Ponies Row

Twilight and I entered my home of creaking floors, dangerous pipes, and (almost) broken bed. There were posters of the Harmony Knights laid out all over the walls. There was occasional guns lying around the house too. What? I like guns too.

"Sorry about the mess. Didn't know that tonight I would end up saving your ass."

"It's fine."

"So, what are we gonna do next? We gonna make our next move? Or do we relax for a bit?"

"I think kicking back isn't such a bad idea."

"Well, I'm off to bed. Please, don't look under the 2nd drawer in my bathroom."

...

"Please... Help yourself to the fridge..."

"Um... Thanks?"

My bed seemed more comfortable then normal that night. But I still couldn't sleep. I flipped through my phone and called a few friends. Some of my friends were former gang members of a large gang known as the "Shadow Bolts" The gang was made entirely of pegasai and was the only gang where the members had to wear uniforms. Many of the ponies confused us with either being part of a army or not existing all together. They all thought they were just an illusion made by Luna, the sister of the last ruler of the untied Equestria. They were disbanded after their defeat against the Wonderbolts, a highly trained performance group in the Royal Equestrian Air Force.

They would make decent lieutenants in the Harmony Knights, assuming they agreed to the terms of being a Harmony Knight. I called them. After a few minutes, they agreed to meet me tomorrow and try out to become a member. I headed downstairs to tell Twilight. She was on the sofa, watching late-night talk shows. Surprisingly, she didn't look like she dug through the "stash" I had in the bathroom.

"Hey. Mind if I join you?"

"Huh? Oh, sure."

"I found some ponies that are willing to join."

"Really? That's great!"

"They're meeting us tomorrow at the sector's dump."

"Sweet."

Twilight and I quietly watched some TV until she fell asleep, leaning on my shoulder. I stroked her mane and she breathed a sigh of relief. Soon afterward, I got up and turned the TV off. I gently put Twilight's head down on a pillow and placed a blanket around her. Hard to believe she's the leader of a gang. I headed off to bed again. This time, I could sleep.

The next day...

I woke up refreshed and ready for the meeting. Twilight was still asleep on the couch when I got downstairs. I decided to have some fun and I used my Eagles to wake her up. I fired at the ceiling. She woke up with a start.

"Son of a bitch!"

She turned around and looked at me. Her glare was enough to kill a pony. I immediately regretted waking her up. Luckily, the phone rang, which basically saved my life.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Rapid! You're late! Wear the hell are you?"

I looked at the clock. It was past 11, an hour after the meeting time.

"Shit! Twilight! We got to go!"

"Fine." said a grumpy and tired Twilight.

After Twilight finished, we went outside.

A few minutes into walking, Twilight asked me, "What do you plan on doing to see if your friends are fit to become Harmony Knights?"

I replied, "They'll go through a series of tests. The first will be shooting, the most needed skill of any gang member. Next is strategy. They will find out a way to sneak around a defense turrent I managed to steal a long time ago. It's pretty outdated, but it's still effective. The last is a gunfight. Against me. 2 v. 1"

Twilight's expression changes. "What!? Won't you get killed?"

"No, no, no. We're using dummy rounds. Of course it'll hurt, but they should be able to handle it if they want to join."

"I guess..."

"Wait a minute. 'Won't 'I' get killed?' What's that supposed to mean!?"

Twilight began to run away, laughing. I chased after her. I saw her run into the dump. Upon arriving, I saw my friends, waiting to get started. But I didn't see Twilight anywhere. Then, out of nowhere, somepony jumped on top of me! I struggled to get the ambusher off my shoulders. I grabbed his hooves and threw him on the ground. It turned out to be Twilight.

"Twilight!? What the hell are you doing!?"

"You ever heard of fun? Jeez... Ow, my back."

After that, I introduced Twilight to my friends. I hoofbump a few of them, then told them what they had to do. The first test was target practice. There were eight ponies waiting and there were six targets that will be coming from the ground. The first six to hit the knock out the targets get to round two. The two ponies who didn't hit the targets wouldn't become lieutenants. But I still let them join, just at a lower rank.

The targets were shot almost as fast as the targets popped out. Water Horse and Tail Twirl didn't make it. After round two, four targets popped out instead of six. Gun Washer and Sword Swing failed to hit the targets in time. Next was the strategy part of the test. I walked into the middle of the field and seted up the turrent and poured in dummy rounds. The turrent made a beeping noise and, just like that, the turrent scanned the horizon for enemies. I signaled the last four ponies to begin.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, then, one of them came out with a rusty S.R.S (Stonewall Riot Shield) that he found in the contents of the trash piles. Riots shields were made before the Rebellion of the Last Kingdom. Soliders realized how dangerous a riot can be, so they made these for the riot control officers. The Rebellion of the Last Kingdom was the last riot that occurred before Equestria split, which is why it has "Last Kingdom" at the end.

The turrent acknowledged the target and whirred up the barrel, preparing to fire. Then, another pony poped out of the shield's cover and threw a rock, which jammed the barrel, making the turrent utterly useless. The four ponies were victorious. But as they walked away, the rock fell out, and the turrent locked onto them and fired. Two were hit from behind. The other two ran behind a pile of junk. The turrent suddenly stopped, then fired again. A bullet fell next to one of the ponies. He picked it up and looked at it. His eyes grew wide with fear.

Twilight and I were watching the test from above, when we noticed that the two were starting to panic. I brought out the radio and begin to talk into it.

"What's going on over there?"

"The turrent switched to real bullets!! What the hell!?"

Suddenly, Slicer screamed into the radio.

"AH! I'm hit! My hoof's bleeding like crazy!"

"WHAT!?"

Twilight notices that I was, at that point, shouting into the radio.

"What's wrong?"

"The turrent switched to real bullets!"

"What are we going to do?"

I brought out a CE15-STAG rocket launcher and aimed at the turrent.

"What I do best."

I fired. The missile exploded next to the turrent. The blast pushed the turrent on its side. On impact, the turrent broke.

The radio picked up a voice.

"Thanks, Rapid."

"No problem. Ready for the next challenge?"

"You bet."

"Head to the center."

"On our way."

The Dump Center...

Me, Twilight, Chains, and Slicer met up at the Center of the dump. As a fair chance, I gave Chains and Slicer two PB93 submachine guns, the quickest firing submachine gun in the entire country, with a bullet speed of 1200-1500 rpm. While I took the weakest and least popular pistol, the AN65 Heron, manufactured by Khar. Me and the two recruits headed to the opposite ends of the dump as Twilight brought out a timer.

"The test will start in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... GO!"