Equestria Girls: Magicless Troubles

My options were limited so I had to approach him. “‘Scuse me! Scuse me!” I shouted loud as I could over the sound of the bullets.

He must’ve noticed me since he had to put his gun down. Then he removed the goggles and earmuffs he had on his head. “Yo? What’s goin’ on, sis?” he asked me in a hefty surfer kind of accent.

“Sorry to interrupt ya! But I was wonderin’ if you’ve seen some kinda meteorite near here?”

“Meteor? Nope. Ain’t seen nothing like that, brah. There was this cool meteor shower a few days ago, though.”

Rats. There had to be somethin’ around here that could tell me what was goin’ on. “Ya’ll sure you ain’t seen nothin’? Maybe a glowin’ rock of some kind?”

That worked, because he immediately started thinkin’. “Hm...oh yeah! I did see this strange stone out near the edge of the firing range. Hecking weird, yo,” was his response. He pointed out to West towards a hill at the end of the field.

“I see. Do ya mind if I take a minute and walk out there? My friends and I are lookin’ fer somethin’.”

That caught his attention, I reckon. The guy seemed interested in guidin’ me out there. How nice of him. “Sure. I can take ya there myself, actually. I come by this place all the time. Name’s Double Diamond. My friends call me Double D, though. And you must be--”

“Applejack, yeah yeah,” I passed him up. Wasn’t in the mood for no overly drawn out introductions, and I had a mission. “Are ya gonna help me out or not, Mr. D?”

“H-hey! Was just trying to be friendly, man.” Guess I embarrassed him a little bit. He ran after me to catch up. “Anyway. It’s just up this way. Though, I’m not sure why you’d be so interested in a strange rock.”

“It’s cuzza the fact that it’s messin’ with our magic. The rest of my friends and I can’t seem to do none of our abilities--like mah strength. It’s plum gone.”

“Yikes...that’s a gnarly little situation there, sis. Don’t worry. I got your back. Just a few more steps down this slope here...” He went ahead and showed me the way. I had never been out here before, so it was cool to have someone show me around someplace new.

How reassurin’.

After about a dozen steps or so, we were finally at the foot of the hill that Diamond directed me to. “There it is, AJ,” he said.

“Landsakes…” It was a stone about the size of a tire. Not particularly scary enough on its own, but I was still unsure how to approach it. “Lemme call Twilight.” I dialed the phone.

“What’s up, AJ? Did you find it?” she answered quickly--thank goodness.

I turned on the video chat mode, and turned the phone around so she could see the rock. “This what we lookin’ fer?”

Twilight yelled out, and it nearly startled me. “Yes! That’s it! Now you just need to destroy it before something bad happens. Simple.”

“Heh. That all? This’ll be nothin’. Even without mah mega strength.” I took a step forward, and reached out to touch it.

“Wait, AJ! What are you--not with your bare hands!”

“...”

Somethin’ happened. My geode reacted as soon as I touched the weird rock. I felt a shock of sorts, and quickly pulled my hand back. “Yow! What in the--” Oh damn. Shouldn’t have done that. The darn thing started to shake and shiver like a jittery pig that wanted to escape. It shone a bright red, and somethin’ was clearly off about it.

Diamond came from behind, and pulled my arm. “‘Kay, c’mon! Let’s go! Let’s go! This thing looks dangerous!”

I hated runnin’ from danger. But in this instance, I ain’t had much choice. The thing was rattlin’ around violently and I had no idea what to do. “Yah! Keep movin’!”

I turned my head back, and gazed. A red shockwave was emitted from the rock, and traveled along the ground. Now that was scary. My legs carried me fast as they could.

“Aaah! What’s happened with that rock?! Is it really from space, dude?!” Diamond shouted as we ran, “This ain’t nothin’ like the games!”

“Just keep goin’!” I shouted back. I had to think of somethin’ fast. We were close to the shootin’ range again. So that was good. But just what could we...aha! “Hide behind that there tree!” I yelped and dove behind the mighty oak that was near the range.

Diamond followed, and took a deep breath next to me. “Whew...that was close yo.”

About a minute or so passed. I didn’t hear nor see no sign of that magical shockwave. What made it disappear? “You hear that?”

“I don’t hear nothin’, bro!”

“Exactly...you stay here.” I took a step out from behind the tree, and walked back over to the shootin’ range. Huh. Nothin’. Strange. Just what did that magic do? “Now that’s odd. I coulda sworn it might’ve caused somethin’ to get all magical.”

Turns out, my phone was still on the entire time. Twilight called out to me. “Applejack? Are you there?”

“Hm?” I woke it up from sleep mode, and looked at the phone. My scientist of a buddy was worried sick. “I’m okay, Twilight. Don’t seem like there was anythin’ here.” That’s when I noticed that the sun was blacked out a little. Somethin’ cast a shadow on me.

“Um...A-Applejack...b-behind you…”

I turned around, and looked up. “HOLY PIGEONS!” Turns out that shockwave enchanted the clay pigeons that were used in the shootin’ range, and now, they were actual pigeons! But not just any old clay pigeons. Evil clay pigeons! They were each the size of massive roosters! A whole swarm of ‘em! Flappin’ in the air with their solid orange bodies lookin’ deadly. “Um...hehe...good birdies…”

“AJ...listen up…” I wasn’t lookin’ at my phone no more, but I heard Twilight’s voice. “Don’t make any sudden movements. Pigeons have nearly 360-degree vision, and can attack you no matter where you move…”

I had to think fast. Let’s see...ah! Ya shoot clay pigeons with a gun, right? Looks like I ain’t had much choice. My eyes darted towards the shotgun that Diamond was usin’ a bit ago. A good ol' Remington 870. I could use that. Hopefully all that trainin’ back home would pay off.

“Twilight...I’ll call ya back.”

“Wait wha--?!”

I hung the phone up, and put it in my pocket. There had to be at least a hundred of them dang pigeons, but I wasn’t afraid. Just had to slowly...and carefully...now! “HA!” I dove for the gun, and the clay birds started flyin’ in like bats out of...ya know.

With a few quick shots, I took down at least five of ‘em, and rolled out of the way. I fired off three more shots, and took down three more. But they didn’t stop comin’. I had to move.

“Double D! I could use yer help here!”

Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long for his help. I heard some more blasts of another shotgun, and he called out. “Hey! I just came back from the shop! Gimme a break!”

“Whew…” I couldn’t relax just yet. I felt my feet leave the ground. “What the-?!” The damn things! Their beaks nipped into my clothes and they started peckin’ me! “Gah! Quit it, ya feather brains!” I shot one, punched another, and struck the last one with the barrel directly. They were forced to let go, and--damn. “Ahhh! Oof!” I hit the ground like a sack of taters.

“C’mon, get up,” Diamond offered his hand, and pulled me up. “We gotta get outta here, bro! There’s too many!” he said before he fired off a few more shots. Never before was I more satisfied to see a clay pigeon explode into orange chunks.

But sadly, ain’t much we could do here. Runnin’ would only bring ‘em into the city. We had to solve this here and now. “Naw, partner. We need more firepower…” That's when I heard a familiar voice scream to the heavens from behind us.

"I'M BACK, DARLINGS!"