Ray knocked on the flimsy wooden door of the large shack. I had prayed that when he said this is where we were going that he was simply making a bad joke but it turns out that Ray was dead serious.

The place looked awful. It was a wooden building made mostly of shackled together wood and scrap metal. The door opened and a bubbly looking white pegasus stallion stuck his head out. He looked like he just got out of bed, wearing his pajamas and a tipped hat with a white pompom on the very tip which sat off to the side.

He held a stuffed teddy bear in his left hoof and gave me a wave. “HI DARING!” He said in a very squeaky voice that made me groan. As he opened the door to give me a hug he spotted Ray and his bubbly look of happiness quickly faded to a dire look.

“Oh… hey Ray… I didn’t do… I SWEAR IT RAY, I DIDN’T DO IT!” He pleaded. Ray placed one of his hooves on the frantic stallion’s shoulder.

“I’m not here to give you trouble Harry. I actually need your help.” Ray informed him. From this bit of information Harry’s ears both perked up in excitement.

“Does this mean…” he trailed off then squealed. “RAY DO I GET DEPUTIZED?” He squealed and Ray simply sighed then nodded. Harry quickly clapped his hooves together in sheer excitement and happiness.

He opened the door widely to allow us all passage. As we entered the rather large building, John leaned over to me and whispered into my ear. “What’s his deal anyway?” he asked me and I sighed much like Ray had.

“He used to be a royal guard for Celestia. Was discharged when he started to customize his guns then proceeded to become a gun collector… kind of. He sells guns as well as buys them. You can get anything from a pea shooter to a machinegun, he has more guns than you can shake a sharp stick at… he probably has a sharp stick too.” I told him and he raised an eyebrow.

Harry led us past crates upon crates of weapons and ammo. John called out to the bubbly stallion who was hopping along proudly. “So Harry, how’d you come into possession of all these… items?” John asked and Harry stopped then turned around. His smile seemed to grow even wider.

I groaned, “You’ve done it now. Now we’ll never get him to shut up.” I muttered as Harry began to chatter quickly about how he came into possession of all the firearms. It was a rather interesting story but he told it to me way to many times as a foal. Something about how he scrounged some old abandoned military fort or something.

After about an hour of Harry’s ramblings we got back to business. Ray spoke first. “Harry, the Jonas gang is coming to attack the town. We need guns, and good ones.” He told the still happy stallion who nodded then quickly browsed through his selection of guns until he found a crate he was looking for.

He pulled it down and opened it, revealing a numerous amount of old styled lever action rifles but I could tell that Ray was not impressed. He looked to Harry. “Harry this is the twentieth century, not the 1880s. We need battle rifles, not Henry rifles that were probably used by my father in the civil war.” Ray told Harry who rolled his eyes then went looking for other boxes or crates.

Harry scratched the back of his head in deep thought then scratched his chin. He grabbed a crate then hefted it over to us and opened it, revealing finely polished rifles that seemed to reflect images like a mirror.

Ray picked up one of the rifles and actioned the bolt. “Hmm… nice gun. What is this anyway?” He asked and Harry simply grinned.

“It’s a Lee-Enfield rifle, Ray. They’re really new. British gun, oh and it’s super accurate and has a ten round magazine capacity… oh and the bolt action is super smooth and…” Harry was about to continue but Ray cut him off.

“Yeah, these will do just fine.” He told him. Harry immediately grabbed another crate and hefted it over. He opened it to reveal an abundance of ammo for what I could only perceive to be for these rifles.

The rounds were already loaded into the charging clips. He offered us ammo which we all took along with one of the new rifles. They must have been brand new because they weren’t scorned or scoffed at all.

Harry quickly instructed us in the know-how of the guns and how it worked but John seemed to already know how the weapon operated. John looked to Harry. “Hey Harry. I’m gonna need some other shells too. Shotgun and .45 Long Colt… oh and some .45 Autos.” He informed Harry. As he heard the last bit of information his ears perked up.

“Autos… as in Auto Colt Pistol?” he asked and John nodded. Harry squealed. “Oh, do you have one? Oh please tell me you do.” Harry squealed. John sighed then lifted his left coat flap to reveal an auto loading pistol which Harry squealed from the sight of and quickly rushed over to John.

John pulled the pistol out. It had a black polish frame look to it and wooden grips. The grips had a golden cross in each side with a small pony crucified to the cross. Why John would want those weird crosses I didn’t know but I planned on asking later on. The slide had golden engravings but nothing really depictive. It just looked like swirls of smoke going along the side of the gun.

Harry squealed. “Oh these pistols are magnificent aren’t they… yes yes, I have ammunition for them. One moment.” He said and quickly rushed off then returned with boxes of ammo that John had requested.

Ray chuckled to himself as he watched Harry gawk at the sight of John’s handgun. “What’s wrong Harry. Don’t have one of those?” he asked but Harry shook his head.

“Oh I have one… thirty two actually. But none are as beautiful as this one. Whoever constructed this one put absolute
and tedious effort into every detail. The gun has been polished to an absolute perfect frame, the sights have been detailed with white sight paint by what looks to a professional precision. The trigger has been filed for a better grip, the slide has been reinforced and fitted perfectly to the rail… oh this gun is just magnificent… just absolutely breath taking.” Harry informed us. “Where did you get it?” he asked John, who just shrugged and didn’t answer.

We all proceeded to bulk up with guns and ammo. John trotted over to me as I played with the rifle to try and learn it inside and out. “He’s a pretty cool stallion. A little weird though… guess that’s what happens when you live alone huh?” he asked and I laughed then looked to him.

“Guess that’s why you turned out weird too eh?” I asked and he chuckled then reached his right hoof around my back and held me up. As he held me up he put his left hoof in front of me and hefted the gun up in my forelegs.

“Like this…” he told me as he showed me how to hold the rifle and operate it. We stood there for a few minutes as he showed me how to reload it while standing without the need to sit down and mess with it. I found that as he showed me how to operate the gun I began to lean into his body, but only slightly. I could hear his heartbeat against my back and it was somewhat soothing.

He set me down then gave me a nod and proceeded to walk away, probably to get more ammo or something. “John…” I called out. He stopped, turned his head back and looked to me. “Uhm… never mind.” I told him, not exactly sure why I had stopped him. He shrugged then continued on his way.

Billy trotted up beside me with a scoped rifle. He rummaged through some crates and I looked over to him. He had a slight under bite to himself but only a little. It wasn’t noticeable unless you really looked to it. I had no idea why I noticed it actually. “Like the rifle?” he asked me, somehow noticing my gaze.

“Uhm yeah… What is it?” I asked and he smiled as he unslung it from his back and checked the optic sight.

“1903 Springfield. Harry says it’s a beaut of a gun and I don’t think he’s lying. Gun is a little harder to action then the Lee Enfield but I like the scope.” Billy told me. “And this little baby right here…” he said as he patted an automatic pistol in a shoulder holster. “It’s a 9mm Luger… beautiful pistol and Harry says they’re quite rare around here. Wouldn’t doubt it. Never seen one before now but I was drawn in by its… beauty.” He told me in a rather southern tone.

I let out a sigh. Now that I thought about it I realized that we were going to war. Not literally but we were going into a deadly fight with criminals. Before this day I had never shot any-pony but I have this feeling that says by the end of the day I’ll probably have killed for the first time in my life.

“Have you ever… you know… killed some-pony?” I asked and Billy simply chuckled.

“Yeah. More than I can count. Last guy I shot seven times before I put him down.” He laughed, like it was some sort of grand achievement.

I gulped. “I’ve never killed before. I don’t know if I can. I’ve carried this revolver of mine around with me all these years but never once have I ever had to use it…” I trailed off and he rested a hoof on my shoulder.

“Just stick by me and you’ll be fine. I’ll protect you… bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha.” He cackled as he trotted off. I wasn’t sure if I was to take that seriously or not but I hope he meant it. I trotted back into the main forum spot where every-pony was geared up.

Ray looked to Harry. “Okay… we’re gonna need something that really goes BANG.” He said and Harry placed his hoof up to his chest.

“Sorry Ray but Hilary is staying with me.” He told Ray who shot him a confused look. “Hilary.” Harry stated as he opened up the flap to his pajamas, which he was still wearing, to reveal a mean looking revolver.

“Where the hell did you get that thing!?” Ray gasped from the sight of the monstrous revolver. Harry simply laughed.

“I found it at the military fort. It’s a .44 caliber black powder revolver. This here revolver is the most powerful handgun to date. I had to reinforce the cylinder so that now I can fire 60 powder grains without the fear of wrecking it.” Harry informed him and Ray’s jaw simply gaped open.

He quickly shook off his astonishment from the revolver and got back on task. “Harry, we need a machinegun… a good one.” He told him and Harry’s eyes widened. “Harry I know you have one.” Ray said then Harry quickly led us over to a corner in the building with an old rotary activated Gatling gun. Ray sighed. “Harry we need a machinegun, not some relic from the civil war. You got something more… modern? I know you do.” Ray told him and Harry gulped.

“Promise not to tell on me?” he asked and Ray nodded. “Swear on your life?” he asked and Ray rolled his eyes then nodded again. “Swear on…” Harry began but Ray cut him off.

“HARRY!” He yelled and Harry nimbly trotted over to a wall which looked to be the end of the building.

He grunted as he pushed aside a shelf of ammo to reveal a trapdoor in the floor. He opened it up then led Ray into a small room. It was cramped down there and only Ray and Harry went down.

“WHAT THE BUCK! Harry where did you get these?!” Ray exclaimed.

“Well… they’re just prototypes… well actually they’re working models… well actually they don’t work, they’ve been deactivated… well actually I reactivated them… well actually they weren’t deactivated in the first place… THEY FELL OFF A WAGON RAY I SWEAR TO GODDESS, PLEASE DON’T ARREST ME!” Ray screamed through constant and nervous stuttering.

“What the hay are they?” Ray asked and Harry quickly hefted the two guns up through the trap door. They looked… scary. The two stallions got out of the hidden room and Harry closed the trap door then pushed the shelf back over top of the trapdoor.

“Well that one…” he informed Ray as he pointed to one of the machineguns, “Is a Vickers Machinegun… I call her Vickie. And that one…” he commented as he pointed to the other gun. “Is a Lewis machinegun. I call him Luis. They’re both brand new machineguns that haven’t even seen action yet.” Harry informed us as he slipped on a battle saddle over his back.

He grabbed ‘Luis’ and mounted the gun into the saddle then hooked it up properly. Ray looked to us. “We have to get every-pony off the street and get into defensive positions. The Jonas gang will be here soon.” Ray told us. Harry started trotting away with the other machinegun.

“Harry, where are you going?” Ray asked and he looked back to him.

“Oh nowhere Ray… John can you come help me?” he asked and John trotted off with Harry. Ray set a hoof on my shoulder as the two left.

“How do you feel about him?” Ray asked me and I gave him a curious look. “I just want the best for you. I’ve seen you hurt too many times and don’t want you to have your heart broken again.” He said thoughtfully and I gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder.

“It’s not like that Ray. He’s just a friend. Trust me, I don’t like him that way. He’s too… impossible.” I told him and he chuckled. “What’s so funny?” I asked and he shook his head in humor.

“Well at least he shares a common trait with you.” He laughed and I raised an eyebrow.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t worry about it. Come on, let’s go get the townsfolk inside.”

We had succeeded in getting most of the ponies inside and away from the immediate danger and we were just entering the saloon where ponies gambled and got drunk. Ray called out to every-pony in the saloon.

“Every-pony, go home!” he yelled out and every-ponies’ attention turned to him. “There are some real nasty ponies coming to town and I need you all to go home and stay away from the windows. If you don’t some-pony might get hurt.” Ray told them but they quickly resumed their activities.

“THIS IS SERIOUS! Some-pony could die!” He yelled out but one of the gamblers looked over to him.

“Marshal… I’m in debt with the bank yet I’m gambling my money away… I don’t plan on living that long in the foreseeable future, know what I mean?” He laughed and Ray simply gasped from the stupidity of the stallion.

Another stallion by a whore in the corner spoke up to. “Yeah Marshal. My wife thinks that I’m here to socialize with my friends after work… you really think she’s gonna like it when she finds out I’ve been buying whores?” He asked and Ray let out a sigh of defeat.

“Alright fine, but do me a favour and stay away from the windows.” He ordered. Just as he said that, every-pony simply shuffled away from the windows then continued their festivities.