The USS George H.W. Bush limps along at 18 knots. She had received basic repairs in United Arab Emirates, but her number two elevator is still out of service. Damage from the AS-20 Kayak missiles was pretty bad. The number three hanger bay is pretty much gutted from fire. It’s going to take months of dry dock to repair all the damage.

The USS Vella Gulf has pulled close escort to the carrier, though damaged too, she had mostly taken hits from the S-24 Shafaq rockets. Given her size though, the rocket damage is fairly light. Most of the damage was to her helicopter hanger and port side radar system.

The aircraft carrier USS George Washington runs behind the two, she had met them in the Indian Ocean to provide CAP operations and air support for the stricken Bush. The rest of Carrier Strike Group 5 formed her screen in layers.

Closest to the carriers running fore and aft of them are the two Ticonderoga class cruisers. They are providing both the long range air defense cover, and shorter range point defense. Sitting inside the five mile circle, these ships make up the core.

The second circle is fifteen miles out, made up of 6 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. They are part of destroyer squadron 15. Their job is medium range anti-air, as well as anti-ship and anti-sub screening.

Finally, 60 miles ahead, and 90 miles north and aft, two Virginia-class submarines are running to provide the long range anti-submarine screen. With a damaged carrier, there is no question about defenses.

The task force has been holding an irregular course though the Pacific Ocean to throw off any surveillance attempts. They have made several zig-zag maneuvers as they travel. Often altering their course just after Russian surveillance satellites pass overhead. For a while they had made it look like they were going to head to Japan. Then once in the open ocean, they’ve kept altering course between Pearl and California. The last turn now has them shifting north of Pearl Harbor to pass Kauai Island at about 400 miles west and north.

Their final turn, however, will bring them between Kauai and Oahu, right around into Pearl.

The roar of the turboprop engines fills the air as one of the Liberty Belle’s takes to the air. The Hawkeye 2000 has the green liberty torch, and crossed red lightning bolts, painted right on top of its radar dome. You can see that mark for miles. The loud thunk of the catapult, and the aircraft is in the air for its patrol.

On deck 2 F-18 E/F’s are getting ready for their launch, being moved onto the catapult. They’ve been loaded out for long range air to air. Even this close to Hawaii, there is still the chance they might pick up missile fire from a guided missile sub, or even bombers out of Russia. Bears can easily patrol the Pacific and in groups, could easily sink a carrier that doesn’t have a screen.

Fire Streak and High Winds sit on top of the bridge, watching the flight operations going on below. They had undergone the change just two weeks ago, on board the George Washington, and were grounded since then. Well they are grounded as far as flying F-35’s. It still drives them nuts though. For the most part all they are allowed to do is sit around.

They had found out they were both Wonderbolts through an online search. That, however, means nothing to them. More recently, they have sat through some informational video’s the army had sent them. At least those videos answered questions of why and how this happened. The problem was their career as fighter and attack pilots is now over.

They would be rotated off at Pearl. Then they would be put on administrative leave until the Navy could make a decision. The navy needed aircraft that could shoot down bombers and missiles, fleet defense aircraft. Not pegasi.

So far the only thing the two had been allowed to do was carry things between ships. The drop from fighter pilot to cargo pilot though was one of the worst blows. They weren’t search and rescue geeks, they weren’t marines. They were Navy fighter pilots, graduates of the Miramar Flight Academy.

High Winds has her flight suit on. She prefers to wear it to hide her… embarrassing parts… she is still having trouble coming to terms with being a mare now. At least Fire Streak stayed male. He has his PT gear on and is stretched out, legs dangling down over the roof.

“Fire Streak, High Winds, report to the bridge, Fire Streak, High Winds to the bridge.” Blares over the PA system, the call has gone through the whole ship. And of course they opted to use the pony names instead of their real names. Again.

Sliding down a bit and back winging, Fire looks through the bridge window upside down. Both the XO and navigator roll their eyes, and the XO points to the door.

Dropping down, Streak and Wind land at the door and walk in, “Sir?”

“We have a situation.” The XO says.

Wind sighs and droops, “Someone ran out of ice cream again?”

“Have a Snickers, Wind.” Fire says, smiling, holding out the bar on his wingtip.

“Why?” Wind asks, blinking.

“Because you’re not acting like a Wonderbolt when you’re hungry.”

The XO just covers his face, cartoon ponies is one thing but this… “You two are STILL US Navy Lieutenants.”

“Yes sir.” They say in unison, standing at attention.

“We have a freighter almost right in our path, no transponder, not broadcasting any information. Our E2 picked it up 200 miles ahead of us. It’s pulling 7 knots.” The XO puts up the image on the TV screen showing the IR image of a slow freighter.

“That kind of ship isn’t normal in these waters.” Wind says, blinking.

“She’s a coastal freighter, not deep sea.” The XO says, nodding. “But the problem, is this.”

Clicking zoom, the IR shows several hot spots inside two shipping containers on board the freighter.

Wind and Fire blink, narrowing their eyes. “They could be refugees, human traffickers, or something worse.”

“They are running dark, in our path. If they start broadcasting they could give away our position. If we get too close they could start dumping cargo.” The XO shakes his head.

“So what’s on your mind XO?”

“Two Seahawks will drop off a marine team to secure the ship. The problem is the helicopters will be audible from miles away. What we need is something that can’t be heard. We need something that can get on board the ship and disable the radio without being seen. Then, if needed, stop the crew from dumping cargo.”

Fire and Wind looked at each other, then at the XO with twin smiles, “That works.”

*** CMC:EC ***

The bus stops, and the driver opens the door. The driver looks at them for a long time, unsure of what to say. What can he say? What can anyone say?

Feather sits on the bus bench, between the twins. All of their manes hang tight against their faces and necks, still wet. Their fur is puffed out a bit, as they had shaken themselves dry. It didn’t help the wet manes and tails very much, though. None of them are happy about how the sailing went, or rather didn’t. Their ears are drooped down in sadness, and they look up at the bus driver. Their eyes wide and shining with hope, unsure whether or not he’d let them on the bus with wet fur.

Cotton Cloudy’s mane has a tuft of fur that hangs down between her eyes, lying flat against her muzzle. Her tail dangles limply behind her off the back of the bench, blowing a bit in the breeze. Her tail still has knots in it she couldn’t get out. She’d need help when she gets back home. One of the adults will have to brush it for her.

Cotton Candy has his tail clamped tightly against his side. He is lying down on the bench, shivering. He has the whole kicked dog look going on, as his mane hangs limply on either side of his head. Every time the wind blows it sends shivers throughout his whole body. Closing his eyes, he lets out a little squeaking sneeze, then he whimpers softly. Opening eyes again, he lifts his head up to the bus.

Giving a weak smile to the bus driver, Feather squeaks softly, “Please sir, can we get on? We need to get back to Fort Bragg.”

The bus driver looks at the trio for a long moment, he only has two options. Let them on, or close the door and drive off. They look like animals but…they just talked. Animals can’t talk, right?

Finally he makes his decision, getting up out of his seat, he opens up the emergency locker and pulls out a blanket, “Back of the bus.”

Feather gets up quickly and the others follow, scampering up. Standing on her hind legs, Feather drops the bus fare into the register and follows the driver to the back of the bus.

The driver puts down the emergency blanket across the seats. Working with one at a time, he gently picks them up, much to their surprise, and sets them down on the blanket. Being very careful, he then brings the ends of the blanket up over them so they are snuggled together and warm. It is summer, but the bus’s air conditioner would be been bad on their wet fur. With one final tuck, all that is showing is their noses and eyes from under the blanket.

He heads to the front of the bus to continue his route. Each time the bus stops to pick up or let off passengers, he checks back to ensure no one is bothering the foals. He is a father, his daughter is just five years old. He would want other drivers to do the same if his daughter ever has to ride the bus alone.

*** Carrier Strike Group 5 ***

The transport helicopters take to the air. A pair of Seahawks, each carrying six marines from the carrier’s security force. A growler is flying high escort, to provide jammer protection. The reality however is if the freighter has shoulder launched SAM’s their only real defense would be the pegasi.

No one really has much faith in the abilities of Fire Streak and High Wind. They are untested in any form of combat like this. Untrained in close combat. They can’t even use service weapons, all they have is their hooves and wings.

The pair had launched a good ten minutes before the helicopter and are flying low, side by side. The water is pretty rough, and both of them know if they hit the waves, it would probably be it for them. Both of them have K-Bar’s strapped to their forelegs, though in this case, it isn’t for fighting, but for cutting cables.

Climbing up to about a hundred feet, they change their course, making a gradual arc. They want to come up dead astern of the freighter. The problem is, they aren’t sure of how loud they would be on the roof of the pilot house. They have no specifications for the ship, so they don’t know if their hooves would make a lot of noise that could be heard. Their only option would be to try and do everything while hovering.

The ship is running with red lights only, and the bridge is blacked out. It doesn’t even have navigation lights on. If not for the E-2, it would have gone unnoticed.

Fire Streak drops down, just over the building and nods to High Winds. Both of them draw their K-Bar’s in their mouths and begin the first part of their mission. They begin by cutting the wires for the HF, VHF and other antennae, including navigational radars.

*** Velvet ***

I pace back and forth a bit grumbling. “Where are they?”

“I’m sure everything’s fine. Sugar cube?” Ah-Pee says gently, stopping her unpacking long enough to hold out her hoof.

“AH-HAH!” Eric shouts, then he grumbles, seeing the sugar cube she is offering.

“Something wrong, Songbird?” Ballad giggles.

“One of these days I’ll catch her speaking like Applejack. I know it.” Eric shakes his head, “And it’s Sky Song, not Songbird.”

“Sky Song, song bird… either works.” She giggles softly.

“Well tomorrow I’m taking you to the music store.”

“What for?” Ballad blinks, looking confused.

“Simple, to find out what instrument works best for you. For your special talent.” Eric nods firmly. “Mine is easy. Yours however, there are lots of different types of harps.”

Giggling softly I shake my head. “Well if yours is so easy, prove it.”

Glancing back at me, Eric thinks for a moment, then he nods. Kneeling down, he takes Ballad’s cheek in his hand giving it a gentle stroke. “And I’ll fly, and I’ll fly, until the end of the sky…” Standing up he picks her forelegs up.

Standing on her hind hooves Ballad looks into Eric’s eyes. Smiling she starts to harmonize with him, her voice filling the room as well, “So I’ll be the one that doesn’t have to say good bye.”

Together they sing, hand in hoof, clear and true, “I'll clear the skies forever, so we won't be apart, I'll keep the weather warm for you, and the winter will never start.”

I looked at Ah-Pee and giggle, “Sky Song it is.”

Cipher falls on her side, legs twitching.

Blinking I looked down at her. “Ok, what’s your problem?”

“To… much… cute…” She gasps once and freezes, sticking her legs up in the air.

“Well that’s it, Cipher’s gone. We best call in the lions.” I just shake my head and laugh while I watch her.

“Stand back I’ll give her the buck of life.” Ah-Pee says, and raised her rear legs, aiming at Cipher.

“I’m alive.” Cipher says, and she rolls away quickly.

“Works every time?” I ask, smiling at Ah-Pee.

“Eeyup.”

“I’m still worried about the foals. They said they were going to try boating for their cutie marks.”

Blaze puts a wing over my back and hugs me. “Front gate called, they want you to pick up your foals.”

Turning, I run out, Blaze and Ah-Pee follow behind, laughing their flanks off. It’s a fairly short trot to the gate. Skidding to a stop I look at the guards, who are shaking their heads.

“Corporal Twilight?” The MP asks, looking at me sternly.

“Yes, sorry, they don’t seem to understand their limitations yet.” I say quickly looking at him.

“A bus driver dropped them off, he felt it was best to drop them off right at the gate rather than at the edge of the highway.” The MP moves aside so I can see the three of them cuddled under the blanket.

“Sorry mom. We didn’t expect it to turn out that badly.” Feather squeaks softly.

I shake my head softly, picking up Cloudy I set her on Ah-Pee’s back. Lifting Candy, I notice him shivering, so I put the blanket around him tightly. Finally Feather gets put on my back. “Thank you, we’ll take them home.”

Turning, I start trotting back and look at Feather. “Well?”

“Since featherings a term used in sailing, power boating, and clouds are important in sailing, we thought we’d try sailing.” Feather says.

Candy sneezes and whimpers. “The guys at the boat rentals though wouldn’t let us rent one though. We didn’t have any ID so he wouldn’t let us use our bank cards.”

“Well we had ID but he didn’t believe it was us, cuz the pictures are human.” Cloudy corrects Candy, “And it said I’m male.”

“So we figured just sitting in the boat might work, to get a feel if we liked it.” Feather continues, looking sadly at the other two. “We thought if it was our special talent we’d have an instinct or inspiration being there.”

Shivering Candy pulls the blankets around himself tighter, “But the boat wasn’t flush against the dock. There was a space between them, and the boat edge was higher than we are. Feather was able to fly across but, I had to jump. I just wasn’t strong enough. I caught the edge of the boat, but I slipped off.”

“I tried to catch him. To stop him from falling, but he was too heavy and we both fell down between the boat and the dock.” Cloudy says, looking at her brother, worried.

“I heard them cry out, and saw them trapped. They couldn’t get back up that way so I grabbed a big adult life jacket and dropped it down to them.” Feather starts, and looks at the two. “Then I dropped into the water too I was able to use my wings to push us out from under the dock and back to shore.”

“Celestia, I’m not sure if I should be angry or proud.” I shake my head and looked at the three. “You took a huge risk going that far off base, but at the same time you stood up for each other. You protected each other and made it back.”

“You’re still grounded for leaving the base.” Blaze says firmly.

All three sigh and call out in unison, “Yes Daddy.”

I trot into my apartment at the barracks, and carefully put Feather on the sofa. Grabbing Candy, I put him in bed and wrapped a blanket around him. “Ok you need to wait here, I’ll get Henry over to check you out, in the meantime I’ll make you some nice veggie soup.”

Yawning Candy curls up, “Thanks mom.”

“What about your real mom?” I ask curiously.

“She died when we were young. We were raised by our dad till we were 18 then he left.” Candy says softly.

“I’m sorry.” I say softly and nuzzle him.

“It’s ok. I feel safe with you.”

Smiling I back out of the room and head to the kitchenette. It’s small, but workable. Looking through the cupboards I smile and pull down a large can of vegetable broth. Adding it to a pot, I dice up some mixed vegetables and add it the pot, getting it to a bare simmer.

“Feather, are you or Cloudy feeling ill? Are you feeling hot or such?” I ask, looking at them on the couch.

“No mom.” Feather calls out.

Cloudy shakes her head. “I’m ok, mom.”

I glance over at the knock at the door, “Who is it?”

“Your star crossed lover.” I hear Henry call out.

Laughing softly, I open the door for him and give him a quick nuzzle. “He’s in the bed room, sneezing and shivering.”

“I’ll take a look.” Henry says reassuringly and heads in, followed by Feather.

Giving Candy a quick check up, Henry smiles, “Little bit of a fever, I think it’s just a cold.”

Feather whimpers softly, “Can’t you heal him?”

“He’ll be fine Feather.” Henry says, kneeling down.

Putting her head against his hip, on his jeans over his cutie mark Feather whimpers softly. “Star Crossed could have healed him.”

“Star Crossed wouldn’t though. Sometimes illnesses like this are good for the body. They help it build up defenses against worse illnesses down the road.” Henry ruffles her mane softly.

Pouting, Feather walks back out to the common room.

I smile as I walk in and gently put down the soup and tray beside Candy. “Would you like me to help you eat?”

Looking up, Candy nods slowly.

“He’ll be fine Velvet, just give him a few days to rest.” Henry says.

“Thanks doc.”

Sitting down I carefully started spoon feeding the sick foal. I let him decide when he wants each spoonful, before offering it to him, letting him rest between sips.

*** Carrier Strike Group 5 ***

Fire Streak and High Winds lay quietly on top of the bridge house. From here they can watch the cargo containers and hear the crew, to a certain extent. Looking at each other they nod. It’s show time.

In the distance, they hear the helicopters coming in. It takes a few minutes longer, but the crew begins hearing it too and they start to respond. Two sailors run out of the bridge and started scanning the sky with binoculars.

Fire Streak yawns, relaxing, the ship doesn’t have a lot of crew members, so it is easy to watch them from their vantage point. The captain is calling out orders to shut down lights. Really, like that would work against low light and thermal imaging. Even if they could get everyone hidden and block all heat sources, Fire and Wind would still show up on infrared.

Wind perks her ears, looking down at two crew members running out of the superstructure. Focusing her eyes on the group, she gets up quickly and spreading her wings. She shouts, “SAM SAM SAM!”

Leaping down, to the surprise of the crew, Wind shoulder tackles the crewman. Falling backwards he loses his lock on the helicopter as he fires. The missile streaks out from the launcher and arched upwards, between the two Seahawks.

That’s it, gloves are now off.

Fire Streak dives down into another group of sailors, using his weight and kicks to keep them off balance and batter them to the ground. While one has an AK-74 it is quickly knocked overboard with a wing slam.

Wind mule kicks one sailor, sending him into the rail hard enough to stun him, while holding the second one on the ground with her front hooves. Beside her she sees a sailor pointing an AK-74 at her and backwings, flying backwards behind one of the shipping containers.

Minigun fire opens up from the first Seahawk as rounds rake the pilot house and upper decks. Using fast lines, marines from the George Washington’s security detachment drop to the deck behind the shipping containers. Clearing the way, the first Seahawk maintains constant fire on the upper decks and pilot house while the second moves into position.

Making their way forward, the Marines engage the sailors on deck. Small arms fire flash on both sides of the ship and in both directions. Fire and Wind clear the deck and regroup high above the helicopters, so they are not caught in cross fire. Wind cringes, seeing the explosion of a grenade near one of the Marine groups.

In response, both helicopters train their miniguns on that side of the ship, the fire is withering as hundreds of rounds hit every second cutting into or bouncing off of metal.

The entire fight though, lasts less than two minutes. The pegasi look at each other, nodding and dive down to the bridge. Hitting the deck, they find most of the bridge crew dead. The Captain, however, was cowering under the helm console.

“United States Navy, you might want to surrender now.” Wind says with a smile.

*** The Unicorn ***

Beth paces back and forth, somewhere between tears and screaming. She’s been crying for the last fifteen minutes. How could she be so stupid, why did she do that? In front of cameras too.

“Sis, you did the right thing.”

“I got caught on film.” She whines.

“You saved a little girls life. That’s never ever wrong.” He says, softly.

“It’s going to be all over the papers.” She whimpers.

“Actually it’s not even on the internet. The Sun has nothing on it.” Getting up, he walks over and hugs his sister, starting to brush her cheek and mane. “Come on, calm down. It’s not the end. Just need to be more careful. And it’s not like they are going to connect you to the damage.”

“But what if hunters, or police, come looking for me?”

“Then you hide, they will never find this place.” Pulling her to sit down, he starts feeding her some of her favorite biscuits.

“Well their big dozer is dead, at least for the day. I’ll drop the tombstone on it tonight. I just…”

“You just need to rest, relax, and calm down. You can’t fret. You did the right thing, you did the bravest thing. You risked yourself to save a girl. I bet her family is so happy you did.”

“There’s nothing on the internet?”

“Nope, I checked local papers and such for unicorns saving a child. Not a thing.” Tommy says, shaking his head.

“Well it’s only been a little while. Maybe something will show up tomorrow.”

“Then we will deal with it tomorrow, until then, The Lady Amalthea is safe.” He hugs her neck again and leans into her.

Just being held helps her. Least she is with family.

*** James ***

“Are you planning on commuting every other day?” James says, laughing.

Fleetfoot sticks her tongue out and shakes her head. Trotting in to James’ barracks, she looks around. His things have already been delivered and set up. It is a nice one bedroom, one bathroom, apartment with a balcony. There is a full-sized kitchen with attached dining room, and an open form living room.

Looking around, she freezes and spreads her wings. He has a nice large picture of himself as a pegasus hanging in the living room. On either side are pictures of the pegasi and unicorns of the squad and a full squad picture of them all in human form.

“You keep them?” She whispers, looking back at him.

“Why not? I may not be a pegasus but it was still fun to play one.”

Shaking her head, she climbs up on the sofa and lays down on her side. “James, face it, you’re a pegasus at heart. You will always be.”

With a chuckle, he sits and starts to gently preen her wing, “I’m me, no matter what form I’m in. Maybe someday I’ll consider it but for now I’m happy being me.”

“So how are things here?”

“Great, relaxing, we were doing paratraining qualifications. Wing suit jumps with the recruits.”

Fleetfoot starts laughing, shaking her head. “Wing suits, the art of falling with style.”

“Hey have to teach the normal groundlings somehow.” He chuckles.

“How’s Blaze handling that?”

“Actually, it’s strange. Having him there is such a new level of safety to the jumps.”

Fleetfoot nods, “Oh I can see that. Still, it has nothing on really flying though.”

“Hey, not all of us are born to fly.” He says.

“So what’s on the table for tonight?”

“Bacon and sausage pizza, with hot wings.”

“Ohhh…” Fleetfoot smiles brightly.

Standing up, James turns on the TV, then relaxes as they have a quiet dinner, together.

*** Fire and Wind ***

With the ship secured, the Marine detachment begins searching the containers. Two of the containers are loaded with old grain. One has several bales of old hay that has gone somewhat moldy. One container is full of old car parts.

The last two though, the marines hear noises from. Fire and Wind land as the Marines open the doors.

These are standard shipping containers, 40 feet by 8. Air vents have been added top and bottom of the doors as well as several places along the container itself. Inside, each container is packed with around thirty ponies of different ages. They are all tied and muzzled.

Dehydrated, starved, neither Fire nor Wind have seen so many in one place. Nor had they seen pony or person in such bad shape.

Rotten grain and hay line the bottom of the shipping container, as well as waste. There are foals, some small enough that they could be picked up with a wing. They have not been out of the containers in at least two weeks, judging by their conditions.

Was this the new world of ponies?