Chapter 25: Target Practice

Art by TheNeitherVoid

It was early morning when Chris headed to the lobby. He was a good half an hour before the meeting time. "Plenty of time to hit the cafeteria for breakfast," he muttered.

"Chris! Hey! CHRIS!" came a familiar voice. He turned around in the hallway. "Huh?"

Rainbow Dash flitted up to him. "Chris! Can you show me the guns now? I want to see the cool guns!"

"Uh... That's what we're here for Dashie. But first let's grab some food. It's going to be a long day."

"Sweet let's do this!"

"Rainbow dash?" Rarity came into the hallway behind her.

"Hi Rarity! We're going to the range."

Rarity sighed. "Yes darling, I know. That's why we're here."

"Fluttershy! We're going to go shooting!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed immediately upon seeing Fluttershy exit the elevator.

Fluttershy shrank back. "Oh, I uh... I don't like loud noises... and..."

"You can't get out of it now, you're already here."

"Well, if you put it that way..."

Chris scratched his head. "I appreciate the enthusiasm but let's take one thing at a time shall we?."

Soon after Marky, Emmy, and everypony with the exception of Princess Celestia had shown up. The only human present was Chris.

"Where are your guys at?" Marky asked.

"Some game tournament they're in," Chris said dismissively. "They said they had a lot of noobs to teabag, or something. You guys are stuck with me today."

"What about Celestia?"

"She's greeting some new volunteers from Equestria with Jeff. He said he's gonna give her one-on-one weapons training later on with the new group."

"I wonder who's coming," Rarity said.

Chris grinned. "I'm not entirely sure, but there were several names dropped. I know Lyra Heartstrings was one of them. They asked primarily for Unicorns because of your magical abilities. They're going straight into weapons training after we finish today."

"Excellent," Twilight commented. "They'll be caught up soon then."

"Right. They will be embedding with several different ProteC security teams."

Together they had a quick but companionable breakfast in the cafeteria.

Thirty minutes later the rather large group crowded into the hallway outside the underground armory.

"Now I told them to expect us here in the morning," Chris said. "But I'm willing to bet they already forgot about it." He opened the door and they went inside.

The armorer's eyes bulged. "What in the name of..."

Chris squeezed through the throng of ponies to get to the window. "Can I please get firearms issued to these Equestrians? I'm going to teach them how to shoot."

"Now? What? I mean, of course, sir. Um, here, have them swipe their wristbands. If they have access, I will issue."

Rainbow Dash was already swiping her wristband. A red light came on.

The armorer frowned uncomfortably. "Sorry... They aren't on my list."

Chris snorted. "Oh really? I requested it be updated yesterday."

The man's eyes widened. "I'm really sorry sir. I wasn't on duty yesterday. I had no idea. I don't have authority to fix the access list."

"Oh, I'll fix this right now," Chris said in a menacing tone of voice.

The man winced, expecting to get yelled at, but then Chris anticlimactically stood silently accessing his ARHUD menus for a few moments. "Another swipe please, Dashie."

Rainbow Dash swung her hoof past the scanner again. This time it lit up green.

Chris waved his hand majestically. "They have access now, my authorization. I'll just pretend this never happened."

The armor smiled and exhaled heavily, relieved. "Allrighty then. Swipe 'em and come on in. You're their escort."

"Thank you." Chris turned and spoke to all of the ponies. "Don't touch anything until I hand it to you. And then just hold it, don't do anything else with it. There's a lot of very dangerous equipment in here. Again, DO NOT TOUCH THINGS. Did you hear me Pinkie Pie?"

Pinkie Pie smiled widely. "Don't touch things! Okey dokey lokey!"

"I'm serious, Pinkie."

Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing. "No, really. I won't touch the things. Pinkie Promise!"

"Okay, I believe you. Marky, you're with me. You know your way around an armory, right?"

"When I was born the doctor smacked my ass with a cleaning rod and wiped me down with CLP. All the crying I did at that point were tears of joy."

"A man after my own heart," Chris grinned at him.

The heavy door clanked as the locking mechanism disengaged, then buzzed. Chris pulled it open and led the way into the weapons storage vault. The heavy clank of the locks reengaging was evident as it swung shut behind them.

On the inside, the door led to a short hallway. They walked down it until it opened up to a huge room, featuring gray concrete walls lined with hundreds of rifles. More shelves of rifles and submachineguns lined the floor. A little ways down, an assortment of handguns was laid out as well. There were some weapons that even Chris wasn't sure about, strange arrangements of electrical wires, pipes, and battery packs. He made a mental note to ask the armorer about them later. Off on the far wall were several other doors, one had a radiation warning sign on it and another prominently displayed High Voltage.

Chris led them to a rack of standard black rifles. "This here is the AR-15 rifle, a longtime favorite of the United States Military, and America in general."

"What's AR stand for?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Assault rifle?"

Chris chuckled. "No, but I'm glad you asked because that is a common misconception. It stands for Armalite Rifle, because the Armalite Company originally designed the AR-15."

"Can I see one now? Please?"

Chris picked one up, then drew and locked back the bolt to make sure the firing chamber was empty.

"Here you go. But remember, treat it as if it's loaded. Don't point it at anyone. Just carry it for now."

He proceeded to do the same for everyone else present. When he handed a rifle Marky, the Alicorn checked the chamber also then took a moment to admire it.

"It feels good to be holding a rifle again," he commented. "Combat optics, tactical light... laser... fore grip... The customization package on this makes it look quite different. How is it so light? And what's this cluster here on the side?"

Chris looked. "Well, there's been some updates to the mechanism in recent years. And all firearms at ProteC feature a package that links up to the ARHUD of the user, providing information such as ammo count and mechanism failure or overheat warnings. Just tap that button there to pair them."

Marky did so, observed his ARHUD, then slung the rifle around his neck, satisfied. "Very nice."

"Glad you approve," Chris said, and guided them down to the pistol section.

"You'll notice that most everyone is carrying with a sidearm around here all the time," Chris commented as he gestured at his own thigh holster. "Jeff takes security very seriously, and so should we all. This jungle is no place to be complacent. There are wild animals even on the grounds of this facility that can kill you." He reached over and picked up a large black handgun, being careful not to place his finger in the trigger guard.

"This is a Glock 21 .45 caliber pistol, same model I carry. I normally would start beginners out with something smaller, but I've seen how strong all of you are. I imagine even Fluttershy here can handle the recoil on this."

"Oh my, what's recoil?" Fluttershy asked, her voice trembling slightly. "It sounds scary."

"It's not that bad," Marky said. "Don't worry about it."

"If you say it's okay..."

"I think you'll be fine." Chris set the pistol back down and stepped to another shelf. "I'm trying to find an Equestrian-friendly belt and holster." He frowned. "This is more difficult than I anticipated."

Marky came up beside him. "Let me take a look, not trying to steal your thunder, but I'd say I have a wee bit more experience fitting holsters and gear to ponies than you have."

"Please," Chris said thankfully. "I am clueless right now."

Marky scanned the racks for a bit. "Here, give this one to Emmy." He handed a belt and holster set to Chris.

"Oh, sure, thanks." Chris went over to Emmy, who smiled up at him.

"Can you please help me put it on, Chris?" she asked. "I have no idea what I'm doing with human equipment." She pushed her flank towards him.

"Yeah, uh, no problem." He crouched down beside her and reached around her body with both arms to connect the belt. Her soft green fur was warm under his chest as he leaned against her. After he managed to buckle the belt around what seemed to be her waist, he connected the top of the thigh holster to it, then began putting the straps around her rear leg. He was struggling with the upper buckle when she twitched and gasped. He realized he had clumsily pushed his fingers between her thighs. He snatched his hand away in horror. "Oh crap."

"Wha... what are you doing?" she asked softly. Her face was a little red.

"I... I didn't mean to..."

"Didn't mean to what?"

"Well I... Uh, I was just trying to-"

"Okay all done!" Marky exclaimed loudly, stepping back to look at his work. He'd put holsters on all the other six in the time it had taken Chris to do Emmy's. Chris stood up quickly, his face feeling hot all the way down his neck. He was uncomfortably aware of Emmy's eyes still boring into him.

Marky peered at him curiously. "Are you alright Chris? You look a little red."

"This looks, like, SUPER AWESOMELY COOL," Rainbow Dash said, standing upright and tugging at her belt.

"Here, put this in it, it'll be even cooler." Thankful for the distraction, Chris handed her a Glock, and she carefully slid it into the ready holster. "Awww yeah, now that's what I call jewelry!" she said.

Chris distributed pistols to the rest of the ponies, with the exception of Marky, who already had his pair.

"I could definitely use some more ammo, however," Marky commented.

"No worries. That's the next stop." Chris handed out magazines and mag holders for the rifles and pistols, then they headed down to the ammo storage room. He pushed open the door, which had an EXPLOSIVES warning triangle on it. "Okay, lets grab some cans of 5.56 NATO, and some .45 ACP too."

Rarity tried to pick up an ammo can. "Oh my goodness! That is so heavy!"

"Allow me, ma'am." Marky picked it up with a grunt.

"My hero!" Rarity cooed.

Carrying several cans, the group followed Chris into the loadout room, where he instructed the ponies to lay their guns out on tables.

Chris and Marky moved to the front of the room. "Alright, before we shoot, time for weapon safety and familiarization training!"

The initial weapons handling and safety instruction block continued for over an hour.

"Oh my gosh. This is so BORING," Rainbow Dash lamented, straining to keep her eyes open. "I can barely stay awake!"

"Pay attention, Rainbow Dash," Twilight chided. "Safety is important. You can't wing everything. These human weapons are dangerous."

Rainbow Dash continued to grumble, but she didn't sleep.

Some time later, after Marky and Chris had taught the others everything from how to break down and reassemble their firearms to basic shooting techniques, they opened up the ammo cans.

"Okay, everyone load up your magazines!"

Once this was finished, they finally moved on to the indoor range.

"The moment everypony has been waiting for," Chris said, smiling. He gave a tug and the door opened into an immensely long concrete room, several stories tall and a few hundred yards to the end.

"Wow! It's huge!" Emmy said, her eyes big.

"Phrasing!" Marky snickered.

Chris shook his head but didn't say anything as he directed the Equestrians to firing dugouts. He pressed a button on a floor standing terminal, and the long concrete chamber ahead of them faded into a very realistic outdoor field scene. Birds flew by. Trees blew in the wind. Animals hopped and walked around. The sound of birds chirping and insects drifted realistically on the breeze.

Exclamations of surprise came from the Equestrians.

"Magic!" Twilight exclaimed. "But how?"

"No, it's not magic, there is a sophisticated multilayered holographic matrix installed here," Chris explained. "You can shoot anything out there and it will register a hit. None of it is actually real."

"Oh look at the cute bunny!" Fluttershy said. "You're not going to shoot him, are you?" Her eyes were full of concern.

Chris frowned. "On second thought..."

He pressed a couple buttons, and the fields disappeared, replaced by a blasted lunar landscape. Flying saucers whirred overhead, shining down spotlights, while hideous alien monsters popped up and down behind rock outcroppings and jumped from ledge to ledge.

"Okay, I think this is more appropriate."

"Way cooler!" Rainbow Dash agreed.

"Alright, if you look out there, you'll see some non-moving targets. I suggest you try shooting those first, when you get more comfortable, try for some of the moving ones. Make sure your ARHUD hearing protection is working, and we'll give it a go."

Chris nodded at Marky, who walked behind the practice shooters. "IS THE LINE READY?" he asked through the ARHUD voice channel.

All the ponies raised a hoof. Marky, watching the far end, raised a hoof also.

"LINE IS READY. FIRE!"

There was a slight pause while the Equestrians inserted magazines and racked slides. Then the gunshots rang out, mitigated to safe levels by the ARHUD compatible hearing protection system. Chris walked behind the line, observing their form. It was fascinating to see their hoofs laying alongside the trigger without actually touching it, but it still pulled back, and the rifle still fired.

"Not sure how I'd recommend they place their finger on the trigger at this rate..." he muttered to himself.

Fluttershy seemed afraid of the noise, but she pulled the trigger so slowly that her shots were still quite accurate. It was evident that she had listened carefully during the training. He nodded at her approvingly and moved on to Twilight, who was biting her lip in concentration but firing without hesitation. She was already a good shot.

"Good job! He gave her a thumbs up.

Twilight smiled widely and kept firing.

Chris glanced up. Marky had just finished checking Applejack and was now observing Rarity. He noticed Chris watching and gave a hoof wave, then moved on to Pinkie, who was apparently trying to find out how fast she could pull the trigger without hitting anything at all.

Chris laughed to himself. "That's gonna take some time to figure out."

He came up behind Rainbow Dash, who was enthusiastically yanking the trigger but not hitting much of anything.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down! Take your time!"

She stopped jerking the trigger. "I can't hit anything!"

Chris climbed down into the dugout and put a hand on her hoof. "Here, put your grip here. Snug the butt stock up like this... Good. Now, when you fire, stop breathing until after you've SLOWLY squeezed the trigger."

Rainbow Dash took a breath and held it. She aimed at a target, and knocked it over with the next shot.

"Oh, thanks! That helped a lot!"

"No problem, RD." He patter her on the shoulder. "Good job! Keep it up!"

He climbed out and went to check on Emmy.

She wasn't shooting anything, and waved a hoof at him when she saw him approaching.

"It isn't working," she said, her voice full of disappointment. "It fired a couple times and then stopped."

"Let me see it." He hopped down into the dugout with her, then he took the gun from her and inspected the chamber, keeping the barrel pointed downrange.

"I see, looks like a double feed. Happens on rare occasions." He dropped the magazine and pulled the slide back, ejecting both bullets onto the ground. Then he slid the magazine back in and released the slide, chambering a round. "Try it now. Just pull the trigger."

Emmy looked hesitant. "Can you show me how?"

"Okay." He leaned in behind her and put an arm around her shoulder, guiding her hoof onto the pistol grip. Her soft shampoo-scented mane brushed against his cheek.

"Like this?"

She bent forward, pushing her flank between his spread legs.

"Uh, yeah..." His face felt hot again as he awkwardly tried to back his crotch away from contact with her rump.

"Wait! I don't know what to do!"

Chris sighed and leaned onto her again. He put his arm back around her, pushing himself against her body to steady her. "Is that better?"

"Yes, much better... Thank you."

She grinned and followed his instructions, scoring reasonably good hits.

"Not bad."

She turned her head a bit to see him, a huge smile on her face.

"This is really fun!"

Chris collected his thoughts.

"Yeah, actually... It is."

He smiled. "I had better make sure the others are okay though."

"Awww, already?" she said. "Thank you, Chris."

He was more than a little surprised at his own reluctance to climb out of the dugout.