Two months had passed since the Grand Galloping Gala, and there was increased tension along the American-Equestrian border. More and more protests were becoming violent, and more troops were being stationed in the numerous bases that lined either side of the border. As had been predicted, the United States had acquired seven Griffon Airships. Five cruisers and two battleships. Their old weaponry was being stripped away and replaced with normal cannons and what were now being called ‘Augmented Tech’ weapons. Fusions of human technology and pony magic.

The experiments on the aircraft engines proved successful, and as a result the United States focussed on building planes like the B-17, the P-47 and the P-38. Though they maintained their biplanes for close air support and search and rescue. Four military bases were constructed along the border, corresponding with four Sectors of Defense. Two of them were strictly ground operations, while two more doubled as air and ground facilities. All of it was making people on both sides of the border uneasy, but neither one was going to allow the other to have an advantage over the other.

For Dominic, it was all something he hoped he was wasting his time on. As time had gone by he had managed to find people to delegate various tasks to, his workload had lessened considerably, but at his heart he would much rather have been marching with his brothers in arms than working in a political field. His office gave him a good view of Fort Errant’s sniper school, and he had taken to keeping a pair of binoculars near the window. As he would watch the sunset he would pick them up and look out, and sure enough he would find himself looking out at the beautiful face of Maria. She had taken to letting her hair grow long again, meanwhile he had continued to keep his head shaved.

Dominic had also started using more of his free time to start learning about airplanes, his father had always insisted that he lead by example, and what better example was their than for him to be up in the sky with his men. It was a principle that had driven him to be a tank commander, and now he was learning to be a pilot. Maria meanwhile was teaching young men and women the keys to performing as a sniper, her platoon had started out hating her for her ruthlessness, but had come to love her for her devotion to them.

Luna, for her part, was just happy that things were going alright in terms of the country and the refugees from Earth. A steady stream of them was coming through the portal, and with them came more and more technology to be reverse engineered and studied. Already there were planes that had advancements lightyears ahead of their time thanks to a mix of magic and human knowledge. Things seemed alright, generally speaking, at least on the American side of the border. Meanwhile, in Canterlot, things were far from alright.

Princess Celestia sat in quiet amazement as she looked at pictures that had been taken by her agents in the New United States, her worst fear had been realized, the Americans now had access to airships. What was more, they were mounting them with the most powerful weapons in their arsenal, the Equestrian high command had dubbed them ‘City Killers’. Her office was quiet, save for the sound of a ticking clock on the wall, three nervous Equestrian generals stood in front of her with silent concern etched across their faces.

“Your highness, we’re growing continually further behind them technologically speaking, and from how it looks…” One of the generals began to say, watching Celestia quietly look over the pictures again. “They’re set to overtake us in military strength within the next year.” Celestia was faced with a scary proposition. Equestria had been the world's foremost military power for over a thousand years, through it’s sheer size the nation was able to influence politics without resorting to force of arms. Celestia had hoped that would be the same case with the NUS, that Luna would intervene before they got too big.

“With all due respect, Princess, it’s time to face facts.” Said another one of the generals in the room, the bravest one of them if Celestia had to guess. She knew what he was about to say, but she let him say it anyway. “Discord, Sombra, Nightmare Moon… All of them happened because you neglected to intervene before it was too late. We were able to stop them, but only barely. I am not as confident we can stop the American’s.” Celestia’s eyes shifted over to the final general, the stallion she trusted most highly of her command. General Powderkeg, while hot tempered, was a realist.

“What say you, General?” She asked quietly, almost afraid to hear his answer. The general walked closer to the desk, adjusted the tie of his uniform, and then cleared his throat.

“Your highness, they’re right. We need to understand that this isn’t like the Zebras and Minotaurs where we can sit them down and threaten to sanction them, they aren’t reliant on us for trade, and we aren’t separated by an ocean..” Powder Keg said with a solemn tone in his voice. “We need to get out in front of this thing. Even if you think their President is a good man, he’s also the president. He has to put the good of his citizens ahead of ours. We need to do the same.”

“What would be the ultimate goal, General? If we did what you’re suggesting...” Celestia asked as she leaned back in her seat, her heart fluttering quietly. Powder Keg looked to the two generals beside him, then back at the Princess, his face had a seriousness to it that she’d never seen on the stallion’s face before.

“Ma’am we should strive for nothing less than the complete occupation and integration of the New United States, their industrial and technological might would make us the most powerful nation in the world for the next thousand years.” The General said quietly, Celestia looked at the three of them, then at her desk, then back at the generals. Her heart was racing rapidly in her chest, she knew that her airships were already at anchor in Canterlot, they could mobilize and be on their way in a matter of hours.

“Leave me… I must think.” Celestia finally muttered, the generals nodded and left the room. When Celestia heard the door close she relaxed, seconds later she began crying. It was more than a war over land, or ideology, she knew that if she went to war with the American’s she would be alienating her sister once again. At the same time, she had no idea what kind of things were running through Dominic’s head. For all she knew he was having the same conversation with his generals, and as much as she thought he was good for Luna, she also knew that he had ambitions and the means to make those ambitions reality.

Celestia shook her head quietly, with her heart of hearts she wanted to believe that Dominic wasn’t a threat. Realistically though, he was the youngest head of state in the world, and he hadn’t ever finished high school. Though he made no attempt to hide those facts, it still concerned Celestia. At the same time she worried that perhaps she was subconsciously fearful of something else, the United States was set to dominate the global political stage, even with it’s small size. Already the Minotaurs and Griffons were starting to divert more and more of their trade to the United States, the Equestrian economy was starting to stumble.

The solar princess stood up from her chair and walked to the window, she looked to the south and sighed. It fascinated and terrified her to know that the American’s had an aircraft that could very well fly to Canterlot and back without stopping, and that that aircraft could do great harm to the ponies in the city. That was a power she felt shouldn’t be held by one nation, it was wrong to use fear as a weapon, the human tactic of ‘Shock and Awe’ was one such tactic that Celestia couldn’t wrap her head around. Ironically though, it would take such tactics to win a war with the New United States. She’d seen preliminary plans, a surprise attack with airships bombarding New Liberty.

Celestia was beginning to lose her hold on the world, she would be unable to influence it and keep the peace if her nation was replaced by the New United States as the world’s strongest super power. She hated to admit it, but she was also angry. She had taken thousands of years to build her country up to its status as the strongest, and yet a micro nation with only one major city was usurping that position. It felt like the only two allies she had left were the Zebras and the Crystal Empire. Meanwhile America had the Changelings, the Griffons, and quite soon they would even possibly have the Minotaurs on their side.

The princess sighed quietly, then turned back to her desk and looked over the documents that the generals had left. The airships she saw were just as terrifying as she had imagined, heavily armored, with rotating turrets, the picture depicted them being fitted with American engines, something that would make them faster than her own ships. As she sat in her seat she rubbed her temples, it would take her a long time to sort out all the thoughts in her head.

[♠]

The Occisor house was quiet, very quiet, not even the sound of a clock ticking dared to break the peacefulness that reigned over the residence. Despite that quietness, the house was not unoccupied. The light smell of incense filled the air, the drapes over the windows were closed, and not a single light was on. Seated on the floor of the living room was Dominic, Maria and Luna. Each of them had their eyes closed, though Maria seemed a bit more antsy than her two companions. Luna lacked her regalia, and both Dominic and Maria were dressed simply in fatigue pants, boots, and undershirts.

Maria had started to join Luna and Dominic in their meditation sessions, she had expressed interest in following the path of the Lunar Warrior that both Dominic and Luna followed, and part of that was training her mind to be completely calm. It was easier said than done, but having the one’s she loved walking the path with her made it less scary. Dominic, for his part, was glad to have someone to share his meditation time with other than Luna. It felt like they were all starting to come together, and in a way they were. Luna could sense the energy of Maria and Dominic next to her far better than she had before, even with their magic resistant bodies she could still see glimpses of their spirits and mind.

Luna had tried on numerous occasions to extend her magic during the meditation, to link their minds together in a way that had never been thought possible before. The glimpses of their spirits that she saw were incredible, powerful masses of energy that swirled with a light an intensity that only a mind’s eye could see. She could see that despite all that had happened to them, all they had endured, they were still far more powerful in spirit than most ponies. In her younger days she would have been jealous, but now all she felt was awe.

Dominic’s mind was more focussed on the things he dealt with in life, the stress of his job often times became the subject of every meditation, he did his best to work through what his waking mind couldn’t. Despite that effort, he just couldn’t purge the stress completely, it proved to be far too much for him to compartmentalize. However, as time went on and his meditation went deeper he could feel Luna’s presence. It had been an odd sensation at first, seeing Luna’s magic and spirit through meditation often left him with fleeting glimpses of her own thoughts.

As time moved onwards and the silent contemplation continued, Dominic felt a bit of confidence in himself. As he continued to meditate he felt himself tapping more into the area around him, it was always a head rush, but he assumed that it was happening because of practice. If he exercised his perceptive abilities then they were bound to become stronger, though he also supposed that maybe he body was starting to finally acclimate to Equestria. Whatever the cause, it gave him comfort to know that there seemed to be something bigger than himself in the vast void of the universe.

“Students…” Luna’s voice cut through the silence like a sword, neither Dominic or Maria spoke. “Begin.” Without saying a word Dominic and Maria’s eyes opened, the two of them stood up and took up a combative stance across from one another. The living room had been cleared of any furniture, there was nothing to be broken, still Luna kept her eyes closed. Both Maria and Dominic approached each other quietly, Maria was the first to throw a jab. Dominic ducked to the side and returned with a restrained punch to Maria’s chest, it was sparring after all, he wasn’t about to hit her full force.

As Luna heard them grunt and swing at each other she could feel their thoughts radiating, a soft smile crossed her lips as the two of them suddenly came to a draw. They panted softly, as Luna opened her eyes she could see both of them had their hands inches from the other’s throat. The two of them looked at Luna once more, then slowly lowered their hands. Luna stood from her spot on the floor, both Maria and Dominic looked at her in anticipation. Seconds later she lashed out, once again restraining herself for the sake of sparring, the two of them ducked. What ensued next was impressive to the mare, both Dominic and Maria silently dodging and moving in tandem as they had been trained, before finally it all came to a halt. Another draw, this time with both Maria and Dominic’s hands close to Luna’s throat while her hooves were inches from theirs.

“Impressive…” Luna said softly, smiling as she looked at Maria. “Most impressive.” The three of them relaxed, the smoke of the incense whirling around the room due to the amount of wind that had been generated by their rapid movements. “You’re learning quickly, Maria…”

“Thank you, Luna.” Maria replied quietly as she watched Luna’s horn glow, the drapes quickly opened and the room was bathed in the sunlight of the outdoors. “I really appreciate you teaching me, I feel so much better now…” Luna smiled faintly as she approached both Dominic and Maria, her wings extending to wrap around both of them.

“Anything for you, dear…” Luna said softly as she hugged them with her wings. “It is time that I begin to rebuild the order of Lunar Knights, so far Dominic is the only member, but soon you will join him, and then… Others that seem promising.” The three of them quietly looked out the window at the growing city in the distance, in the sky it was possible to see the looming shapes of the newly acquired airships. Their crew’s were primarily made up of griffons, as many griffon’s knew how to operate airships of that design. Dominic smiled quietly as he saw the two battleships, they were currently being outfitted with the largest cannons the NUS had ever built. Nothing too heavy, because they were airships after all, but they certainly weren’t popguns either.

The two battleships had been dubbed the ‘Colossus’ and the ‘Cyclops’, Dominic hadn’t had anything to do with it, but the newly formed Naval Air Corps had figured that would be a nice touch. They had been assigned the prefix ‘USS’ to keep the tradition alive, Dominic was glad that things were starting to look up in the world. For once he felt the threat of invasion was behind him.

“Nice view, isn’t it?” Dominic finally said, he had taken to being more silent during the training sessions. Luna and Maria looked at him for a couple seconds before nodding, he could see the sparks of welders in the distance as the twelve inch guns were being put in place. Unlike normal cannons, they would fire using augmented magic-propellent charges to reduce the risk of an explosion if the powder magazine was hit. “I actually prefer the view from the back porch…”

It took them a couple minutes to move all the furniture back where it belonged, once that was done Dominic made his way through the kitchen to the back porch. He only paused briefly to grab a beer from the fridge, then went to the back porch by himself. Luna and Maria had noticed he’d been spending a great deal of time there, looking out over the vast and untouched desert that made up his proverbial backyard. In fact it was the nation’s first and only state park, not that many people visited it.

“Is he okay?” Maria asked Luna as they sat on the couch, she couldn’t take her eyes off the back door. Luna paused for a couple seconds, then slowly shook her head.

“He’s been under more pressure than ever lately. It’s easy to run a country when everything is already built and set up, but when you have to do it from scratch…” Luna trailed off, looking back to Maria with a slight smile. “I take it you’ve never seen him act this way before?”

“Well… Once.” Maria admitted as she leaned against the soft fur of Luna, bringing her feet up onto the couch to relax as best she could. “His mom and dad were on pretty rough terms, they almost split.” Maria looked to the back door again, she couldn’t see Dominic through the window, but she could guess what he was doing. “That’s… Actually the first time I ever saw him break down. It was scary, he just sort of crumpled to the floor and started blaming himself.”

“He takes far too much onto his shoulders.” Luna said softly, she extended a wing over Maria and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “You do too, Maria.” The woman looked at Luna with a raised eyebrow, uncertain of what the alicorn meant. “You don’t think I notice how late it is when you sneak into bed?”

“I know…” Maria said with a bit of guilt in her voice. “I just want my guys to make it, the skills I train them to use are what’s supposed to keep them alive in the field.” Luna sighed softly, relaxing her wing as Maria nuzzled into her side. “You’re right though, I should start coming home sooner.” Maria watched Luna’s face for a couple seconds, noticing a rather nervous look to the mare’s eyes. “What’s up with you?”

“I… I’m not sure.” She replied, placing a hoof to her temple. “I occasionally sense the emotions of the other alicorns, and, one of them seems to be lamenting something. I can’t tell who it is though.” The mare relaxed after a couple seconds, then looked back at Maria. “They must truly be thinking of something difficult if I can sense it from so far away.”

“I hope it’s nothing to worry about…” Maria said quietly, relaxing against the mare as she tried to think of ways to make Dominic feel better. There were obvious ways, but she wanted something long term as opposed to short term.

[♠]

Johnny quietly sighed as he sat behind his desk, shining his handgun as his associates stood quietly throughout his office. He had come to a decision, for the sake of Jen and for their future family he would give up his life of crime. He would commit fully to being a man who enforced the law rather than broke it, but before he could do that there was a tiny matter that needed to be attended to. At the moment, that matter was trembling and tied up on the floor of the office, a plastic tarp laid out underneath them. Don Minestrone of the Manehattan crime family, and due to the attempt on Johnny’s life, the only remaining member of said family.

“You know… It didn’t have to be like this, Minestrone.” Johnny said as he stood up from his chair and walked around his desk, the gagged unicorn looking up at him with fear as he held the shiny handgun casually. “You could’ve just gone your own way, I could’ve gone mine, and my fiance wouldn’t have had to see your hamfisted attempt on my life.” Johnny knelt down and rested the gun against the stallion’s head, his expression cold and unmerciful. “Even then, if she hadn’t seen it, it probably wouldn’t have escalated to this point. Fifteen enforcers, three under bosses, two capos, all four of your sons.” The man watched the dark green stallion begin to cry as the gun was placed against his head with a bit more force. “But you made her fear for her life, and that I cannot forgive. You understand why I had to do this now?”

“Look, the cocksucker pissed himself!” One of the men standing in the shadows said, causing the other’s to chuckle. Johnny remained stone faced as he stared deep into the eyes of Minestrone.

“This is just a message to every other crew out there that thinks they can fuck with Johnny Gambino.” Johnny said firmly. “Think they’ll get it?” Minestrone began to nod rapidly, the man frowned softly before he pulled the trigger. The tarp did its job, catching the blood, among other things, before it could seep into the carpet. Johnny stood up and commenced to wiping down the gun one final time, he proceeded to toss the shiny weapon down with the corpse. “Bury him out in the desert…”

“Sure thing, boss.” Oregano said as he started walking towards the body, Johnny quietly took off his suit jacket and tossed it into a trash bin, his associates watched in silence as he also took off his pants and shoes.

“And have those chucked in the incinerator.” Johnny ordered before taking a seat in his office chair, clad only in his boxers and undershirt. As the others quietly went about carrying out his orders, Johnny thought more about Jen, his muse and his guide to a better path in life. He had finally thrown down his gun, and soon his ‘organization’ would be folded into the New United States Government. Dominic had laid down the law relatively clear in a meeting that neither of them would ever acknowledge happened. The mafioso could recall the President’s words very clearly.

”Finish whatever feud you’re having, or I’ll finish it for you.” Johnny could still hear the serious tone echo through his mind, and unlike many other politicians, Dominic was untouchable. Now that the feud had ended, Johnny and his organization would become the first Civil Police Force of New Liberty. It was either become the law, or be hunted by the law, and thankfully all those under his command saw fit to join him in his endeavor. What scared Johnny was that somehow Dominic knew about the feud with Manehattan when it seemed that no one in Equestria’s government seemed to be even aware of it.

Johnny sighed as his office became empty, he looked to a letter that had been sitting on his desk since the conversation. He knew once he opened it he’d be under the jurisdiction of the government, and so he would have to wait until Minestrone had been taken care of before he opened it. Still, it opened up a door that Johnny was willing to enter, for Jen he would do anything. She’d already convinced him to give up smoking and drinking, and now it seemed she’d gotten him to give up killing for money. The date of their wedding was only a couple days away, it had been delayed since the feud had started, but finally he and Jen would be joined in the eyes of the church.

Of course, before then he’d have to visit a priest to give confession, he wanted to go into the marriage with a clean slate. Johnny didn’t doubt for a second that he could be absolved, after all, he was taking an honorable path. Oddly enough he didn’t feel bad for killing so many criminals, or perhaps it just hadn’t sunken in yet. Whatever the reason, he had a feeling he would be getting a visit from his conscience fairly soon. Overhead he could hear the drone of planes, most likely P-38s or P-47s, they’d been rushed into service as soon as they could be produced. He didn’t like to think about them ever seeing action, but something told him that the Equestrians were far more dangerous than many gave them credit for.

A thousand years was a long time to bottle up warlike tendancies.

D4

Author's Notes:

And here's another chapter for you lovely dovelys! I'm hoping that the stuff I have coming up will be okay, I've been a bit uncertain lately.

Anyway, here's your clip of the day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Z5IRlNQ7I