The waters of the North Luna Ocean lapped gently against the shores of Saddle Arabia, the sun was setting in the distance and painted the clouds with beautiful pinks and reds. The tranquil sound of a summer breeze was overcome by the sound of a distant foghorn. The sound emanated from a port in the distance, the rather mountainous portion of Saddle Arabia was sparsely populated with farmers and fur traders. Things had been calm and simple in those rolling hills for thousands of years, the animals and the ponies lived in a sort of harmony. The Saddle Arabians that called this region home were peaceful ponies, stallions and mares who had left the bustling city life for a simpler, more peaceful existence.

The peacefulness of it all seemed so wrong, for it seemed there was a storm gathering to the north of this peaceful land. A storm of steel and iron, thousands of Caribou soldiers, outfitted with weapons reverse engineered from the tanks they had received eight years before. They were far superior to the weapons of Saddle Arabia, and had a far crueller agenda. It appeared Saddle Arabia was merely a stepping stone to them, and that stone was about to be stepped on. The Saddle Arabians had advanced enough to have biplanes, the Caribou had triplanes. The Saddle Arabians had tanks with experimental energy cannons, the Caribou had perfected that technology as best they could. The water began to clash against the shore with more ferocity as thunder echoed in the distance.

On the high seas, a fleet of wood vessels sailed towards the shore without any sort of attempt to hide. Arrogantly, Caribou flags flew overhead and soldiers could be heard chanting loudly from within the ships. Through the fog that hung over the ocean, a spotter aboard the Onorussian submarine known as O-579 watched them through a pair of binoculars. The Type VIIC U-Boat was running its usual patrol through the Saddle Arabian peninsula, and now served as a forward observer for the Onorussian Military. This ship was captained by a man named Eugene, a former Air Ship first officer.

Eugene stood on the conning tower with his watch officers, the spray of the ocean mist splashing against his bearded face as he continued looking through the binoculars at the Caribou convoy. The deck’s and sides of the ships seemed to be defended by energy cannons, some were turrets, some were mounted like old cannons. There had to be at least seventy ships, possibly even a hundred. In a way, the Caribou reminded Eugene of the Changelings when they had been at their peak military power. Using overwhelming forces in the first attack, throwing a wall of flesh at their enemy like a virus.

“Sir, we’ve radioed the Leviathan. She’s put our message through to the high command.” A crewman announced in Thestralese from the hatch, Eugene nodded quietly as he continued watching the ships. “They haven’t responded to your request to engage the fleet, sir.”

“I don’t expect them too…” Eugene said as he lowered his binoculars and looked to the crewman, a changeling wearing the uniform of an ensign. “We’re at the edge of our observation distance, any closer and we would be violating orders. I put the request forward so that they would take the report more seriously.” The captain let the binoculars hang on the strap around his neck, the submarine rocked from side to side as the waves batted against its sides. ”I will return to my quarters, notify me if anything changes.” The others nodded and Eugene made his way down into the conning tower, passing the ensign who was now checking over some circuits on a landing inside.

Eugene stepped onto the floor of the main control room of the sub, his crew was hard at work as they usually were. It reminded him of his time serving on airships, but submarines offered more of a challenge than an airship. That had been why Eugene had switched his position, he patted his tactical officer on the shoulder as he walked past. The woman looked up for a moment before looking back to the map which had several plots for the ships in the convoy. Eugene walked through the ship, passing by the radio room and the sonar operator before managing to reach his quarters. He closed the door to his small room and sat on his bed, briefly he glanced over to a picture frame beside his bed. It depicted him and his sister Elise standing together with him in his dress uniform.

The Captain sighed and reached down to the collar of his navy blue uniform, from around his neck he withdrew a locket and opened it. He found himself staring at two different faces, one was of his wife Nova. They had actually fallen in love, even after what had happened between the two of them and their time in the EOL. The other picture was of a baby girl, sleeping peacefully with her eyes closed. Eugene leaned back on his bunk and looked up at the pictures, it was very likely that he was witnessing the beginning of another war, and at a time like that he wished he had his loved ones with him. The man quietly closed the locket and slipped it back under his shirt, then wiped his eyes and looked back up at the ceiling.

Half an hour passed, just him and his thoughts, occasionally he could hear the engines switch on in order to keep pace with the convoy. If the word came down that he was to fire on that convoy, there had to be no doubt in his mind that it would be the right thing to do. He knew what the Caribou were, and despite knowing just how brutal the Saddle Arabians could be, they didn’t hold a candle to the Caribou, and they didn’t deserve the kind of suffering that would come from Caribou rule. There came a knock on his door, he responded with a loud hum and looked over to see an ensign stepping in with a paper in his hands.

”Sir. A response from the high command has arrived.” The ensign stated, Eugene stood up and looked to the young man standing in his doorway. ”The Imperator has said we are not to interfere with the actions of the Caribou and Saddle Arabians. He does, however, want us to continue observing them, even if that means crossing the patrol line.” The Captain took the note from the ensign and looked it over, then nodded quietly.

”Very well… Let’s make ourselves as inconspicuous as possible. Take us the periscope depth.” Eugene ordered, the ensign nodded and rushed to the control room to pass along the orders. The captain stepped out of her room and closed the door, then gently patted his chest to feel his locket before following the lead of the ensign.

[♠]

Dominic sighed as he stepped out of his office, he looked to his watch and saw that it was already hour past the time he had expected to be back for dinner with his family. He hoped that the Caribou weren’t about to invade, mainly because that would drag him away from his family even more. As it stood there was nothing more he could do at the moment, and he hoped that Maria had put aside some pasta for him. The walk to the dining room felt like it took far longer than it usually did, his boots echoed through the large marble halls of the castle. The man turned one corridor after another until finally stopping in front of the door to the dining room.

The man pushed it open and looked inside, unsurprisingly there was no one sitting at the table, no smiles or stories about each other’s day. Of course his family had probably gone on without him, he wouldn’t want to keep them waiting very long with how busy his work could make him. Of course there was a plate set out for him, covered with plastic wrap to keep it moderately fresh. Dominic quietly sat down at his seat and uncovered the pasta, he took a deep breath and caught the familiar lovely scent of the sauce that Maria made so well. He picked up a fork from beside the plate and began eating, leaning one elbow against the table and resting his hand against his cheek. The solitude of the dining room gave him time to reflect on his day, he almost didn’t even pay attention to the taste of the food as he zoned out.

The day hadn’t been as uneventful as he had hoped, but at least the world wasn’t completely on fire. Yet. He had been considering intervening in the conflict, but he knew that the smart move was to let them wear each other down. At least at first. He would wait for the Saddle Arabians to see just how deeply they were in trouble, then step in and play the part of heroic savior. That would get the Saddle Arabians on his side, at least that was the plan. Of course, if it turned out that this wasn’t what it seemed, he would need to adjust his plan accordingly. Unfortunately slipping agents into any of the enemy countries was proving difficult, even changelings that had years of shapeshifting experience could only barely mimic Saddle Arabians or Caribou, they hadn’t had enough experience with their physiology. Zebras were more common in Equestria, but there was no information of note coming out of Zebrica at the moment.

Dominic paused as he heard his fork clink against an empty plate, he shook himself out of his thoughts and stood up. With the empty plate in hand he walked to a nearby cart and set it down for the castle staff to take, then he walked out of the room and began making his way to his own bedroom. It was likely he would find Maria, Luna and Altair there, undoubtedly watching Star Trek without him. He passed by numerous guards, saluting them as he did so, until finally he had reached the familiar wooden doors that lead to his quarters. The man paused quietly outside the door for a couple seconds, adjusting his uniform and taking a few deep breaths to put on a face of calm for his son and wives to see. With a slight grunt he pushed the doors open and stepped inside, then closed the door.

Sure enough he saw Luna and Maria sitting on a couch facing the innermost wall, a large TV was playing the Sci-Fi epic that Dominic wouldn’t deny he loved. He had always been more partial to Captain Kirk rather than Picard, Kirk’s gunslinger attitude really spoke to the Imperator as a child. He was glad to pass the torch onto his son. Altair was surely more focussed on the action on the screen, as he hadn’t noticed his dad walking into the room. Dominic removed his cap and made his way over to the couch. Luna and Maria smiled at him and scooched apart, it gave him just enough space to sit between them. Of course as soon as he sat down they had scooched closer and rested their head against him, using him as a big muscled pillow.

As the movie continued playing, Dominic felt Maria tracing her hand up and down his chest in a very discreet fashion. Altair was more focussed on the movie, so he didn’t really notice anything happening behind him as he was sitting on the floor. Dominic stiffened and straightened up when he felt Maria’s touch, his eyes glanced over to her with a bit of surprise, but he saw her smirking back at him with that usual playful look in her eyes. He glanced back over to Luna, but she was a bit more interested in the movie, she always enjoyed a good movie that took place in space, especially ones like Star Trek. Dominic looked back to the television screen, smiling softly and placing a hand on Maria’s finger. He gave her hand a soft squeeze before letting go, she leaned her head against his shoulder with a soft sigh.

[♠]

Jack quietly adjusted the duffle bag over his shoulder as he walked out of the warehouse where his bag had been transferred. The cargo aircraft had gotten mixed up on the way back and as such he had been dragged all around the airbase, now that he had his bag he could make his way off of the base and meet up with Tig. Personally he was a bit disappointed that his search for the bag had ended, as it had given him time to prolong his meeting. Now that he had his bag over his shoulder there was nothing to keep him from leaving. He had changed out of his flight suit and into his tan officer’s uniform, he had his leather bomber jacket on as well, decorated with numerous patches. The sun was almost completely set, with only a few rays of sunlight shining off in the distance that would soon be overcome by the night. The man sighed and began walking towards the gate where he had told Tig he would meet her, a pit formed in his stomach. He loved her, he wouldn’t deny that, but he wasn’t sure how he could face her after such a long time.

Jets roared overhead, Jack would’ve given anything to be flying one of them, but that was not his fate. His boots echoed against the cooling tarmac, the gate was getting closer and closer. There was a crowd waiting there, families preparing to receive all the other pilots that were coming home from their deployment. The Colonel could hear the happy chattering from a hundred yards away, he paused mid step and did his best to compose himself once again. Every instinct he had told him that he didn’t belong there, that life wasn’t meant for him, and yet he knew he had to keep moving forward. With a hesitant sigh he began walking again, the sunlight grew even dimmer. By the time he had reached the gate it was completely gone, the chattering was louder than ever, and he could see his fellow pilots mingling with the crowd, some of them had found their families and were sharing hugs all around.

Jack took a deep breath as he approached the gate, the MPs there wasted no time in opening it for him. He silently stared through the opening in the chain link fence. Beyond the gate he could see the happy faces, an alien environment that he wasn’t sure would help him. He tried to think back to the last time he was truly happy, when Tig’s face flashed through his mind he knew what he had to do. The man nodded to the MPs before taking a single step through the gate, he walked further away from the familiar razor wire and security perimeters and out into the unknown. The man adjusted his jacket before reaching into the internal pocket and withdrawing his garrison cap, he slipped it onto his head and began walking through the crowd in search of Tig.

The Colonel walked through several groups of people until finally he stepped out of the crowd entirely. He looked around quietly, searching the open space beyond the crowd for any sign of the mare he loved. After a couple moments he spotted an earth pony mare with her color of fur standing near the road that ran along the base, but she turned and revealed that she actually had a horn. It wasn’t Tig, leaving Jack with a rather uncertain feeling in his gut. The man spotted a bus stop ahead, he figured that he could take a bus to the house he had bought on the outskirts of Ponyville. Jack began walking towards the bus stop, adjusting his dufflebag once again before sighing.

The man leaned against the sign and reached into his jacket pocket, withdrawing an MP3 player and putting in his earbuds. He frowned as he flicked through his music before settling on a rather melancholy selection of noir jazz. The light that illuminated the bus stop occasionally flickered, gnats and moths swarmed around the bulb overhead. Jack felt odd being the only person at the bus stop, was he the only one that didn’t have someone waiting for him? The man sighed and closed his eyes, then leaned his head back against the pole and listened to the jazz, the only sound that seemed to penetrate his bubble of seclusion was the distant sound of jet engines. He stood there for ten minutes, but for the lonely ten minutes can tend to feel like an eternity. Finally he opened his eyes when he heard the engine of the bus approaching, the Colonel stood up straight as the headlights washed over him.

With a hiss of the air brakes the bus came to a halt, the doors opened with a creak and Jack stood up straight. As he began to step onto the bus he noticed a couple ponies stepping off of the vehicle, the man stopped and looked at them. Two pegasi and another unicorn, no Tig. Jack sighed and handed a couple coins to the busdriver before making his way over to one of the rickety seats that lined the windows of the grey metal vehicle. The bus was empty, Jack was the only passenger, and so he opted to seat his bag next to him rather than in the luggage rack. His jazz continued to play, the sad saxophone echoed through his mind as the doors closed and the bus began to drive once again.

Jack leaned his face against the window and stared out with that same frown he had worn for eight years. His eyes watered a bit as he watched the city lights through the glass, the cold night air was starting to chill his cheek. The ride around the city went by without much trouble, no one really ran the route that Jack took, and that made for sparse conversation partners. After half an hour of silence Jack recognized the signs for his stop and reached up to a string that ran from the back to a bell at the front of the bus. He tugged it a couple times, signalling the bus driver to slow to a stop. The brakes squealed and hissed once again, Jack stood up and grabbed his bag before walking to the front of the bus and nodding to the driver. With that he stepped off the bus and onto the street corner, part of a quiet rural piece of land.

The bus drove off, leaving him there alone. Several houses lined the street, spaced out with decent sized yards and places for planting gardens. Jack’s only source of light now was the street lamps that lined the road, he tucked his hands into his pocket and turned off his MP3 player. His footsteps became the only sound he heard as he wrapped up his earbuds and tucked them into his pocket with the music player. He passed by a couple houses, most of them were dark. This was generally a neighborhood that was used by people who were rarely home, whether they were off on business or vacation, Jack had never met a single neighbor of his, he took some perverse pride in that fact.

Jack stopped in front of a familiar house, the grass in the yard was overgrown and tall. The driveway was cracked and had grass growing around it, the porch lights were off and the windows were shuttered. The man walked to the front gate and pushed it open, the metal of the hinges whined loudly. He walked down the overgrown path, closing the gate behind him as he approached the porch. The Colonel stopped at the front door and looked at his mailbox, it was empty, as he had expected. The man spotted several notices on his door from the HOA, complaining about his grass and driveway. Jack crumpled them up and tucked them into his coat before unlocking the door and pushing it open. The door creaked as well, spilling light into the dark home.

He stepped inside and closed the door behind him, the familiar smell of mothballs and old paper greeted his nose. Jack ran a hand along the banister of the staircase that ran upstairs, unsurprisingly he found it to be covered in dust. The man blinked a couple times, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness. To his surprise there was a faint glow in the living room to his right that originated from the kitchen, Jack knew there wasn’t supposed to be anyone there. He reached down to his belt and drew his handgun from the holster, cautiously he began clearing the living room. There wasn’t anyone there, which lead him to the kitchen itself. He peeked through the doorway and was surprised to see the dining room table had been set and a pair of candles had been set up and lit.

The man stepped into the kitchen, holding his handgun at the ready as he approached the table and examined it. To places had been set out, the entire kitchen had been dusted, and he could see a glass pan sitting on the stove. He knew for a fact he didn’t own anything like it, it was far too colorful for his taste. Jack approached the pan and removed the lid, he was greeted by the smell of baked ziti. Chills ran down his body and goosebumps sprouted up along his arms, slowly he returned his handgun to its holster. There was a creak in the wood floor behind him that was followed by a gasp, and with caution he turned to face the source.

Tig was standing there with a look of surprise, obviously she hadn’t expected him to come home as late as he had. Then again, he supposed he was technically supposed to arrive two hours later, but that was only a technicality caused by the fluctuations of the wormholes between Terra and Terra Nova. In retrospect he should’ve expected that to be the cause of Tig not showing up at the airbase, but his thoughts had been elsewhere that that period of time. She looked just as beautiful as the day he had left her all those years ago, her mane had grown longer and was done up in a french braid. To Tig, Jack had certainly changed. His eyes were more sunken and had a sadness that ran deep, his shoulders were slouched and his face seemed to be a mix of neutral stoicism and suppressed emotional agony.

The mare walked towards him quietly, both of them were unable to think of words. Jack was surprised when Tig hugged him tightly around the waist, her warm fur and embrace sent shockwaves through his body. He felt his knees wobble, slowly he slid down through her hooves until he was eye level with her. Jack wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in her neck, silently forcing his emotions back into check. All his life he had wished for someone to love, someone to hold. They continued to hold each other quietly, the only light that filled the room was the candles, and in the distance all that could be heard was the sound of chirping crickets.

[♠]

Celestia quietly sighed as she looked out the window of her room, staring out at the city lights of the Crystal Empire. The distant storm clouds rumbled as they usually did, the shield that surrounded the city kept them at bay. Eight years had passed and not once had the city experienced an unscheduled cold period, it was all so routine and mundane that Celestia often felt like she had returned to Pre-War Equestria. There was hardly anything that gave her pause, hardly anything that made her surprised, and that made Celestia wary. For the generals and soldiers that had escaped to the Crystal Empire with her, the war was very far from over, but the Princess was unsure of that.

Her former subjects were enjoying a period of technological revolution, more importantly they seemed very happy with their new government. Celestia had seen her nephew grow up through snapshots from the newspapers, and even those were limited. Eight years old, not once had she even said hello to him. The former Princess sighed and looked around her room, it was well decorated with relatively fancy furniture, a fitting gilded cage. The alicorn had stopped wearing her crown and regalia, keeping it locked in a chest beneath her bed. With a quiet groan she stood from her resting place near the window and walked towards a television on the wall. It was one of the many wonders that human technology had brought, and it was growing far more popular in the Crystal Empire than expected.

The mare sat down on a cushion in front of the screen and flicked it on with her magic, her eyes stung as the blinding light emanated from the device before dimming to a more acceptable and comfortable level. The volume was down, but the television was displaying the familiar setup of an Onorussian based news program. It wasn’t anything really interesting, nothing sensational or frivolous, as Celestia had come to expect from the Onorussians. News was news to them, nothing more. The familiar male thestral anchor was speaking in his usual monotone voice, his expression was stoic and rhythmic, it was the perfect program for falling asleep to if Celestia wanted. The Princess shook her head quietly and flicked through the channels, passing by cartoons and cooking shows before stopping when she happened upon a program depicting tanks.

”...the war five years ago is still being felt around the globe. Those who fought on both sides of the conflict are still very much against one another, despite large scale civilian support of the Onorussian government.” The narrator said with a trottingham accent, Celestia watched as rather shaky footage played on the screen.Someone was holding a camera and recording, running across a field with a group of Onorussian soldiers as spells and arrows rained down around them. The screen cut to a picture of a woman that Celestia recognized, none other than Maria Occisor. She was seated in a dark room, wearing her usual robes. The caption displayed her name, as well as her former rank of Major.

”It was one of the scariest parts of my life. The worst part was slipping through the lines before the battle at Ponyville…” The woman said, it was obviously a pre recorded video, as she looked a tad more tense than she had in recent pictures. ”One of the hardest things about being a soldier is taking a life… You don’t know if they’re someone’s brother, if they like the kind of music you like… The more you kill the more you start to wonder that. Ponyville was the hardest for me because I knew so much about it, and yet so little…” Celestia sighed as she leaned back on her cushion and continued to watch the documentary unfolding, more footage of artillery smashing houses to splinters was shown.

The alicorn continued watching, sighing a bit more heavily. The documentary was three years old, she had seen it more than once, it didn’t stop her from feeling upset whenever confronted by what had happened. The mare changed channels and was surprised to see more gun play, but it was accented by dramatic music, Celestia recognized it as a trailer for a movie. The camera was focused on a pair of women in a bell tower as rain fell in buckets around them, the view cut to an image of their sniper scopes roving over trenches with Royal guards in them before rapidly changing to a shot of one of their fingers tightening around the trigger. Just as the weapon went off it cut to a title screen, as well as a date at which the film would be released. The film was also about the Forty Eight hour war and the events that had lead up to it, a biographical picture about Maria Occisor. She was regarded highly in Onorus, and it was not only because she was Imperatrix. Without much thought she flicked the television off, continuing to sit in silence and look at the TV, her mind running with ideas that never seemed to leave her alone.

Celestia quietly stood up from her cushion and looked out the window once again, the lights of the city below gave her room just enough glow for her to walk to her bed. The mare adjusted her mane before she walked to her comfy blankets and slipped beneath them. She looked up at the ceiling as she lay in her bed, as usual there was nothing of much note there. It had been more and more difficult for her to fall asleep lately, and yet she spent most of her time during the day asleep. The waking world had become more and more unbearable, and so she retreated into her dreams for some sort of escape. Her horn glowed as she cast a spell upon herself, her eyes closed and she was propelled into a world of numb bliss, a world that she knew she might see her sister in. Even if it had been so long since they had spoken to one another, she still held out some faint hope...

Author's Notes:

I wanted to try and do a chapter that was light on dialogue, to just sort of let the background set pieces carry the mood along. Just a little experiment is all, not sure how it came out as of yet. I've been working on some more drawings as well, they aren't the best, but I figured they might be interesting to look at. I'll put them down below the clip of the day (Which totally isn't foreshadowing anything, I promise.).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdyvV2tqsG4