In the new clearing to the North of New Humansville was set up a series of wooden targets leaning against hay bales. The targets were arranged from short range to long range, short range being 25 Fathoms and long range being 200 Fathoms. Morris Almond was busy setting up a series of six solidly built wooden cases. Every case was triple locked and only Morris had the keys. Kolo Calvin and R.J. Brinsin stood nearby guarding Morris and the cases while Captain Joyner helped Kaneesha, Andrew, and Jason set up a large pavilion tent and cushions for the spectators to sit on for the demonstration. The Royal Air Carriage set down some two dozen Fathoms behind the, still being erected, pavilion tent, unnoticed by the workers.

Mike chatted idly as he helped erect the tent,
"So did Bobby induce Tina this morning like he planned?"

Jason held up a tent pole and shoved it into the ground as hard as he could,
"Yeah. He said she probably wouldn't actually have the baby until this evening, but she is in labor. He, Leo, Steady Hoof, and a whole gaggle of other medical ponies are there. I had no idea that Steady Hoof had sent off for other doctors from all over Equestria to watch and learn. Tina was alright with them, but Bobby nearly blew a gasket."

Kaneesha hauled up another pole,
"How do you know all this?"

Jason smirked,
"Because I was there when Mike called me out to help. Bobby all but dragged Steady Hoof out of the delivery room. He tore her a new asshole. I could hear him yelling from inside the room even over all the Ponies talking and asking questions. Hell, I don't think any of them had even seen a Human before."

Andrew pulled a twine line down and pegged it with a wooden mallet,
"What was Bobby saying?"

Jason pulled another line and grabbed a peg,
"He was yelling about patient permission and confidentiality and EXACTLY how far over the line she was. He seems mostly pissed that Steady Hoof hadn't asked Tina, then asked him, since he's Tina's P.C.P."

"P.C.P.?" asked a regal voice behind the four Humans.

Kaneesha glanced up, but stayed silent. Andrew was almost always silent anyway, so he just kept quiet. Mike was busy stabilizing the center pole.

"Primary Care Provider." Jason answered, "I forgot you could speak American English."

"And quite well, thanks to Artex." Celestia replied.

Mike finally stabilized the pole,
"Speaking of him, where is he? I would have thought he'd really want to be here."

"I'm afraid not. He is busy trying to assemble a device of some sort. Something about communication." Celestia replied.

"Ahem," a deep male voice interjected from behind Celestia, "Would everybody speak in a language we can all understand?"

The four Humans all glanced toward the voice. The speaker was a Unicorn stallion. Standing on either side of him was a pair of Earth Ponies and a Pegasus, all of them wearing Royal Guard armor. Looking beyond the Princess and the stallions, Kaneesha spotted Luna and Chris talking near the Royal Air Carriage while the flight team of eight Pegasi removed their harnesses.

Celestia cleared her throat,
"Excuse me. Captain Michael Joyner, Andrew Masonete, Kaneesha Edwards, Jason Campbell, allow me to introduce you to Captain Bold Move, Commander Peach Pit of the Unicorn Regiment, Commander Steady Plod of the Earth Pony Regiment, and Commander Swift Wind of the Pegasi Regiment. I believe some of you have already met Swift Wind, he was the attack leader when the Pegasi arrived at New Humansville after the battle against the Diamond Dogs."

Joyner smiled at Swift Wind,
"We appreciated your timely arrival. Too much longer and there wouldn't be a soul left standing. Your regiment saved our lives."

Swift Wind fluffed up his feathers,
"We were not about to allow Equestrian civilians be massacred if we had any say in the matter."

"So you only meant to save your own kind." Kaneesha accused him harshly.

Swift Wind's eyes narrowed at her tone,
"My 'kind' are any and all beings living in Equestria. We have an obligation and we are more than happy to fulfill it, no matter the cost to ourselves."

Andrew placed a gentle hand on Kaneesha's arm and she gripped it firmly,
"I'm sorry." she said quietly, averting her eyes, "I just..." she sighed, "It still freaks me out when I think about it. I keep thinking there was something we could have done differently, something so that more people could have survived." she looked back up at Swift Wind, "I know you did your best. I just get so worked up and I guess... I guess I just wanted somebody to blame."

Swift Wind snorted and shook out his mane,
"Apology accepted. What we saw when we stepped into Town Hall was... it was beyond words. I hold no blame to you for still being upset," he paused briefly then continued, "But I promise, from the core of my soul, that we did absolutely everything we could to arrive as quickly as possible."

Kaneesha nodded,
"I know. Thank you."

Bold Move stepped up to Mike and extended his right forehoof,
"I've heard your name, but I never had a chance to match the name to a face Captain. Considering the circumstances and everything that was working against you, you lead your people very well. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Mike took the offered limb and shook it heartily,
"You as well." he let go of the hoof, straightened up and looking over the Earth Pony's shoulder, "Are Luna and Chris going to be joining us?"

Peach Pit bristled,
"PRINCESS Luna."

Mike crossed his arms and regarded the Unicorn stallion evenly,
"She's never corrected us about it, so she must not mind. Unless or until she does mention it I'm going to keep calling her by her name and not include her title."

Peach Pit grumbled something unintelligible under his breath before replying,
"Fine, if she doesn't have a problem with it then who am I to say otherwise."

"WELCOME!" a jovial voice echoed out from the direction of the targets and all eyes followed the voice, "Welcome. We would like to welcome our esteemed guests to witness the very first test of the Almond-Campbell Gyro-jet Firearms! We have pillows and cushions ready to be set out for your comfort. Once everybody is settled, we will begin the demonstration. There is a reception afterward, which is being catered by the generous staff of The Melting Pot." Morris yelled like a circus ringmaster.

Celestia smiled hugely,
"We are eager to see what you have wrought. It is an unfortunate fact of life that violent conflict is a reality and we never know where it might spring from. Lead the way sir."

Morris smiled and threw his arms wide,
"Take a seat wherever you wish in the pavilion tent." he motioned for the Ponies to follow him as he walked toward the tent, "Questions are very much appreciated, but please wait for a short break in the demonstration to voice them. Also, this is what we call a 'Live Fire Exercise'. That means that the weapons are ready to be used, and these weapons have only one main purpose: to put holes in things, either living or otherwise. At this time, putting holes in living things would be a terrible and unintended event so we kindly ask that none of you approach the firing line or the people performing the demonstration, unless you ask. Once more, these weapons are made to be deadly and we will treat them with the respect and care they deserve. We have no problem dismissing anybody who violates these rules."

While Morris spoke, Mike, Andrew, Kaneesha, and Jason dashed around setting out cushions and pillows for the spectators, Morris walked the Ponies around close to the firing line,
"If any of you have questions during the demonstration, simply raise a hoof and get Jason's attention. He will come over to you and write down your question for when we take the next break. Are there any questions so far?"

Bold Move spoke up,
"What is a firearm exactly. The Princesses only told us there was going to be a demonstration of Human weapons. They never specified what those weapons did."

Morris nodded,
"Excellent question, er Captain Bold Move was it?"

"Just Bold Move right now. I'm in uniform, but I'm not on duty unless there is an emergency." the Earth Pony stated calmly.

"Alright then Bold Move, a firearm is a weapon which uses small ballistic projectiles to penetrate a target a long range. Think of it like a faster, more powerful arrow or quarrel. The projectile, or bullet, impacts the target and the kinetic energy of the bullet pushes it to penetrate the target. When the bullet achieves penetration, some of its energy is transferred to the target and a temporary cavity is created within the target. We refer to the percent of transferred energy and size of this temporary cavity as 'stopping power'. A well placed bullet can stop a grown man at a dead run. The bullet not only transfers kinetic energy, but it also causes trauma to nearby organs and blood vessels as it proceeds through the target. This in turn causes internal bleeding and death. A single bullet to the head is normally fatal and very quickly fatal." Morris described.

Peach Pit scoffed,
"So you have a fancy and I'm assuming very expensive crossbow."

Morris smiled but shook his head,
"The firearm is worlds beyond the crossbow. The Royal Master Marksman will be demonstrating the firearm to prove the point. Are there any other questions?"

"What makes the firearm superior to the crossbow?" Peach Pit pressed, "I'm willing to watch, but I want to know from a logical stance first."

Morris pursed his lips,
"For starters, the crossbow is a single shot weapon, the firearm is not. The firearm has between ten and thirty bullets that it can fire in quick succession. The penetration and effectiveness of a bullet is three to eight times that of an arrow or quarrel and lastly, some types of firearms can be operated with one limb, whereas a crossbow cannot. Furthermore, there are many different types of bullets to fulfill a variety of functions from damaging flesh, to penetrating armor, to even non-lethal bullets that only cause severe bruises and occasionally crack a few bones."

Peach Pit nodded,
"Now that sounds like something I can understand. Lead on, please."

Morris smiled motioned toward the pavilion tent,
"Then please have a seat. The demonstration is about to begin. If you find that you cannot see clearly, please feel free to move your pillow or cushion into a position where you can."

Luna trotted up with Chris following behind her,
"Didst... did I miss anything?"

Morris shook his head,
"Not really and we will be having a question and answer session in between demonstrations. Please have a seat and we will begin."

As Luna moved toward a cushion, Chris going with her, Darryl and Shadow came bounding out of the trees off to the left of the firing line,
"All woodland critters have moved away from the range Morris."

"Excellent, I do have to ask how you accomplished that though?" Morris inquired.

Darryl pointed to his faithful fox friend,
"Apparently most animals speak some sort of common language; which is good because I have no freaking idea how I would have done that otherwise."

Morris smiled and placed his hand on Darryl's shoulder,
"That's why I chose a Marine. All I have to do is ask what I want and you figure out the specifics on your own. If you had to, you would be running around with a stick hitting tree trunks and screaming like a little girl just to scare the animals away."

Darryl chuckled and shook his head,
"Fuck you man." he said playfully.

Morris smirked and planted his fists on his hips,
"Yeah, but I don't hear you saying otherwise."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get this thing going." Darryl replied standing off to the side next to the firing line.

Morris walked over to the boxes and removed a key from his pocket. Bending at the knees, he unlocked the box, opened the lid, and removed a handful of small metallic cylinders plus one that was the size of his arm. He closed the box and stood back up then turned toward his audience.

He walked underneath the covering of the tent and walked around each of the Ponies who were lying down, dropping one of the cylinders in front of each,
"These are gyrojet rounds. They are self-propelled projectiles that can reach speeds in excess of 1500 Hooves per second. These are what the firearms fire." he dropped the last three in front of Celestia and Luna and held up the big one, "You will notice the four stabilizing fins attached to the rear ends of the rounds. This is to ensure they stay on target as originally gyrojet rounds had a tendency to veer wildly off target. The fins have fixed that issue very nicely and even have the added effect of leaving a wider wound and ensure additional bleeding. The tip of the round comes to a fairly rounded point to assist in penetration. For the demonstration we will be using these kinds of rounds for the most part. We will have a few experimental rounds for you to see, but as I said those are experimental."

He pulled the long round apart in his hands, revealing a cut away version,
"This is what is inside a gyrojet round. The firearm strikes the back of the round igniting the primer and the primer in turn ignites the propellant, in this case, gun cotton. The burning gun cotton releases gas as it burns and the gas is expelled through a small hole in the rear of the round. Thus we have the propulsion for the round. Are there any questions about how the round functions?"

Dead silence was his answer.

Morris clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace as he continued explaining,
"The rounds are loaded into a small box with a spring in the bottom of it and then the box is inserted into the firearm for use. The spring at the bottom of the box pushes rounds up and into the firing chamber to allow for rapid firing. A small pin strikes the back of the round and ignites a primer which in turn ignites the propellant and the round flies out of the firearm. The process is very quick, taking only a matter of milliseconds to complete. Are there any more questions before we begin?"

Bold move raised his hoof,
"Yes, will these weapons be usable by Kavim if this project is approved?"

Morris nodded,
"We have prototypes here with us today for just that purpose. We will be getting to those at the end though. For the moment we have our very own Royal Master Marksman with us today, Enrique Edwards, Marine Scout Sniper." Morris gestured to the field behind him, "I'll custom make a firearm for any of you who can spot Mr. Edwards without using magic."

Fifteen pairs of eyes roved over the seemingly empty field for nearly three minutes before Swift Wind spoke up,
"I've got the best eyesight of any of us and even I can't spot him."

Celestia, Luna, and Peach Pit lit up their horns and gasped,
"He's... he's not even three Fathoms away!" Peach Pit exclaimed.

A patch of the soil rose up, separating itself from its surroundings and smiled at the awestruck Kavim,
"A good sniper can stay concealed for days without moving." the Royal Master Marksman stood up completely and cracked his back, "Hehe, one of you has some sharp hooves. You stepped on the back of my head." he shrugged off the ghillie suite and dropped it onto the ground, "I came out here last night and picked my spot, crafted the suite, and bedded down to wait. Not a single person knew where I was."

He dusted himself off and turned toward Morris,
"Are the armaments ready?"

"Hold on!" Bold Move interjected, "How were you able to do that? An assassin could hide like that and could have attacked one of the Princesses before we saw them!"

Enrique smirked smugly and crossed his arms,
"Trade secret boys. Of course after you approve of this program I'll be teaching all of you how to use guns properly, which will of course include how to make a ghillie suite and become literally invisible. Now, let us continue." he turned back to Morris, "Are the armaments ready?"

Morris gestured to the cases,
"They're all yours Marine."

Enrique nodded his head curtly then turned toward the pavilion while Morris unlocked all the cases,
"While I perform the demonstration, I will be using 'Hot Range' rules and commands. When operating or even handling a firearm there are certain rules you MUST follow strictly. The first firearm I'm going to be demonstrating is what we refer to as a semiautomatic rifle. This weapon holds ten rounds in a detachable magazine and I will be firing all ten rounds with a few seconds in between each one."

He turned and walked over to the crates as Morris stood up holding the rifle. Enrique held out his hands with a snap of movement and Morris' own hands eased out, handing over the gun. Enrique clasped his hands around the gun and Morris held on for a brief moment more before nodding, opening his hands, and stepping back smartly. Morris then bent back down, rummaged in the case briefly, stood back up, and held out a magazine for Enrique. Unbeknownst to their audience, Enrique, Darryl, and Morris had spent several hours discussing how to present gun safety to the Princesses and spectators. They had all agreed that if Humans were introducing guns, it was also their place to enforce gun safety as strictly as possible to avoid accidents. All three of them realized that there would be accidents, but if they enforced the rules of gun safety as strictly as possible, hopefully it would help to enforce the idea that guns were not things to be toyed with, nor ever to be taken lightly, or handled carelessly.

Enrique turned on his heels and Morris backed away ten paces as Darryl stepped up next to his fellow Marine,
"Load weapon!" Darryl barked.

Enrique loaded the magazine into the rifle and slid back the bolt with sharp movements. He shouldered the gun so that the barrel was pointed straight up.

"Range is hot!" Darryl shouted loudly, "Commense fire in twenty seconds!" he paused for two seconds before he began to count as Enrique brought the rifle up to the firing position, "20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... FIRE!"

Enrique shouldered the rifle and took aim carefully then pulled the trigger.

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The rifle fired the rounds flawlessly. The feeding mechanism was a bit rough but it functioned, even though it probably could have used more oil. Enrique held the rifle still in the firing position until Darryl called out for him to shoulder the weapon. Enrique shouldered the rifle and turned to his right as Morris stepped up to him again. Morris held out his hands and Enrique placed the rifle into his grip, holding on for another moment as Morris' hands gripped the gun.

Enrique let out a sigh of relief, which was only to emphasize the seriousness of handling a gun to the audience, he turned and addressed everypony under the pavillion tent,
"If any of you would like, we are willing to show this gun around so you can gain an understanding of how the firearm works in the most basic mechanical sense."

The Princesses' faces were neutral, but the Commanders and Captain looked puzzled as Bold Move spoke up,
"That was very loud and startling, but I believe I speak for my fellow Guards when I ask, 'Where did the rounds hit?' We didn't see any explosions and the ropunds are so much smaller than arrows, we just couldn't follow them."

Enrique nodded his head slightly,
"Good question." he turned his head and bellowed, "Clear the line! Clear the line!" he looked left and right three times before looking back to the observing Kavim, "Come and see. I fired at one of the closest targets so you can get a good idea of what these can do."

The Princesses and the Guards all rose and followed Enrique as he walked toward the wooden targets. Enrique was silent as he strode up to the target and leaned against the solid, one Hoof thick piece of wood with a target painted on it.

The Kavim trotted up and began looking over the target,
"Where did they hit?" Luna asked.

Swift Wind pointed to a series of tiny holes in the wood,
"They did this?"

The holes were dead center of the saucer sized red circle in the middle of the target. All ten were arranged in a perfect circle around the very edge of the red paint. They were placed so precisely that it looked like it was a design of the target.

Peach Pit was somewhat impressed,
"I'm guessing that these weapons are meant to be fired in volleys like arrows or crossbows. I will admit that any weapon like that would put down most enemies if it hit flesh."

Enrique smiled even bigger,
"Stand back please so I can properly show you the effect."

The Kavim stepped back and Enrique pushed on the piece of wood. It fell over, landing on its painted side, revealing a baseball sized hole in the back and splinters of wood in the hay bale behind it. The Ponies' eyes widened as they took in the destructive power of the gun.

"The power of these rounds would have passed through several bodies before they stopped. The damage to flesh and internal organs would have been horrendous and hideous plus agonizingly painful for the brief moments before the living thing died from the trauma and blood loss." Enrique explained, "Now, if we had some ballistics gel, we could demonstrate almost exact effects on flesh, but we don't so wood will have to do."

Enrique missed the thoughtful look that passed between Celestia and Luna as he set the target back up and headed back to the firing line,
"Please follow me and return to the pavilion tent so we can continue the demonstration."

The Guards trotted back to the pavilion tent chatting loudly about the power of the gun while Celestia and Luna walked along casually, seemingly not disturbed by the thought of the power of the rifle. Steady Plod had yet to speak a single word but he was thinking about something and wondering if his Earth Pony magic could stop a bullet.

The Guards and Princesses reentered the tent and settled down on their cushions and pillows again as Enrique calmly strode up to the front of the tent,
"What you have just witnessed was a demonstration of the most simple and basic design of the firearm. The next part of this demonstration will involve using the more advanced gyrojet guns that have been designed by Morris Almond and Jason Campbell. The first is going to be what we refer to as a semiautomatic pistol. The pistol fires much smaller rounds and they will not be quite as powerful, however the lack of power is offset by the ease of use and the fact that the pistol can be used in one hand and quickly reloaded. I already have the weapon tucked into the holster on the right side of my belt, which was generously donated by our talented seamstresses. I am going to fire off all fifteen rounds in this pistol in slow succession then we can go and look at the target."

Enrique stepped up to the firing line and Darryl stepped up to his left,
"Range is hot! Commence fire in twenty seconds! 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... fire!"

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The report from the gyrojet rounds was negligible, very quiet indeed. Enrique emptied the magazine and waited for Darryl to give the 'all clear' before holstering it. The Ponies were already on their hooves, eager to see the result of the smaller gun. Enrique yelled out and cleared the firing line before gesturing for them to follow him out to the target.

As they approached, it was readily apparent how much less power the smaller gyrojet rounds has behind them. The backs of the rounds were visible inside the holes they made in the wood, if just barely. However, the rounds were grouped very tightly together with less than a finger width between any of them and every one was within the red painted circle in the center of the target, just very much more sporadic in their placement.

Enrique stopped and gestured to the target,
"As you can see these gyrojet rounds have much less power behind them, however their lack of power is made up for by the sheer volume of rounds you can fire in quick succession. We have ideas for several types of specialized rounds for different situations and we even have a few with us today. Are there any questions, concerns, or comments at this time?"

Bold Move shook out his mane,
"Is this capable of penetrating armor of any kind? Because these don't look to have the necessary power to pierce anything metallic."

Enrique crossed his arms,
"That's a good question, but we don't have any regular armor to test it against and there is no way I'm firing at one of you just to test it out."

Luna cocked her head to the side,
"I could conjure up a clone construct with armor if you wish." she turned to her sister, "That kind of magic hasn't been outlawed has it?"

Celestia shook her head,
"It's devious but it's still used occasionally."

Enrique's eyebrows rose dramatically,
"I... suppose that would work, but don't give the construct a face."

Steady Plod took that moment to finally speak up,
"Either way it wouldn't matter if the target was an Earth Pony. If an Earth Pony decided to Meld, nothing would hurt them."

There were murmurs of agreement all around at his statement, Enrique looked utterly puzzled,
"What are you talking about?"

Steady Plod turned toward the confused Marine,
"When an Earth Pony Melds, which is the shortened version of Meld With The Soil, they are impervious. I don't mean tough, they are literally indestructible except to be torn apart physically, which is nearly impossible, or pulled apart magically by a magic more powerful than their own. There have been cases where the Earth Pony's magic was so strong they could maintain their state indefinitely." seeing the continuing puzzled expression on Enrique's face, Steady Plod offered, "I can show you if you want. Melding is one of the skills that Earth Ponies are taught in the Guard. It's one of the skills taught from the military combat art of Avalanche."

Enrique's interest was piqued,
"I would be very interested in seeing that."

Steady Plod nodded,
"Alright then." he turned toward the pavilion tent, "We move at our regular speed while Melded and we still tire. I'll run from here to the... firing line."

Enrique took a step back, as did everypony else as Steady Plod began at a trot. The trot quickly became a run, then a gallop, and finally a charge. As he careened away from his audience he began sinking into the ground as he ran. Enrique's eyes bulged as he watched, as did the eyes of the other Humans present. Steady Plod slowly sank into the earth until there was nothing to be seen of him at all. There was no bulge in the dirt, no shockwave, nothing at all to indicate where he might be. After a few more seconds the dirt near the firing line exploded upward in a shower of debris which extended a full eight Fathoms into the air. As the raining dirt and rocks cleared from the air, Steady Plod could be seen standing within the cloud.

Enrique's jaw was hanging open silently as Steady Plod began walking back toward him,
"As I said, Melding. A firearm wouldn't do anything against an Earth Pony who was Melded With The Soil." the Earth Pony yelled across the small distance.

Enrique couldn't counter the argument,
"How many Ponies know how to Meld?"

Steady Plod came to a stop in front of the Hispanic Marine,
"About one third of the Earth Pony stallions in Equestria."

"So about one sixth of the males in a nation that has a five to one ratio of males to females. I can live with that, besides there are more to see." Enrique said.

Princess Celestia cocked her head to the side,
"How many more? What more can you do?"

Enrique looked to the sky as he began counting off with his fingers,
"The rifle for long range, the submachine gun for suppressive fire, the assault rifle for multiple targets, and the shotgun for heavy power at close range."

Luna suppressed an evil grin,
"Did you still want that clone construct? Do not worry, it is simply a non-living clone. It has no magic, no soul, no thoughts, and no feelings and I can dispel it at any time. It is... a temporary conjured corpse."

Enrique was intrigued and sporting an evil smile... never a good thing for a Marine.

Guns and more importantly, gun safety.

Shoot the typos!