From one world to another
Chapter 9

After saying goodbye to Twilight and gathering my gear, I joined Luna and her guards on the ride back to Canterlot. To say that they were ecstatic was an understatement. Fast Hoof and Sharp Quill congratulated me, Nightingale was ready to throw a party, Iron Hoof just offered a nod, and Glancing was evaluating and praising me. The only one who wasn’t happy was Quick Strike, who just gave me a glare before ignoring me and flying the chariot with Iron. Despite the lack of discussion, it was obvious that Quick was probably going to hold a grudge against me. Luckily, Luna didn’t seem to notice.

As we flew, I was telling them about my life. My real life this time. When Luna and I had explained the circumstances, they all seemed to accept it, especially after I started telling them some of the… lesser details. I kept out much of the really bad and gory details, but I definitely told them more than I normally would. To say they were shocked was an understatement. It took a full half hour to get them to calm down.

Now, I was just answering some of the many questions that they were sending my way.

“So let me get this straight, the main weapon in your universe is a stick that basically goes boom?” Quick asked from up front.

“It’s not a stick, but essentially yes.”

“That’s ridiculous, there’s no way that could happen. I bet the closest thing would be some staff or something some unicorn mage enchanted the shit out of.”

“Language corporal!” Glancing shouted as I responded.

“It’s not even that different from a crossbow! I’ll show you when I can.”

“20 bits says that it doesn’t even work when you ‘show’ me at the castle.”

“Oh you’re on! Get ready to-”

“No.”

Luna’s shoot down of our bet surprised us, and Quick even forgot to fly for a second, causing the chariot to tilt slightly before she realized and corrected her mistake.

“If thou prove your weapon at the castle, it’ll bring too much unwanted attention from the other guards and any citizens. As it is, I’d prefer to keep your secrets known to only the Night’s watch, myself, and my sister, at least until we set up a secure location for you to use it.”

“That being said.” Luna continued before any of us could respond. “That doesn’t mean we can make a quick stop for the bet.”

5 minutes later

“Alright, they’re all set.” Fast shouted as he finished setting up the targets, galloping back to us as quick as possible. A couple hundred or so yards from us was a target, a small piece of wood on top of a smooth surface of rock. When we landed, we decided to double the bet as an accuracy test, increasing the amount of bits to 50. The others themselves were betting, with Luna and Glancing betting on me, while Nightingale, Sharp, and Fast bet on Quick. Meanwhile, Iron was sitting to the side, staying out of the betting while enjoying a small glass of cider he had apparently stored beforehoof, much to the frustration of Glancing.

After we had agreed on the bet, we had spent a minute longer before choosing a proper site to land and shoot. It was a small clearing barely into the everfree forest, with dense woods on two sides, a river on another, and a small cluster of smaller trees and plants on the last, with a mixture of smooth and slightly bumpy ground in the center. After landing, Luna assigned Fast to get the necessary target needed. With my supervision and Fasts good eyesight, we quickly found the piece of wood suitable for a target.

Due to the range, for this I chose my sniper rifle. I had already checked and cleaned the rifle, looking through it to make sure it was ready. Now I was adjusting the rifle’s scope, making sure it was zeroed in. Luckily there was little wind out, and even that had been temporarily blocked by Luna at my request. Seeing no reason to refuse, Quick foolishly gave permission to do it.

“Alright then Littlepip, fire when ready.” Luna told me, giving me a wink as she folded her ears down. Seeing this, I couldn’t help but grin as I did the same. While not having personally heard it before, she had heard it when she visited my dreams, so she knew roughly what to expect. I myself had heard the boom of a gun and much louder countless times, so I didn’t even need to fold my ears. The rest however, would be caught unaware. The fact that they had more sharp hearing would make the shot all the more loud.

Going prone, I levitated the sniper rifle over to me. Deploying the sniper’s bipod on the ground, I did one final check. The gun was loaded, the sights locked, the talisman I had installed in it a year ago primed and charged, and the butt was firmly planted against my shoulder. I ignored Quick remarking about an easy 50 bits as I got comfortable in my position. Taking a deep breath, I looked down the scope and waited just a second longer before pulling the trigger.

BOOM!!!

The sound tore through the clearing, sending birds scattering and the few small animals in the clearing frightened and awake as they bolted away in a fearful and confused frenzy. Everypony was covering their ears in shock and slight pain as they winced, with Nightingale tripping onto the ground. Luna was better off, only wincing for a few seconds before recovering. They were all so distracted, that besides Luna and Sharp, no one saw the wooden piece explode into a thousand pieces.

After a minute, everypony recovered and was muttering about the loud boom when Fast noticed the target. “Holy shit, she wasn’t lying.”

Hearing this, everypony turned and stared at where the object formerly was, now just a few small shards of woods. It got even better when Sharp noted the deep hole in the thick tree another 20 yards behind it, indicating that the bullet went even farther.

Still shocked, Quick grudgingly opened a saddle bag and took out 50 bits, hoofing to me with a sour expression.

Satisfied, I turned and went back to the chariot, followed by the others soon after.

Author's Note

Yay, finally got around to updating, even if it was a short chapter! So for those of you that were worried that this story was cancelled, no it wasn't. Just on a small hiatus, one that can happen very often. If the story goes on a very long hiatus or is cancelled, I'll let you know myself.

So, that being said, I will also try to get an update on 'Chara's new home' by Wednesday, and hopefully another update to one or the other before Halloween arrives (or Nightmare night, whichever floats your boat.). That's all I have to say.

Stay determined folks!