“So Andrew, how are you such a high rank at such a young age? You said you were a Captain before you came here, if I remember correctly.” Rainbow asked, causing Andrew to chuckle slightly.

He took a moment to swallow his food before speaking, “I guess it’s because I went to college, that and I did a lot of ass kissing,” his hair covered over his eyes, “that and you tend to rank up fast when there’s a war going on.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“When there’s a war going on, you start to run out of good people to fight, and the ones who survive turn into killing machines. What kills them in the end is either the PTSD or pumping them full of bullets.” He took a sip of water from his canteen, “thats funny, ‘cause I’m one of those people.”

Rainbow shook her head no, and she gripped onto Andrew’s arm tightly, getting his attention, “that’s a lie, I know you. You’re the second coolest thing I know, next to me of course.”

“Of course...” He repeated after her, almost mumbling it under his breath.

“I never did tell you, did I?” Andrew looked down at Rainbow, who looked right back at him.

“Tell me what?” She raised an eyebrow at him. He let out a huge sigh and chuckled.

“I wanted to let you know that I was making something for you. I actually have it here with me.” He said, in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone. Rainbow got up on all fours, and awaited Andrew to pull out his gift for her.

Andrew pulled out a small Ruger Mk. III Pistol, the trigger guard and the trigger itself were extended for it to be usable with hooves, other than that, it was completely the same as any other gun. He flipped it in the palm of his hand, the handle facing towards Rainbow.

She excitedly grabbed for it, but Andrew pulled it away, “nah ah ah, safety first. Remind me to teach you how to shoot before I give this to you.”

“Yeah, but this is so cool! You’re giving me a gun!”

“Rainbow, a gun isn’t a toy, it’s a weapon. You could go to jail without the proper licensing.” He said, putting the Ruger back into his rucksack.

“Come by my place tomorrow morning, I’ll have it ready for you by then. Besides, I’m thinking it should use a sick paint job first.”

“Yeah! I totally agree, it needs to be cyan blue, like me! Oh! Can it have my cutie mark on the grip?” Andrew smiled and nodded, which caused Rainbow to squeal with excitement.

“Hey Andrew?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re the best.”

“I know, I even surprise myself sometimes.” He said sarcastically.

Andrew got up and brushed himself off, grabbing his backpack as he stood up. He let out a sigh and looked at Rainbow, who looked at him back, confused. He packed up everything into the picnic basket and carried it with him back to the police station. Rainbow followed him closely behind.

“Where do you think you’re going?” She asked, Andrew chuckled.

“Vinyl invited me for a recording session, she wanted to hear some of the music I had in this thing.” He brought his tacpad waist level so he could look at it, it glowed a holographic blue as it was switched on.

“Can I come?” Rainbow asked, and as a response Andrew nodded.

Andrew knocked on the door to Vinyl’s music store, even though it was closed he could see her through the glass door very clearly. She brought up her head and smiled, she opened the door to let both Andrew and Rainbow inside.

“I assume she’s here because she wants to watch?” Andrew set down his backpack and nodded.

“Sound room’s over there, and here,” Vinyl grabbed a headset with her mouth, and threw it at Andrew, “you’re gonna need that.”

“Aight, let’s make some noise.” Andrew put on the headset supplied to him.

Andrew shut the door closed behind him, and tapped the microphone in front of him and he heard the satisfying echoing thump come through his headset. He looked behind him, seeing multiple instruments that were in disrepair, some were even broken in half.

“I can probably get someone in to fix those, Jhon used to be somewhat of a carpenter if I remember correctly.” He picked up a broken guitar, looked at it for a second, and then put back in the junk pile.

“How many instruments do you do through?” Andrew said through the microphone, and all Vinyl did was shrug as a response, and Andrew rolled his eyes back at her.

“Are you gonna whine some more are are we gonna get a move on?!” Rainbow practically shouted into Andrew’s ears through his headset, which caused him to rapidly tear the headset off of his head.

He stuck his finger in his ear and twisted it around, trying to get his already deteriorating sense of hearing back. Once he regained his hearing, he put it back on. He gave a thumbs up to Vinyl and she started the music, luckily Andrew knew this song all too well.

Vinyl had a look of approval, much to Andrew’s satisfaction. She nodded and grabbed for the microphone, “you humans got some pretty good songs! Hey, can I see your wrist-thingy?”

Andrew snickered as he unstrapped the buckle to his tacpad, he opened the door to Vinyl’s room and gave it to her, and along with that he gave simple instructions to use it. H went into his music playlist and let Vinyl at it from there.

“Now, don’t expect me to sing every one. As you can probably tell by now that I’m not a girl.” Andrew instructed. Going back into the soundproof room, he put the headset back on and gave a thumbs up to Vinyl again.

“Alright, let’s continue then!”

All night Andrew had been working on paperwork, paperwork for Rainbow’s gun. By the time morning came he was already passed out on the desk, stubble formed on his face overnight, and dry drool could be seen on the corner of his mouth.

When he heard a knock on the door, he woke up instantly, he looked around to see that he was back in his office. Once he was aware of his senses he got up to open the door. He opened it to find Rainbow, happily waiting for her new gun.

“Hey man, you look like trash!” Rainbow exclaimed, much to her enthusiasm.

“Thanks for the compliment, come with me.” Rainbow followed Andrew down the hallway, unsure of where she was going. All she knew about the police station was the room Andrew and his friends slept in, as well as the lobby.

“Alright, so here’s your license, and here’s your gun.”

He tossed them to Rainbow, who caught it by the handle with her hoof, much to her amusement. She caught the piece of plastic with her wing, and put it under her. She had to find a good place to put it for future reference.

“Alright, I’ve yet to put a paint job on it because I was busy all night with the licensing. Drop it by Paint Job down the street or something, I’m sure he’ll gladly paint it for you. Tell him that I sent you, and he’ll do it on the house, he owes me a few favors anyway.”

Andrew opened the door to the range, and he opened the

“I-Is that-?”

“Yeah, it’s a laser rifle. The ones you see in the movies.” Andrew smirked, slinging it over his shoulder, “Jhon and I were working on it before we went to war, I just want to test fire it to see if it works properly.”

“What’s this war about anyways?” Rainbow asked, which caused Andrew to go silent.

“Apparently, someone’s planning on taking over Equestria. I don’t know the full details, but... we think a griffon may have to do with it.” He said in a solemn tone, dampening the mood in the process.

“Anyways, the range is yours.” Andrew went to the other side of the shooting range, and pressed a big red button on the wall, causing targets to pop up in and out of cover.

Rainbow put on ear plugs, as well as safety glasses, so nothing would get in her eyes. Andrew did the same, but at a much faster rate compared to Rainbow. At first, she was confused.

“Hey, why do we need these exactly?”

“So you don’t go deaf, the glasses prevent any debris from getting in your eyes. Simple enough?” Andrew gave a short and sweet explanation of her equipment.

“I guess so.”

Rainbow looked at the gun a little bit before shooting, as if she didn’t know what she was doing. She has shot a gun before, but it was with the careful help of Andrew and Helena. She squeezed the trigger, and a little pop came out of her gun, a quick flash came from the muzzle.

Rainbow smiled, “I think I can get used to this.”

Andrew pulled the trigger, and a single green beam of light came from his laser rifle. It hit in the dead center of the target, and made a scorch mark where it hit. He leaned to the right to the right to find out that it went right through the target and into the hill of sand right behind it.

“I think I may have outdid myself...” He scratched his head with the side of the gun, he looked sincerely surprised.

Andrew set down the experimental laser rifle on the table, and put a hand on Rainbow’s back. Her standing on her hind legs brought her a few feet taller, but still about a foot shorter than Andrew, but he was impressed.

“Since when could you stand on your hind legs?”

“Since always! Everypony can do this, it just get uncomfortable after some time. It’s not a normal thing though, unless you count Lyra.”

“Oh, I guess I haven’t really noticed that ‘till now...” Andrew seemed dumbfounded, but all in all he got over it immediately.

Andrew looked over Rainbow’s shoulder to see how well she was doing, and to be honest, her grouping was much tighter than his, she even made a few bullets go through the same hole. Although this was a lighter gun, as well as a smaller sized bullet to match.

“Well?” Andrew held out his arms, as if he was presenting something.

“I love it.” Rainbow caught Andrew off guard, managing to put him on his ass when she ran up to hug him. He fell to the cold hard cement with a thud, he let out a muffled moan on impact.

“Man, you hit hard!” Andrew chuckled, throwing Rainbow off of him in the process.

“Anyways, I think I should go get myself cleaned up. Let’s get outta here.”

“Let me guess, ‘I can’t be in here without an expert to watch me?’” Andrew nodded, and opened the door. He gestured with his hand and he bowed as Rainbow left the room first.

“Ladies first.”

“Lady? Do you think you’re talking to Rarity or something? Pssh.” Andrew turned off the lights and locked the door behind him.

“I got some things I need to be doing, I’ll see ya later.”

“Aight, I’m gonna go shower and freshen up a bit.”

Andrew went into the locker room, which also happened to double out as a shower. He put all of his dirty clothes into the hamper, and turned on the shower. The water heater was brand new, so it didn’t take long before the water got very hot.

He hopped in without hesitation, and he started to mess around with his hair. A smile grew across his face as the warm water from the shower met in contact with his skin, he could see a small stream of dirt go down the drain.

“Damn, what have I been doing to get covered in shit?” He asked himself, not knowing exactly why.

“Don’t you think being in a three month long coma had to do with anything?” Something hissed in his ears.

Instinctively, Andrew grabbed a shampoo bottle and swung it around behind him. Though, nothing was there. He got that bad feeling in his gut again, as well as a sour taste in his mouth.

“Oh, it’s you.” He spat, only to hear a chuckle as a response.

“It’s been awhile, how have you been, hun?” Carmine caressed Andrew’s chin, he grabbed her by the wrist and kept it away from him.

“Oh, I’ve been fine, until you showed up that is.”

“Now now, Andrew. Don’t be that way.”

“Get your dirty-ass hands off of me. What do you want?” Andrew asked, in a hostile tone.

“I just want to talk, it’s been so lonely up here, in the Frozen North.” Andrew silently repeated her last two words as if it were a question. He didn’t know all the places in Equestria, and he surely didn’t know the Frozen North existed.

“Leave me alone, let me bathe in peace.”

“Fine... I’ll see you later then.” Carmine and the cloud of darkness suddenly disappeared into the steam of the hot shower, Andrew was left there in a daze of sorts.

“Hopefully never.” He hissed.