So many guns. Even with this much firepower, there was one thing I noticed. They were all primitive or obsolete compared to something like my M4a1 or the GAU-8 on my A-10. The guns in my store were more like from the 80s or the 90s. By 80s and 90s,  I meant the 1880s and 1890s.

Every so often, I'd hear a gunshot. Most likely an outdoor range. Ponies milled around the shop, browsing my inventory. My store was basically identical to its previous state with exception to the guns.

Something jumped on the back of my head and I instinctively drew Yin and Yang. Wait a minute, it was really fluffy and plush. Fluffle Puff? I holstered both pistols and lifted her off of the back of my head, holding her in front of me.

"Careful there Tran. It's just that Fluffle Puff thing." Logan? "And why were you in one of the storage rooms?" I looked over and I saw Logan. Looks the Doctor's plans worked. I placed Fluffle Puff on the ground and she ran off.

"Who are you, little filly?" Logan asked, pointing at Dink Hooves.

She didn't reply. Shyness, that's right. "Her name is Dinky Hooves" I replied. "She's a bit shy."

"You think?" Logan said. "She could rival Fluttershy!" Dinky frowned at Logan and walked away in the back of the store into a storage room. Wait, she still had her saddlebags. How did I not notice that earlier? Eh. I could see the new copy of the Daring Do novel in one of the saddlebags.

"Hey Logan, can you give me a list of all of your weapons?" I asked.

"Sure?" Logan replied. "Hmm. I have my McMillan, SPAS, an AR10, an M14 EBR, a Ruger LC9, two Glocks, and two tomahawks." Wait, what?

"Didn't you also have two .410 revolvers, a compound bow, a derringer, and a UMP 45?" I asked.

"Since when?" Logan asked. "And why would I have a bow? With those rail gun mods, a bow is completely useless. And a derringer? Really? Compared to Yin and Yang and those hundred round magazines, a derringer is a pea shooter!"

WAIT, WHAT?!??!??!?! YIN AND YANG DOESN'T HAVE INFINITE AMMO!?!?!? I pulled out the two pistols and ejected their magazines. Like usual, both magazines were loaded with .460 Rowlands with one being a Black Talon and the other being an armor piercing spitzer round. Both magazines looked like standard 7 round Scoville mags. On the side of the magazine was a number etched into it. "A hundred" I read out loud. I pulled a round from the magazine and it turned into a ninety-nine. Magically enchanted magazines. Smart. A step down from infinite ammo but still good.

Wait, if these had to be manually reloaded, why didn't I hold any of them in my inventory? I tried to place the two magazines in my magazine but wasn't able to do so. The magic that enchanted the magazines most likely conflicted with the Minecraft powers. Eh. Wait, then where was I holding extra magazines?

I took off the holster that held Yin and Yang. Along the belt/strap of the holster were 8 quad pistol magazine pouches and two single magazine pouches holding a total of 26 of the enchanted 1911 magazines (thirteen held mags for Yin and the other thirteen held mags for Yang). Gotta love the number 13, my lucky number. I replaced the holster and holstered Yin and Yang. Even though I liked the infinite ammunition capability that they once had, this rig was nice.

Wait, if this was different, what else was different? I checked myself over. Like usual, I was wearing my usual amount of clothing, my assassin's robes, BDU, fleece, white button up, and black pants. My general appearance wasn't any different. All my belongings seemed to be the same. However, I felt some extra weight on my arms and legs. I took off my jackets and rolled up my pants legs. Apparently, I wore bracelets now. Around both of my arm were two bracelets made of 7.62 Nato ammo belts, each made up of 13 rounds linked with M13 disintegrating links. The number 13, my lucky number. Around my legs were a set of throwing knives, holstered in my boots and identical to my other throwing knives. I checked where I usually found my throwing knives. Huh, I now had three sets of throwing knives.

"Uh Tran, what are you doing?" Logan asked.

"Nothing" I replied.

"Are you sure?" Logan asked. "You've been acting weirdly."

"It's nothing. I'll be fine" I said.

"Everyone says that until something bad happens" Logan said. "Use your outdoor range a bit. Maybe you'll feel better." I started to walk towards the door. "Oh yeah. Tran, your gun is ready." What gun? I turned around to face a gun thrown at me. I caught it just in time. "I refinished it just like you asked."

Now that I had it, I examined it. It was a Webley Mark VI revolver. I absolutely loved this gun. It was a British revolver that fired the powerful .455 Webley round. It featured a four inch barrel that was modified with a rail gun modification. My favorite thing about this gun was that it featured a breakdown design. This meant that when you reloaded it, you don't press a cylinder release and swing out the chamber, the gun breaks apart on a hinge to reload.

I stored it in my inventory and grabbed some extra ammunition. After a little bit of thinking, I paired it with my Colt Python. Two amazingly reliable and effective revolvers. Gotta love it.

I just walked around the store looking at the guns. Bolt action rifles, lever action rifles, single shot lever rifles, revolvers, magnums, double or single barreled shotguns, and the occasional pistol were displayed in different sections of my store. All of these guns were similar to the guns my friends and I used but there were noticeable mechanical differences. For one thing, most of these guns had oversized hammers and the triggers were incorporated into their handles. I speculated that these changes were for pony use. A pony universe with guns. Primitive but still, they have guns! Occasionally, I'd see a gun that didn't have the enlarged hammer and trigger. Without those extras, they looked identical to certain guns that came from our universe. Heh. Most likely for a griffon or a Minotaur.

The locks on the displays were identical to the locks on my store that were on the previous cabinets that held the swords, bows, and armor I once sold. I walked over to one cabinet that held several pistols. Suspicious, I took out my lanyard and tried out a key on the lock. The key turned and unlocked the cabinet. What are the odds? With the gun cabinet open, I pulled out a pistol.

It resembled a 1911 except that it had a large spurred hammer and like many of the other guns, had the trigger incorporated into the handle. It had a small, paper tag tied to the trigger but I didn't bother checking it. Unlike any other pistol in the real world, there wasn't any identification prints on the side of the gun except for the words "Tran Ironworks" written on the left side of the gun. When I unloaded it, I found an all too familiar magazine. It was an empty 1911 seven round magazine. I took out Yang and ejected the magazine currently loaded in her. I placed the empty pistol magazine into Yang and it fit perfectly. With this information, I reloaded Yang with her rightful magazine and placed the empty 1911 magazine down before reholstering Yang. I had manufactured a pony version of the 1911 and in different models and versions too! In the cabinet were the same pistol but with different barrel lengths.

Then I laughed, of course I'd make an entire cabinet in my store dedicated to 1911s. When I looked back into that cabinet, I noticed one peculiar pistol. It was an exact clone of the five inch M1911 model! I took it out and inspected it. Again, it had no ID printing on the side of the gun except for the words "Tran Ironworks" on the left side of the gun and there was a small tag tied to the trigger. When I checked the tag tied to the gun, it read "M1911 .45 caliber pistol. Five inch barrel. White combat sights. 7 round magazine. Griffon/Minotaur/Human model. 150 bits" written in pencil. I checked the tag tied to the trigger of the pistol of the other gun and it read "M1911a1 .45 caliber pistol. Four inch commander model. Illuminated Night sights. 7 round magazine. Pony/Zebra/Horse model. 150 bits" also written in pencil. I looked around the store at the other cabinets and found no other pistols. I only made 1911s when it came to pistols? Makes sense. The 1911 is my favorite pistol. Though that didn't stop me from making more revolvers and magnums.

The prices were strange. Why were the prices so low? A decent 1911 back in the human world in 2014 would cost you a grand. With a price of 150 bits, I'm practically giving it away.

"Logan, put those pistols away and lock the cabinet for me. I'm going to the outdoor range" I said.

Outdoor ranges are so fun! I walked up to the front door. It too was different. It appeared to be made of a reinforced laminated armored glass. Like the windows, they no longer had the steel bars that had once armored the windows(I'm going to guess they're in the same situation as the door). Even stranger, there was a help wanted sign plastered on the the door. Since when did I need an employee to run my store?

I walked outside and the gunfire grew louder. I love that sound. No matter what others say, I ain't gonna (SCREW YOU GRAMMAR NAZIS) use any hearing protection. I walked towards the source of the gunfire, finding that it came from behind the store. It. Was. Amazing. The range was actually a large cleared area of land that was four times the width of a football field and ten times the length. Damn and I was supposed to have built this. It had seventy-five shooting lanes and the length of the lanes were all of the same but the targets were distanced differently.

What was even stranger was the shooters. They were all ponies. All of them used either a revolver, some of which appeared to be single action, or a bolt action/lever action rifle. There was an occasional shooter with a double barrel shotgun and even scarcer were ponies with single shot shotguns. How they fired their guns was even more interesting. They stood up on their hind legs to shoot, much like a human minus the fingers and hands.

I walked over to a lane and looked downrange. Two hundred yards down was a target that had the silhouette of a pony. Strange, I thought I'd use a human silhouette. Wait a minute, my lucky number is thirteen. I walked down to the thirteenth lane. It had a table and down range were human silhouetted targets. One was a hundred yards out, the second was five hundred yards out, and the last target was two thousand yards out.

In the lanes beside me were two pony shooters. The twelfth lane had a unicorn mare who was shooting two revolvers at the same time and the fourteenth lane housed a earth pony stallion that was using a lever action revolver. I walked over to the mare with the two revolvers. She appeared to be wielding two double action revolvers that looked a lot like the stereotypical six shooters from the Wild West times. Around her waist area was a set of dual "cowboy" holsters that appeared to be customized for ponies. Fifteen yards down range was a target shaped like a griffon with its wings out, ready for flight. 'How fitting' I thought.

The mare stopped shooting and started reloading. "Can ah help you?" she asked. I kept looking down range at the target. Only three shots had clipped the target. One shot had hit the griffon's left wing, another shot had hit the target's left hand, and the last shot had barely clipped its tail.

"You need to take time on your shots. Dual wielding also takes a lot of skill. It doesn't look like your ambidextrous or used to using two handguns so stick to one gun at a time until your accustomed to it" I said.

"What do you know?" the mare said.

The mare had already finished reloading. I smiled. "May I borrow one of your guns."

She handed me the revolver she was shooting in her left hoof. "Don't lose it mister fancy clothes" she said jokingly.

I grabbed it and examined it. Like any normal revolver, it had a six round chamber and a hammer. However, that was the only thing it had in common with a normal revolver. The trigger was a short squeeze trigger that was incorporated into the grip of the revolver, mostly like for hooves. It had a breakdown design that was akin to a Smith & Wesson Model 3 Schofield revolver from the 1870s. I could tell the revolver was designed to be double action or single action (DA/SA) like many modern revolvers. When I "broke" the revolver down, six rounds were automatically ejected, indicating it had an automatic ejector. The rounds that came out were all .45 Colts, a very common "cowboy" round. The sights was a standard Patridge square notch and post sight. This revolver was basically a modernish cowboy six shooter. When I looked at the barrel of the revolver, I found an engraving on the underside of the barrel. "Colt Firearms" it said in a stylized font. Ah. Colt. Of course, that would exist as a firearms company here in Equestria. Looks like I had a competitor.

A mildly loud gunshot rang out and an excessively large cloud of smoke came out the barrel of the gun. 'Probably a black powder cartridge.' I fired the other five shots and handed the revolver back to her. When the large smoke cloud disappeared, it revealed that all six shots had hit the target's head in roughly... damn. A three inch grouping. Fifteen yards and only a three inch grouping. That's absolutely terrible! I blame the gun being new/strange to me. The pony trigger is also a bit strange.

"Holy Celestia" she said. "What was that bout shooting did yah say?"

I laughed. Its not like I was nationally ranked for my shooting before the zombie apocalypse. "What's your name?" I asked her.

"Jane" she replied. "Calamity Jane." I burst out in laughter. "What?"

-X-X-X-

"Aim carefully" I said. "Take your time." Calamity was carefully aiming her right revolver at the griffon shaped target. *BANG* When the smoke cleared, it revealed the griffon had a hole in its head. "Good." She smiled before she took aim again. In a rapid succession, she fired the remaining five shots in rapid succession, creating a large smoke cloud.

"What did I say about shooting rapidly?" I said to her.

She smiled. "Why don't you look at the target?" I turned and faced the target. There was still a large smoke cloud created from the shots. It soon cleared revealing that the five rounds she fired were in a two in a half inch grouping in the target's head.

"Hey, it was because I was shooting a gun that was strange to me" I said back.

"And ahm Princess Celestia" Jane said back.

I drew my Colt Python from my inventory and fired all six shots. Since it fired a cartridge with smokeless powder, it didn't create an enormous cloud upon firing. I hit the cylinder release on the revolver and dumped out the six rounds. Reloading, I looked at my target. All six rounds had hit the griffon's head in a quarter inch grouping. "Your point?" I said to Jane. "You use a gun designed for ponies. I use a gun designed for humans."

She popped open her revolver and started to reload it, one round at a time. "Show off." She finished reloading and snapped the revolver close. She smiled and looked at me. "But thank you for yahr help. It's really going tah help me with the interview."

I looked at her strangely. "Interview?" I asked.

"Yeah. I want to get a job at the War and Peace" she explained. I burst out in laughter again. Of course I would require that in a job interview. "Hey! That's offending you know."

I shook my head a few times. "I'm the owner" I said.

"What?" she said back.

"I'm the owner of the War and Peace" I repeated.

"S-Sir! A-Ahm-" she started saying before I cut her off.

"Don't worry. You have the job" I said. "And don't call me sir. I hate having people saying sir to me and I hate saying it to anyone else."

"Oh thank you!" Jane said. "When do ah start?"

"Today. I'll pay you a six hundred bits every two weeks." Why did her eyes grow bigger than dinner plates? "Go inside my store. You'll find someone that is the same species as I am. Tell him that I hired you" I said.

She started walking over to the store's entrance when she stopped and pulled out a cell touch screen phone from her mane. My jaw dropped down as I watched her dial a number. "I got the job!" she yelled into the phone. She clicked a button, placed it back into her mane, and walked into the store.

A cell phone. A cell phone. Hijo de puta. I never liked those damn things! They were near useless times of technology in the hands of society. There's a reason why I had a damn Nokia flip phone before the apocalypse! For one thing, they were damn near indestructible and it showed from the times I had dropped my personal Nokia off of cliffs. For the second part, a Nokia flip phone is only useful for one basic, calling. That's what a phone is for! A phone isn't for using the internet, or texting, or watching videos. No. They're for calling people.

Let's compare the average Nokia flip phone(mine is a Nokia 2720 Fold) to the average Iphone(lets stick with an Iphone 5). If you drop an Iphone, you crack the screen beyond recognition and it's annoying to use. When you drop a Nokia, it doesn't crack, break, or get damaged. In fact, your more likely to damage the floor! Another point, battery life. An Iphone can last a little under eight hours if you turn it on a full charge and a little under twenty hours if it isn't use. The Nokia will lat maybe a few days. If it isn't in use, it can last over two weeks! Actually, eighteen days according to the specs on the box that my Nokia came with.

Can you see this from my point? I freaking hate smart phones. The only use I see in them are as makeshift cameras, MP3(coincidentally, I have an MP3 filled with a few of my personal favorites), unneeded weights, and or something convenient to throw at someone.

Wait a minute... If ponies have cell phones, what else do they have? Wait... They have cell phones but they're stuck in the late 19th century when it comes to firearms?!? What the 'ell?!? Welp, I should have expected that actually. When Equestria was normal, things like speakers, music players, phonographs, early forms of films and computers, and just about other small examples of technology existed. I wonder what the technological gaps and combinations exist in this modified Equestria. This could be interesting.

Wait, technology. "Nguyen" I said.

"Yes?" the familiar voice of my AI replied.

"Bring up any research on Equestria's strange situation when it comes to being locked in several different time periods compared to the US?" I asked him.

"Alright" Nguyen replied. Nguyen filled my vision with a large web of information. It reminded me of the webs people would make when searching for someone/something.

Everyone was strange. Everything my friends and I have done so far was changed. It was like we had been situated in this universe since we had got here. Even Equestria's past history was different and fitted as if everything had been different in the first place. The only people that were aware of this was Doctor Whooves, Derpy, Dinky, and I. It's rather strange knowing this. I wonder how the previous Tran would have felt?

Eh. Welp, I'm stuck with this universe so gonna have to deal with it. The information on the web the previous Tran and Nguyen had gathered was very useful. Equestria was stuck in differentiated zoned evolutionary stages like the previous Equestria was. Equestria appeared to be ruled by a mix of a unitary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with more emphasis on the head of state, much like Britain except Equestria gave the princess more power. The "We the People" appeared to stuck in a cultural and technologically evolved state similar to that of the US's early 21st century. Gods. Texting, fashion, the culture, and lets hope to god there is no Equestrian of Justin Bieber. If I see an Equestrian version version of Justin Bieber, I'm nuking him. No joke, I will drop a nuclear bomb on him. Even worse with being in that 21 century state is going to be the gun control. God damn that's going to be annoying. No one is taking myguns.

Equestria's economic state seemed to have mirrored America in the... Oh my. The late 1920s. The economy actually went backwards. It used to be more like a modern dollar from the 21st century. Eh. I guess I'm going to pay Calamity Jane who is just starting out 600 bits a week or nearly one hundred eight thousand dollars a year in modern society. That and I'm charging about two and a half grand in modern money for a standard 1911. Then there's the fact that Equestria has a chance of going through a massive depression like the US did in the late 1920s. However, even with Equestria in a 1920s era economic state, it displayed several modern economic/financial traits. There were several modernish financial programs that Equestria had, suxh as the Equestrian Revenue Service(ERS). They even had a "Tax Day" on April 15th! It was exactly like the US!

The weapon technology was, like I had stated earlier, stuck in the 1880s/90s. However, the military seemed to have evolved into a form that was a mixture of what the US used in World War I and the British before the Civil War. Even better, Equestria now had tanks! Primitive but hey, they have tanks! Also, Equestria's military still used the Royal Guard without official division of the military like on Earth. Equestria's military just seemed to assign people/ponies to certain areas needing man/pony power.

So strange. Why did Equestria have to be so... divided into different periods of time? Everything conflicts with one another. Wait, magic. Duh! Why didn't I think of that early. Ponies and their magic. Why make something to do something that can already be done with magic? Welp, one good thing comes from this strange time periodic division, my friends and I weren't as well known as we once was in the previous edition of this universe.

It was different but I could live with it. Not happily though. I noticed that I had wandered into the market. It reminded of an open air market mixed with a farmer's market and a tang of modern. Like it previously was, it had hundreds of stalls

"Hey Tran!" Applejack? I turned to face her. She was standing behind an apple stall like she usually was but next to her was a large four wheeled truck. The truck was similar to a human truck but it was noticeably different. Instead of the usual door handle of a car, it had a large lever style button on the doors. Instead of being enormously huge like a truck from the human world, it was only four feet tall. In the bed of the truck were several wood buckets of apples.

When I looked back to Applejack, I spotted a shotgun slung on her back. It was an 1897 pump action shotgun which was amazing since I had only seen double barrels and single barreled shotguns so far. The shotgun's stock had a decal of her cutiemark. The receiver and barrel of the gun was heavily engraved with American vine scrolls. The sling that held the shotgun closely to Applejack's back held multiple red shells in a tactical shell setup similar to a Blackhawk shell sling. I smiled. I knew this was what I had given her for Christmas/Hearth's Warming Eve.

"Hello Applejack" I said back to her.

"Whatcha doin here, Tran? Shouldn't yah be runnin yahr store?" Applejack asked.

"Just going on a walk, Applejack" I replied.

"Sorry tah bother yah then, Tran" Applejack said.

I smiled and walked away. Wait, Applejack had a shotgun instead of her crossbow and Logan was missing several of his guns. What else was different?

I opened up a interface that display my friends and their belongings. I specifically filtered it out to view their weapons. It was interesting. Austin no longer had his single shot shotgun or his Mini M-14. Alex no longer had his Serbu Super Shorty shotgun, his Desert Eagles, or his B93Rs. Nick wasn't missing anything and even stranger, the previous Tran had integrated Nick's portal gun into a pair of gloves. Ike, instead of missing any weapons, had more weapons. He now had six .44 magnum revolvers instead of his previous four. In addition to carrying a Taurus Raging Bull, S&W 629, S&W 29, and Ruger Red Hawk .44, he also carried a Colt Anaconda and a Taurus model 44. Hmm. Six revolvers that all carry six .44 rounds. Carrying 6 six shooters. How ironic. Andy had his normal weapons except he no longer had the laser screwdriver and for some reason, he now had seven M9s. I bet Logan gets a migraine every now and then because of this.

"Are there any weapons I own that aren't in my inventory?" I asked.

"Two, a RPG-7 and a customized Mosin Nagant located in your backpack" Nguyen replied. A Mosin Nagant? I dug through my backpack for the aforementioned weapon. After a minute or so, I found the aforementioned rifle. It was really customized. The wood stock had been replaced with a synthetic black stock, there weren't any sights indicating that it was for sporting, the insides/internals of the gun had been refitted for accuracy, the straight bolt was replaced with a bent bolt, the scope on it was a 25x zoom, and it had a bipod and a rifle sling. More or less, it had been customized for sporting use. "Sporterized" as us gun nuts would call it.  The only thing not sporterized about it was that it had the rail gun modification like on every other gun I owned.

Even more importantly, I thought I had left it back in our original universe, the one with the zombies. I distinctly remember not taking it on our scavenging trip to Luke Air Force base because we had not ammo for it. Maybe this universe's Tran had decided to bring it in the first place. I still liked the rifle. I remembered that my father had bought it for me in a yard sale. *Chuckle* What he said was that he saw it and thought about me so he bought the damn rifle.

Eh. This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. Actually, there is not many like it. There are millions of these rifles. In WWII alone, about 20-30 million of these rifles were made. To give you a good idea of how high that is, only about 3 million 1911s had been made from the year it was invented to World War Two. The 1911 was produced about 3 million times in about 34 years when the Mosin Nagant had about 20-30 million produced in less than 6 years... Like I said, there are many of these damn things.

For those of you who don't know about the Mosin Nagant. The Mosin Nagant is a 7.64x54R bolt action rifle designed in 1891 and was used in basically every war from the Boxer Rebellion of 1899 to the Syrian Civil War that was still waging before the zombies hit. The 7.62x54R Soviet/Russian round packed quite a punch at 2700 foot pounds of energy compared to the 7.62x51MM Nato at 2400 foot pounds of energy. One thing the Mosin Nagant had been known for was the fact that it was a "beater" rifle(basically a gun that can take a beating and still shoot) and had horrible accuracy. It only held five rounds and was slow to reload and shoot. Even worse, when a scope was mounted on it, you had to load the rounds in one by one.

However, despite the bad things about it, it was an incredibly effective gun. One example of this is how Simo Hayha used it in the Winter War between 1939-1940 fought between the Finnish and Soviets. Simo Hayha was a Finnish sniper who preferred to use iron sights over a telescopic sight/scope. Even with the handicap of using iron sights, he was able to get into the history books known as the sniper to have the most confirmed kills in any war ever fought. He was able to accumulate a total of 505 (he gained 742 total confirmed kills) confirmed sniper kills, the most ever achieved in any war ever. To give a good comparison, lets look at Carlos Hathcock, who is a major developer of the United States Marine Corps Sniper training program, had a rifle designed and named for him(Springfield Armory M25 White Feather), became a legendary sniper, and known as the only person to shoot another sniper through their own rifle scope. Carlos Hathcock only had 93 confirmed kills. Yeah... Simo Hayha was really good.

Welp, I placed the rifle into my inventory along with extra ammunition.

"What's the current condition of my A-10?" I asked Nguyen.

"Fully fueled and fully armed" Nguyen replied. Thank god I still had the good ole A-10. "Should I prepare it for flight?"

"No" I replied. I continued walking. It's strange. I'd pass a small pony car every now and then but I didn't see anyone driving them. Well, I am in Ponyville. Not much use for a car when you live in a town as small as Ponyville.

I heard a loud horn come from my left. When I turned, I saw a small convertible coming at me. "Scheisse." The car hit me dead on at roughly forty miles an hour, sending me flying into a nearby building. I didn't suffer from any serious injuries. However, the hit did aggravate the injuries that I had sustained in that humanized Equestria universe.

Once I had dislodged myself from the side of the building, I looked at where the car went and noticed that the driver had kept on going. "That douche bag." The car hadn't gone that far so I drew my plasma cutter. Taking careful aim, I fired once. The three plasma bolts soared through the air until it hit the convertible's rear wheel axle. The plasma easily burned away the very important piece of the car's functional machining. I watched as the car slowly came to a halt. A rather... Gay looking stallion stepped out of the car.

"What the hell did you do!" the douche bag yelled at me.

"You hit me with your car" I said back. "And kept on going."

"I was going to come back! And who do you think you are that makes you think that you can just destroy my car?!?" Trenderhoof yelled back.

"Well, I'm Tran and you look like the only gay person I've seen since I came to Equestria" I said to him.

"Gay?!? I'm Trenderhoof, world renown travel writer. I am not gay" Trenderhoof said.

"Even your name and occupation seems gay" I said back. "And look at you're car!" I pointed at his convertible. "Even your car is for a gay!" True, it was a light red and rather small. "And I'm leaving." I started to walk away, leaving him stuck with his unusable convertible.

"Come back here! You'll pay for this!" Trenderhoof yelled at me in the distance.

I kept on walking. Like I would pay for his car. Eh. He seemed like he was important to the plot of today or another day's adventure but eh, who cares. I'll deal with him another day.

I continued walking. What was I thinking about before I got hit by a car? Oh yeah. Everything was so strange and different. Equestria seemed unfamiliar to me now. I wouldn't be able to function the same as I once had. My sanity would suffer. Heh. Trying to stay sane in a rather peaceful world. That shouldn't be difficult but here I am having some trouble. Eh. Most of these ponies are so sheltered.

"Hey!" CAN'T I THINK IN PEACE?!?!??!?!? I drew Yin and pointed it at the culprit. However, I reholstered Yin when I noticed it was only Apple Bloom. Behind her were the other four crusaders and Rainbow Dash. I noticed that she had a revolver holstered in a crossdraw "cowboy" holster. The grips were a light blue and had her cutiemark as a decal on the revolver chamber. Extra .357 S&W cartridges were also on her holster.

"Yes?" I said.

"Aren't we going to have practice today?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Practice what?" I asked.

"That martial arts stuff you've been teaching us every day. What do you think?" Rainbow Dash replied.

"Eeyup. We should" I said back. "By the way, where did you get that revolver?" I pointed at her gun.

"Tran, I've been carrying Rainbow Blitz for over a month now" Rainbow Dash replied. "And you gave it to me on Hearth's Warming Eve! Stop messing with me like that." So I gave Rainbow Dash a revolver instead of wing blades on Hearth's Warming Eve. Interesting. Wait, then what did I give Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy? Actually, now that I think about it, they most likely have the exact same thing. What I gave them was extremely modern.

"Where did we last leave off on our lessons?" I asked while smiling.

-X-X-X-

I blocked a strike from Rainbow Dash from my left, a kick from Diamond Tiara from my right, and back flipped to get away from a spinning leg sweep from Sweetie Belle. "Careful. Don't use too much focus in your attacks. You might leave yourself wide open" I said. Apple Bloom ran at me and jumped up in the air, executing a flying kick. I merely grabbed her out of the air and held her. "Apple Bloom, you don't use flying kicks if your opponent is completely aware of you and has his or her defense up. It gives them a lot of opportunities to counter." I dropped her on the floor and she yelled out in pain.

"What was that for, Tran?" Rainbow Dash lashed out. "Why'd you drop Apple Bloom like that?"

"She simply made a poor decision and martial arts needs injuries and pain for the students to learn" I replied.

"Tran, that was harsh" Rainbow Dash said. "Any why have you been acting differently? Is something wrong?"

"I'm fine" I said.

"Are you su-" Rainbow Dash stopped talking. She was staring intensely at... my mouth? Rainbow Dash drew her revolver and pointed it at me. "Where's the real Tran?" Now that I could see her gun, I could see what it was. It appeared to be a pony version of the .357 Smith and Wesson Model 27. It had ivory grips that had her cutiemark as a decal on it and the gun featured a stainless steel finish. The entire gun down to the hammer was heavily engraved with an Acanthus style cloud work engraving. 'Absolutely beautiful. A hand engraving. Just the way I like it. Apparently, I have a thing for hand engraving.'

"What?" I asked.

"The real Tran always chews gum" Rainbow Dash said.

Oh. That's the problem. "I'm just feeling indifferent today, Rainbow Dash" I said.

"Nice try." Rainbow Dash fired. The .357 caliber bullet pierced through my left eye barely missing my glasses and tore it's way through my head before exiting out the back of my head, leaving a large gaping wound the size of a fist. I stood there, bleeding from the massive bullet wound. It slowly started to heal up but left a large scar over the entry and exit wound. Now I had to add that to the list of injuries my body had to heal.

I frowned before I disarmed Rainbow Dash of her revolver and emptied it. Like many other revolvers I had seen already, it was a break down. I tossed the revolver back to Rainbow. "I told you, I'm just feeling indifferent today" I said.

"Wow, must be serious" Rainbow Dash said. "And sorry about shooting you in the eye."

"Eh. I think that's enough martial arts for today" I said.

I turned around and started walking away when I tripped. I looked back to where I tripped and noticed a black, thorny vine coming rapidly out of the ground. The 'ell? I stood back up and examined the vine. However, when I got closer to it, it descended into the ground, hiding itself from me. A possibly sentient plant?

*RIIIIIIIIIIING* Was that a ring tone? I followed where it came from, finding out that it came from my pocket. When I dug whatever it was, I found a small Nokia flip phone.

Huh. A Nokia. I answered the call. On the flip phone's background was a small notification that read Twilight Sparkle. "Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Tran, do you see what's happening?" Twilight Sparkle said.

"What?" I asked.

"THE CELESTIA DAMNED EVERFREE FOREST IS EXPANDING!!!!" Twilight yelled through the phone. Really? I turned around and faced the Everfree Forest. Coming from the entrance of the forest were several black vines that were constantly growing. "Meet me at the town hall!"

-X-X-X-

The seven of us walked back to Ponyville. While we traveled, we saw what Twilight meant by the Everfree Forest was expanding. Everywhere in Ponyville, black vines were growing and taking up the available space. Strange. Most of the time, our path was blocked by, well, those vines. What else? The vines reacted rather negatively to me cutting them to pieces with the Sparda. By negative reaction, I mean they attacked me extreme anger? Could they feel anger? Eh. I responded negatively by hacking more of them. Long story short, I won.

We had gone to where Twilight requested of us, the town hall. Like every other place in Ponyville, it was invaded by those black vines.

"Tran!" I heard Twilight call. I turned to face her. She was with the other members of the Mane Six, Spike, and my human friends. "Tran, do you have any idea on what's going on?" Twilight asked me.

"Nope" I flatly replied.

"Well, there goes plans A through trapezoid" Andy said.

"Wait a minute" Twilight said. "Half day, half night... strange weather patterns... out of control plants. I think I'm starting to get a pretty good idea of who we're up against." Twilight's horn lit up and Discord was teleported in front of us. He was currently showering and was singing the Winter Wrap Up song. "Enough! Release Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and stop the Everfree Forest from invading!"

"Why whatever are you talking about?" Discord asked. "This isn't my work. My brand of chaos is always cotton candy clouds that rain chocolate milk brand chaos, not invasive plant species chaos. Not my taste."

"Mhmm. Chocolate milk" Pinkie Pie said.

"He's telling the truth" I said.

"Besides, I'm reformed" Discord said. "Remember?"

"Why don't you ask your little zebra friend about your problem?" I said.

"Hey! That's my line!" Discord said. "I'm supposed to say that in the episode!"

"Well I'm saying it!" I said back. I looked up at the author and winked. The author winked back. Behind Twilight was Zecora who had just trotted up to Twilight. She was carrying an overflowing cart and was carrying a large bag of potions on her back.

"Zecora!" Twilight said. The Mane six rushed over and helped helped her with her belongings.

"From my home, I have had to flee! The forest has grown too wild, even for me!" Zecora said. Not this rhyming schtick again!

"Any idea why all of this is happenin?" Applejack asked Zecora.

"I'm afraid it is a mystery to me as well, but I may have something that." Zecora reached into her cart and pulled out a bottle that was filled with a purple liquid. "If combined with a spell... I do not dare to use it myself, the results would be tragic. It only responds to alicorn magic. Princess Twilight, you can turn the potion from purple to white. After a sip, you may see why the sky is day and night" Zecora replied.

"So cover the potion with my magic. Got it" Twilight said said. She enveloped the potion with her bottle and it soon turned white. Then she picked up the bottle and took a sip from it. "Doesn't seem to be worki-" She immediately stopped talking and froze up in a stupor. Her eyes were glazed over with a white glow and seemed she was staring off into the infinite universe.

We waited. Every so often, she would shift around or mumble to herself. Out of nowhere, she started crying. After a few more minutes, she shook her head. "Why are you all looking at me like that?" Twilight asked.

"Well" Applejack said. "You started mumbling to yourself."

"Ooh! Don't forget the uncontrollable crying!" Pinkie Pie said.

"We were really worried about you" Fluttershy said.

"I for one found it delightful. Sort of a one-pony theater piece, if you will. You should really consider taking it on the road" Discord said. "I'd give it five stars."

"Did you find out whose rump we have to kick?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Or who we have to save?"

"I saw something from a long time ago. But it didn't explain what's happening now" Twilight replied.

"Perhaps farther back still are the answers you seek" Zecora said. "Another sip of the potion will give you a peek."

Twilight took another sip from the white potion and she went back into her stupor/vision. More mumbling later, she shook her head again and faced us. "Find anything?" Spike asked.

"I still don't know what's happened to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, but I think I know why the Everfree Forest is acting this way. Something's happened to the Tree of Harmony" Twilight replied.

"The tree of what now?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It's where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna found the Elements. I think it's in danger" Twilight replied.

"Well alright then, let's go save a... Tree? Um, where exactly is it?" Applejack said.

"The Everfree Forest" Twilight said, looking at the source of the vines.

While they talked with each other, I walked over to Discord. "So you have no idea on what's going on?" I asked Discord.

"It might have something to do with me controlling Equestria a thousand or so years ago" Discord replied. "When I ruled with chaos."

"Anything else?" I said.

He handed me a strange gold cane that had Twilight's head as a sculpture on one end and a large ruby on the other.

"Here, I'm supposed to give this to Twilight later because her friends are going to convince her to come back to Ponyville in case she needs to rule Equestria" Discord replied. "But I know either you or your friends are going to

"Twicane?" I asked, smiling.

"Twicane" Discord replied.

-X-X-X-

The fourteen of us (the Mane Six, Spike, my friends, and I) had entered the forest and were trotting through it, looking for the supposed Tree of Harmony.

"Seems like only yesterday we were heading into these woods to find the Elements of Harmony" Rarity said.

"Seems like only yesterday I was foolish enough to think I should go after them on my own. I don't know what we're going to face in there. But whatever it is, I know we need to face it together" Twilight said.

"Yeah" all of us replied in agreement.

We continued on until we reached a swamp. Inside the water were several rocks that were conveniently placed in a path. "We can use those to cross" Twilight said. She trotted up to the edge of the water and was about to jump onto the first stone when I pulled her back. "What?"

"Isn't it convenient that there are rocks placed in a path exactly where we were going to go?" I asked.

"So? Someone or somepony could have placed it when they got here" Alex said.

"And how many people go here?" I asked.

"Us, the Crusaders, and Zecora?" Applejack replied.

"And how many out of that small group, minus Nick, are able to place those rocks like that?" I asked. "I know I didn't place them." Everyone paused for a second.

I pulled out Yin and Yang. "See my point?" I asked. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie(Party Cannon), and my human friends readied their guns. "Why is that the rest of you don't have guns? I can see why Fluttershy doesn't have a gun but its strange how you two have guns."

"I don't know how to use a firearm"  Twilight replied.

"Guns are too brutish for my taste" Rarity replied.

I shook my head. "Eh." I walked to the edge of the pond and took a step. Almost immediately, I was thrown back as the rocks rose up, revealing a giant crocodile that appeared to be covered in rocks. I open fired and soon, the others joined me in shooting it. In a matter of seconds, it was reduced to a pile of torn up flesh.

I holstered Yin and Yang. "I told you so" I said. Everyone groaned. I started laughing. They continued on as I looked at the pile of crocodile flesh. I opened up my backpack and stored some of the crocodile meat in my backpack. Hey, I'm Asian and I love strange foods. Everfree Forest giant crocodile meat. Tasty!

I continued storing the meat when I heard some rustling behind me. I instinctively drew Yin and Yang, aiming it at where I believed was the source of the noise. "Come out or I shoot" I said.

"Whoa there cowboy! You're not going to shoot your partner, are you?" Daring Do? What are you doing here? She stepped out of the bush. She wasn't wearing her disguise and was in her adventure garb. On her flank was a single saddlebag like she would usually carry. She was also standing on her hind legs. In her left hoof was a revolver. 'How peculiar. Daring Do uses a pony version of the Webley WG Army model revolver. Just like Indiana Jones.'

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"What do you think? The vines!" Daring Do replied.

I shook my head while smiling a bit. "Just a little adventure?"

"Yeah" Daring replied.

"Daring, my friends and I are already on it. You don't need to go on this one" I said.

"Then why don't I join you?" Daring asked.

I thought about it. "Sure." Then I realized something. "Do you have your disguise? A few of my friends are ungodly annoying fans of your book."

"Riiiiiiight" Daring said. She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out the same outfit she wore yesterday before the whole "merge our universe with another" situation. She quickly changed into it and placed her other outfit in her saddlebag, sans her pith helmet which she kept wearing.

"Let's hope my friend, Rainbow Dash doesn't recognize you" I said.

"Rainbow Dash? As in the element of loyalty?" Daring Do asked.

"Eeyup. She's an extreme super fangirl about the Daring Do series" I replied.

The two of us caught up with the others. They hadn't gone very far.

"Hi Tran" said Rainbow Dash. "Who's that?" She was pointing at Daring Do. Looks like the disguise held up.

"I'm Wild Safari" Daring replied.

Daring squinted at Daring Do as if she noticed something. "That pith helmet, its exactly like Daring Do's." Oh dear. I looked over to Daring Do. She was visibly sweating. "Are you a Daring Do fan?!" Oh.

"I'm a big fan?" Darin replied.

"Me too! I cant wait for the next book when she con-" Rainbow Dash was cut off by Twilight.

"Rainbow! We have something important to do! The Daring Do fan club can start later!" Twilight said.

"Fine" Rainbow Dash.

I walked over to Daring Do. "That was close" I said.

-X-X-X-

We continued on with our journey and we soon made it to a ravine. At the bottom of the ravine was a path that led to a cave. What caught my eye was that the many of the vines were leading into the cave. 'I'm going to guess that that's the source of the vines or something. That or the vines are directly after whatever is in that cave.'

"How are we going to get here?" Applejack asked.

"How about those stairs?" I said, pointing to the stairs that seemed to be conveniently placed. Everyone face palmed/hoofed as they realized how oblivious they were just a few seconds ago. "Okay? I don't think that's a trap. Someone might have built that here for whatever is in that cave."

"Most likely the Tree of Harmony" Twilight said. The lot of us walked down into the cave and faced the Tree of Harmony.

"I think its dying!" Fluttershy said.

"We have to save it!" Applejack said.

Twilight just stared at the large crystal tree. "I know how to save it" Twilight said. "We have to give it the Elements of Harmony."

"WHAT?!?!?!?!" Everypony, minus Twilight, yelled

"How are we supposed to protect Equestria or banish Discord without the elements?!?" Rainbow Dash yelled at Twilight.

"Twilight, the Elements of Harmony, they're what keep us connected no matter what" Applejack said.

"You're right about one thing, Applejack. The Elements of Harmony did bring us together. But it isn't the Elements that will keep us connected. It's our friendship. And it's more important and more powerful than any magic. My new role in Equestria may mean I have to take on new responsibilities, and our friendships may be tested, but it will never, ever be broken" Twilight said.

"It's true. It's all in the mind. Friendship is a bond between you and someone you like. You can change that out of nowhere. If you are around with someone that you like then you are friends. You can't change that" I said.

"Take us for example" Nick said. "We were able to survive and fight together. None of us killed each other or betrayed one another."

"Friends are who you want to be with" Andy said.

"Side's, If you need something like an element to keep a friendship together, it isn't a real friendship" Ike said.

"Take it from us" Logan said. "We're insane and we managet to stay as friends."

"We've had our problems but we've dealt through it together" Austin said.

"You just gotta be with your friends" Alex said.

"Eeyup" I said. *ROOOOOOAAAAR* All of us drew our weapons. "I have a bad feeling about this" I said.

Andy lowered his weapon and looked at me. "Now we really have something to worry about!!!" Andy said.

From the entrance of the cave came several of the black vines, prompting all of us with weapons to open fire. Our bullets, even the electrically charged rounds, barely harmed the plants, only posing as a minor nuisance to them. When Yin and Yang locked back empty, I holstered both pistols and drew the Sparda. "Bullets don't do anything. Use a blade" I said. I ran forward and cut down four large vines.

Following my actions, Alex drew his fire sword and slashed a few vines, setting them on fire. Great, now they're on fire. "YOU FUCKING DUMBASS!!! THAT DIDN'T HELP!!!!" Nick yelled,

I turned around while I was in the middle of a vertical slice. It's just plant, there is no need for technique. "Twilight, return the elements to the tree!" I yelled at her. I ran over to Twilight. "Get up in the air and fix the damn tree!"

"Right!" Twilight said. She started flapping her wings, quickly gaining altitude.

"Get the elements first you idiot!!!" I yelled.

Twilight started blushing as went back down. "Right." She used her magic to grab the gems out of the elements.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!" Rarity screamed. When I turned to face her, I saw a a vine going after her. I was about to run and help her when she pulled out a derringer from her mane and fired two rounds into the vine. I noticed that instead of slugs flying out of the barrel of the derringer, shot came out. She was firing a shotgun derringer. A .410 by the size of the barrels if I'm right. She fired again and the second shot tore the upper portion of the vine off. I ran over and sliced the rest of the vine off.  

"Photographic memory" I said in a sing songy voice.

"Done!" Twilight yelled out. I looked at the Tree of Harmony. Twilight had just placed her element's gem in the center of the tree. Immediately, the Tree of Harmony started glowing bright white. Slowly, the black vines disappeared, disintegrating into nothing. Two bundles of vines that were located near the tree disappeared, revealing Princess Celestia and Luna.

"We know how difficult it must have been for you to give up the Elements. It took great courage to relinquish them" Celestia said.

A small flower sprung up from the ground, slowly growing until it was the size of a small pony. It bloomed, revealing a small chest with six key slots. "What's inside it? How am I supposed to open it?" Twilight asked.

"Six locks, six keys" Luna said.

"I do not know where they are. But I do know that it is a mystery you will not be solving alone" Celestia said, gesturing at us. We smiled lightly as Twilight looked at us.

I walked over to the box and attempted to pick one of the locks, only to find out that it was damn near impossible. "Well that is quite possibly the biggest douche move the universe has done so far" I said. I looked back at Rarity. "I thought guns were a bit too brutish for your taste?" I asked, mimicking her accent.

-X-X-X-

Andy looked up from his large story book and looked at the readers. Andy was, instead of his usual dress of jeans and a T-shirt, wearing a large red robe. He was sitting in a large armchair in front of a fireplace. "And that kids, is how we got a DAMN LOCKED CHEST!!!!" Andy threw the book in the fireplace.