, in the front was for the humans front finger, the larger ring behind it, fit the other three as the thumb wrapped around the wood.

“This weapon, is what’s called a ‘Rifle’. There are numerous types. This kind is what’s called a ‘lever action’ as Tombstone can demonstrate.” Logan said as he waved. The cowboy then lowed his right hand, causing the lever to roll downward. “This type of weapon is much more accurate over a much further distance. They come in almost countless calibers. A caliber is a type of ammunition used in each weapon. As I said earlier about us being omnivorous, this specific rifle, we’d use to hunt for food. Go for it. 100 to 150 yards.” Logan said, again nodding.

BOOM… Tshk, shk

   BOOM… tshk, shk

     BOOM!

The six ponies had expected it to be loud, but not louder than the pervious weapon.

“Now, the rifle is the standard weapon for most soldiers. So far we’ve seen two types of weapons that fire a single projectile. Now we’re going to move on to our species’ oldest weapon of the gunpowder age. The Shotgun. Now, unfortunately we don’t have a shotgun from the technological time period your world best represents. Instead we have a bit more modern, for us anyway, models of shotgun.”

As Logan and his sister demonstrated their various weapons, Cadence pulled Rainbow Dash to the side and began to have a private chat.

“Rainbow, I’d be delighted to help you with Twilight. Though, I got to ask. Why Twilight?” Cadence inquired as she cast a privacy shield spell around them.

“Well…” Rainbow started as she blushed furiously. “I-I don’t know honestly. Something about her… those wings, her smarts, her color… I know she can go a bit… overboard with things, I just…”

“So you weren’t lying or pulling my tail. You really want Twilight don’t you?” Cadence asked, receiving a simple nod in return.

“I see… matters of the heart are something where you must tread carefully Dash. Step too much to either side, you’ll seem desperate and creepy, or like a rude and insulting perv.” Cadence explained carefully. “The last thing you want to do is seem like either. If you want my advise, just come clean. You n Twi get together to read a book weekly right?”

“Yeah. Every Thursday.”

“Well, before you read, instead, confess your feelings. Just sit down for a normal talk, and let it all out.”

“I try… and every time I try I just… I cant get the words past my throat. One time I tried just that, Twi thought I was sick. Took my temperature and everything.” Dash winced at Cadence’s giggling. “What’s so funny?!” she half shouted.

“Twi thought you were sick, when in fact her intuition was correct. You ARE sick. LOVE sick!! Ok, back to being serious. Have you tried showing her your affections? Ask her out? Do something together. Buy her lunch or something. Let your actions speak for you Rainbow.” Cadence said as she lowered the privacy spell.

‘Let my actions speak for me huh?’ Rainbow thought carefully. ‘Maybe if I-’

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by shouts and rapid weapons fire.

“CONTACT FRONT!” Logan shouted as he and four other humans, his sister included, began to run forwards towards the targets, each member firing respectfully at the targets in front of them. Dash was astonished, the grace and coordination instantly reminded of The Wonderbolts. Although these humans were instantly lethal.

“COVERING FIRE!” Savannah shouted at the top of her lungs.

Suddenly a loud rattling noise joined in the chorus of bangs, pops, and cracks. Rainbow found herself hazily walking towards Twilight in the midst of the demonstration. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed twilight had taken all kinds of notes.

‘A.K-47? A.R-15? R.P.K? F.A.L? M-1 Garand? M-1911? M-500? 12 Gauge? M-4? Grenade?’

Just as Rainbow’s mind had even thought the word grenade, she heard Logan yell “FRAG OUT!” and mere seconds later, a large explosion, sending dust and debris all over the place.

“Hey Twi. I missed a lot. What’s goin on?” she asked.

“They’re demonstrating tactics. How they fought in certain situations. The one they’re doing now suggests they were on patrol, like the royal guards who walk around the castle, and then saw hostile intruders. Next, they’re gonna show us how they attacked from surprise.” Twilight explained, not noticing Dash’s dreamy expression as she talked.

“CLEAR!!” Logan yelled.

The drill over, Logan and his group took a few moments to unload, and breathe.

“The next drill is more for an ambush situation. Now unfortunately, we have very limited ammo, so this will be our final drill until we reload all our spent cases. Now, we shall need a volunteer for this test. I do promise no harm will come to anyone who chooses to volunteer.” Logan explained with a gentle smile.

Looking over the small crowd, he saw Twilight raise a wing. “I volunteer!” she shouted.

“Always willing to dive right into a learning experience.” Celestia said under her breath.

“Are you sure? This is very dangerous and once we get set up, there’s no going back.” Logan warned.

“Positive!” she smiled stepping forward.

“Very well. We’ll need illusionary ponies who can react to EVERYTHING. Here’s the scenario. Twilight, you are what’s called an H.V.T. or High Value Target. We’re going to try and capture you without harming you. It’s the illusionary guard’s job to protect you no matter the cost.” Savannah explained as she saw Luna cast a group of twenty-five illusionary ponies of varying types.

“Ya’ll stand in the middle of the group. These ponies should react when we initiate the attack. We promise your not in any real danger.” Tombstone explained guiding Twilight over to the center of the gorge.

Logan than began to raise his voice, explaining how it would be set up “Some of you can stay down here and watch how ground teams attack, while the rest of you will be up on the cliffs edge. That large squad of ponies will be escorting Twilight down the middle of the gorge, until we start. Guardian, Eagle Eye, and Red Tail, head up topside and provide sniper support. Remember, Triad formation. Tombstone, Sweeper, Arson, and Frog, head over to the east side of the canyon, hide behind the rocks. While Stooge, Armadillo, Razor, Samurai and I will be here on the west side in the brush. We clear?!”

“Copy, Ghost!” they all shouted in unison.

“Now, since our radios no longer work, we’ll be going old school. Keep your eyes open for signal mirrors, and flares. Red means abort mission. Green means target captured. Clear?”

“Clear!”

“Get to it.”

“You sure about this Twily? This could be very dangerous. I could take your place.” Shining worried. After having seen what these humans were capable of, he feared they might accidentally hurt her, or worse.

“She’ll be fine Shining Armor. I promise. It’s not the first time we’ve had to do this.” Savannah reassured.

“I’ll be fine. Besides, I remember how to cast those shield spells.” the purple pony quipped.

“Okay…” he said, shifting around nervously.

Within minutes, every human was set up, each with one or two ponies sitting back to observe. Having heard the loud bangs, the remaining(former) element bearers had arrived, for Rainbow to give them a quick over view as to what was going to happen.

“Twilight is going to be in the middle of THAT!?” Rarity gasped loudly.

“Shhhh.” Rainbow hissed. “the drill is about to start.”

“They’re beginning.” Cadence quipped as they all looked through binoculars and telescopes to see Twilight, walking down the canyon with illusionary pony guards.

Savannah waved a command at the other two snipers on the cliff’s edge. They all looked through the scopes, and squeezed.

Twilight however had no idea when the attack was going to happen. She was just walking with a group of illusionary ponies, completely unaware of everything about to happen. She began to wonder if this was really a good idea, after seeing everything these humans were capable off.

Her thoughts were quickly halted as a loud ‘CRACK’ sounded over her head. Followed by two more, each one preceding a low thump. Looking around, she saw three of her ‘guards’, fallen dead as they turned to mist. Suddenly, loud cracks, thumps, and pops came from all angles, and in a very rapid succession. Guards began to encircle Twilight, trying to create a barrier, and herd her to safety.

Cracks originating from the cliffs edge begin to grow closer and closer together as guards, one by one, fell dead. Pegasus guards were shot clean out of the sky, unicorns had their horns shot off, or were shot dead. Time for Twilight began to slow down. Looking to her right, was Ghost. She saw him and his teams begin to circle around in front, and behind her. Each one carrying various weapons. Shotguns, assault rifles, carbines and SMGs.

The attack stopped as Ghost looked her dead in the eye and shouted “We have you surrounded! Forfeit now, and we will be merciful!”

“OVER OUR DEAD BODIES!” her remaining six guards shouted, readying their weapons for one final try to repel the attackers.

In the longest three seconds of Twilight’s life, cracks and booms came from every angle. She felt the blast, heat and air pressure change as rounds of varying sizes flew past her. Missing by mere inches. She closed her eyes and flinched. Expecting a miss followed by a huge burst of pain.

As quickly as it began, it was silent. The silence was shattered by a loud ‘FWOOFFFF… BOOM’. looking up, she saw a green light. ’Great. I’ve been captured’ she thought. Looking back down at her hooves, she noticed she was trembling. She hadn’t shaken this much since she was trapped by King Sombra at the top of the Crystal Tower.

“Its over Twilight. Drill’s done. Your fine.” Logan assured, taking off his mask.

“T-That w-was T-THE m-m-most t-terrifying t-thing I’ve ever d-done…” she said, the slight tremor in her voice giving away how terrified she was.

Logan gave her a pat on the shoulder as her friends, and the remaining princesses came down from the cliff’s edge.

“Your fine. This concludes our firing demonstration for today.” Logan announced as his squad began to gather the cases they had fired.

“Hey Twi. Ya’ll okay? Your shakin some’n fierce.” Applejack inquired. “Ah can imagine that was scarier than starin a pack of Timberwolves dead in the eye.”

“I’d rather be up against a Hydra than what I just went through AJ.” she deadpanned.

“Ill walk ya home if ya like Twilight.” Rainbow offered. However the sound of hope in her voice didn’t miss AJ, or Twilight.

“Sure…” she agreed.

“Hey Applejack?” Logan asked as he appeared behind the country mare.

“Whoa nelly! Where-? How-?” she yiped, clearly startled out of her skin. Shaking her head to regain composure, she looked back at Logan. “Yes?”

“You go camping right?” he asked.

“Yeah?”

“Know any good places to camp?” he inquired.

“There’s Winsome Falls. Mah sis n’ Ah are goin there this weekend actually. If ya wanna come along, we’d be glad ta have ya.” she explained.

This earned a gentle smile from Logan. “Cool. I’m in. Any friends goin along?”

Applejack thought for a sec, and thought back to that almost-disaster of a sleepover Twi had a few years ago.

‘They do have a segment on backyard slumber parties. Is that what we’re doing right now? Does this count as camping?’

“Now that Ah think about it… Twi’s never been camping. Ah don’t know what Pinkie would do. Or Fluttershy… Rainbow and Rarity go with us from time to time… Ah’ll see if they all wanna go.” she said thoughtfully.

“Most of us here have been camping for the past four years so they feel kinda relieved to be back in some form of civilization. So it might be just me. Maybe my sister if that’s cool.”

“Ah don’t see why not. Meet us tomorrow morning at the orchard. Ah’ll go ask the girls.” she chided with a smile. Managing to catch up with the other girls, Applejack makes her offer.

“Ya girls interested in goin’ for a camping trip? Ah know you’ve never been on one Twi. Might like it.” she said, trying to sound convincing.

“Oh… I don’t know. I have a lot to take care of…” Flutters chided. “My little critter friends, I just cant take a week for myself. A night is one thing but a week to Winsome Falls… I cant do that. Sorry.”

“No biggy Flutters. Ah understand. Rares?”

At the sound of the country mare calling her name, she sported a slight blush, which didn’t go unnoticed by Applejack.

“Of course I’m in dear. I’ve got time to spare.” she chuckled nervously trying to hide her blush.

Rainbow then flew about. “I’m so in!”

At this, AJ smiled. She then hoped she could convince Twilight, for Rainbow’s sake, and maybe Pinkie.

“What about you Pinkie?”

Pinkie’s normally active bounce was cut short as she stopped, and pulled a schedule seemingly from nowhere. “Hmm… yep! I’m free. This should be fun! Hopefully more fun than that sleepover you and Rarity had at Twilight’s a few years ago.” that being said, AJ, Rarity and Twilight each began a slight blush.

“Anywho, Twi? You in?”

“Well… I’ve never been out camping before… and I’m really not looking forward to listening to more of Blueblood’s complaining… mind if I bring Spike?” the lavender princess contemplated.

“Well Ah don’t see why not. Ah’m bringin Applebloom, Rarity’s probably bringin’ Sweetie Belle, and Rainbow might bring Scoots so sure.”

“Okay. So when and where do we meet?” she asked summoning a small pocket schedule.

“Tomorrow morning’ at the Orchard. Just to make it easy on Logan. He asked if he could tag along if that doesn’t bother you girls.” Applejack piped, adjusting her hat.

“Why would we mind?” Twilight asked arching an eyebrow.

“Well, after what you just went through down in Ghastly Gorge? I’d be kinda edgy around him.” Rainbow explained.

“I’m not denying that I’m a little shaken about that. Still am actually. But I know he wouldn’t hurt me because it’s what he’s trained to do right? He is Military from his world if I recall.” she explained.

“I remember him saying it was a ‘Militia’. meaning he was a civilian militant. Not officially Military” Rainbow chided.

With a chuckle, Twilight agreed. “Right, Thank you Rainbow.”

At this, Rarity gasped. “Twilight, darling, he could have easily killed you any number of ways down there, and your saying you still trust him?”

“Well, yes. I think he’s had enough of war and death. He’s only 23 after all. Still got a lot ahead of him.”  Twilight said thoughtfully, trying to make a case for Logan.

Suddenly, Rainbow starts backing Twilight, much to the surprise of the other two. “While I didn’t like the thought of you being in the middle of that Tartarus hole down there, I think he’s just got a lot of baggage holding him back. Remember Tornado Day? Flutters didn’t wanna join because she had baggage from Flight school holding her back.”

A quiet ‘eep’ came from Fluttershy as she suddenly agreed. “Yeah. I know when somepony is having trouble dealing with issues from their past. And if what Logan has told us so far if half as bad as what he says it is, then he must be hurting inside. And so must a lot of that group that showed up with him.”

“I know. I know a depressed pony from a mile away. Remember that ‘Welcome to Equestria’ party I threw for them last week? Logan refused to show up. When I went to go ask why not, he just sat under a tree, and said ‘I’m not trying to insult you Pinkie.” she said, trying her best to mimic his voice. “I just…don’t like crowds.’ now I’m not the element of Honesty, but I knew he was trying to lie so he could hide something even more painful.”

By then, the only pony left in thought was Rarity, trying to process what she had heard. “Am I the only pony who hasn’t had some heavily traumatizing event happen to her? That Diamond Dog thing doesn’t count.”

The girls stayed silent. slowly, two ponies started raising their hooves. Rainbow, & Pinkie. Applejack, Fluttershy and Twilight however, rubbed the backs of their necks.

Curiously, Fluttershy asked “What traumatized you so much Twilight? If you don’t mind me asking that is.”

“Remember the Crystal Empire? Sombra’s invasion? Well, when I was trapped in the Crystal tower, I honestly thought I’d never get out. I thought I’d end up in a dungeon, as one of his slaves. Tortured, beaten and violated in ways I cant imagine. Ever since, I’ve kinda understood how Applejack and Fluttershy feel. I still have the occasional nightmare about it.” she explained somberly. “Flutters for that fall during the Pegasus race, her bullying, and AJ for that… well…”

“The loss of mah parents. It’s okay Twi. It happens.”

“Well in my case, I was more afraid of what kind of emotional damage I’d do to all of you, spike, and my family. Anyway, lets end this night on a positive note. We’re going camping. Thanks for the invitation AJ.”

“Not a problem Twi.” she smiled.

“OH! Hey Fluttershy, why don’t you ask Raindrops to watch your critter friends?” Pinkie hyped.

Elsewhere, Logan was trying to ready himself for even more questions. However, one hurdle became clear. The skin and body hairs all along his arms, legs, and torso, began to turn a dark, midnight blue. Keeping a close eye on his sister, he saw her slowly start to turn a light red.

“That shade of red suits ya sis.” he complimented.

With a smile, she turned around. “Tha-whoa! Okay, I thought you might turn blue but THAT shade of blue!? You almost look like a human male version of Princess Luna!” she quipped loudly.

“Anyway, listen. AJ n her friends just extended an offer for us to go campin with ‘em this weekend. If your interested.” he explained.

“No thanks. I’m burned out on camping… you go ahead. I’ll tell dad your out for the weekend. Be careful. Where would you be going anyway?”

With a thoughtful expression, he explained, “Some place called Winsome Falls. I’m just gonna get my bag n be on my way.” he explained.