Author's Notes:

“Are you affected by Cuteness Overload Syndrome?” Candy Steps aside to reveal Feather curled in a ball, tail over her muzzle, so her eyes are just peeking through her tail hair. Her mane is tied up in a pink ribbon.

“Does excessive cuteness cause your teeth to hurt or give you cavities?” Pointing to the other side, Candy reveals Cloudy, dripping wet with her mane clinging to her sides, giving huge sad pony eyes.

Candy goes on speaking clearly. “COS or Cuteness Overload Syndrome is real and affects many adults and children across this great nation. Here, at the CMC EC chapter, we are looking to help mediate the symptoms of COS however. Through the use of modern drugs and desensitization techniques we are helping minimize or mitigate the effects of this debilitating illness.”

Cloudy sits with a sign reading ‘Brushes and belly wubs pweeze’. She’s holding a brush in her muzzle while lying partly on her back. Meanwhile Feathers sitting with a milkshake glass doing the Babs Seed milkshake bounce.

“Though repeated exposure,” the camera pans to a human clutching his chest while foaming at the mouth. “We hope to mitigate the effects of COS. If we are to live on this planet with humans, we must do our best to help fight the effects of COS.”

"Please, every bit helps, send your donations to the COS fund care of Lighting Dust. New Beginnings, USA. Only with your help can we find a cure for COS."

“James?” Fleetfoot calls as she lands. “James, I really need to talk to you.”

Blinking, James puts his bag down on the ground and kneels down, stroking Fleetfoot’s cheek gently. “What’s up Fleet?”

“I…” Gulping hard, Fleetfoot flattens her ears, tucking her tail tight to her body. “I really need to talk to you.”

“Here? Barracks? Common room?” James tilts his head, his face showing concern.

“Barracks,” she sighs, “I need to talk to you, in private.”

Nodding slowly, he picks up his bag again, shouldering it. “Ok.”

Starting to walk, James puts his hand on Fleetfoot’s head, softly stroking her mane. It is gentle, but enough to make Fleet look up and smile for a moment. In the blink of an eye, her pegasus reflexes kick in. She pulls James down quickly as a white flash flies by towards the road.

James nearly jumps out of his boots when he hears the sound of hooves hit steel. The sound of tires screeching and a driver leaning on the horn fills the air quickly.

A white pegasus mare with a three tone pink mane and diamond cutie mark stands on the hood of a car. Her wings are spread in rage. Her tail is puffed out and even the hair on her back is on end.

“What the buck is wrong with you!” The female pegasus screams at the driver. The hood of the car has serious dents from where she landed on it in her rage.

“Get off the car now, Magen!”

“NO! Not until you explain yourself.” Magen screams.

“I’ve already called base security. Get off the car.”

James and Fleetfoot walk over. Shaking his head, James calls out, “What’s going on here?”

“Sorry sir, I’m trying to get to my duty station.”

Rearing up Fleetfoot puts her forelegs on the car. “Calm down and breathe, please. Hop down and talk to me about this.”

Looking between the two, James takes out his pad. “I’ll write up a delay note to your CO, once we sort this out.”

“What’s to sort out?”

“What’s to sort out? What’s to sort out! You changed the locks, you won’t let me in the house, you hand me papers saying you are filing for an annulment and full custody!”

“I married a human! Not a horse!”

“I’m a pony, not some dumb animal.” Magen shouts back, tears in her eyes.

Fleetfoot puts her wing gently over the mare’s back.

“That’s just semantics. You’re not what I married, you never were apparently. I’m not sharing my bed with an animal.”

The MP’s pull up and James walks over to them.

Fleetfoot looks up at the man with tears in her eyes. “Go, get to work.”

Snarling, the man drives off, leaving Magen crying.

Walking over, James kneels down, looking at Magen before checking his cellphone. There are sites that are useful for pony identification. “Hi there, Diamond Rose.”

“Who?” Magen blinks and wipes her eyes with her wing.

“Diamond Rose, it’s your birth name as a pony.” Fleetfoot says.

“Oh, I just changed a few days ago, I hadn’t got that far yet.”

“Military?” James asks softly.

“Dependent. What am I going to do?”

“You are going to take a deep breath. You are going to relax. Are you a strong flyer?”

“What do you mean?”

“Can you fly long distances?” Fleetfoot asks, looking up at James.

“I don’t know, I haven’t tried.”

Taking out his wallet James huffs. “Let’s see. I want you to fly here.” Copying an address from a paper in his wallet, he rips out the paper and smiles.

Leaning over Fleetfoot looked and then nods. “It’s the address for other civilian ponies, they will help you. Explain what’s going on, they will see about getting you a lawyer. We will do everything we can to ensure you don’t lose your children. Just ask to see Lightning Dust, tell her that James and Fleetfoot sent you.”

“Twenty, forty… eighty. Here ya go. Don’t worry about paying me back. If it’s too far for you to fly all at once or you get too tired, land. Find a motel, spend the night and sleep. If you feel depressed, call us, day or night. Fleetfoot can probably make it to where you are in a few hours.” James says firmly.

“Day or night, call. Just get to that farm and explain as fast as you can.”

Looking at the paper and the money she whimpers, “I can’t.”

“Yes you can. This will get you there. Once there, the ponies there will help you. They’ve helped other ponies. We aren’t sending you away to get rid of you. And you’re not abandoning your children.” James says.

“Why? Why are you doing this? Why is he doing this? It’s not my fault.”

“I know it’s not your fault. It’s his.” Fleetfoot says, she gulps, looking at James.

Softly James stroke Fleetfoot’s head, “As to why, ponies help each other. You need help.”

“The ponies there won’t let this go unanswered. They will get civilian lawyers on this for you.” Fleetfoot says firmly. Diamond Rose looks at them for a long time, then she turns and takes to the air.

Picking up his bag, James looks down at Fleetfoot and smiles, “Let’s get inside to talk.”

Fleetfoot looks at the retreating pegasus and gulps harder.

Unlocking the door to his small barracks room, James heads inside. Fleetfoot trots over and climbs up onto the sofa, lying down and making herself comfortable.

Walking back from the kitchen James smiled as he mixes some Five Alive and 7-up together in a glass and adds a straw.

“What… is that?” Fleetfoot says, blinking.

“Try it.”

Taking a sip she scrunches her nose and giggles. “Okay, that tingles.”

“So what do you want to talk about?” James said stroking her ear gently.

Fleetfoot looks up and opened her mouth. The words said to Magen coming back to her mind like a flood. Animal, not a person, she isn’t human anymore, how could he share a bed with her?

Turning her head away Fleetfoot takes a deep breath and fights back the tears.

“Come on Fleetfoot. Talk.”

“James, do you think I’m an animal?”

“Not in the way that jerk meant. I think you’re a mammal, with human intelligence, free will, self-determination, and emotions.” James reaches down and softly pulls her closer to him.

Leaning over, she takes another sip of her drink and scrunches her nose again. It’s hard not to giggle at the bubbles, but she is too scared to giggle. “Do you remember when you were a pegasus, and we were on that cloud?”

“Yeah, I hope no one was under that cloud.” He says, making a quick face before he looks at her.

That response has her blushing. It wasn’t the response she thought of, but she has to admit he is right, “I… James…”

Taking her foreleg gently with a hand he looks down. “Relax, it’s just you and me. There isn’t any pressure… Just say what you need to.”

“I’m pregnant.” Turning her head away from him quickly, she closes her eyes, bracing herself.

“Great,” James groans, “and they just assigned me my officer’s single quarters. Housing is just going to love me.” He sighs, “I’ll put in for family quarters right away. That will give them time to process it.” James says.

Blinking, Fleetfoot looks back at him. “What do you mean?”

“Huh? Well we will need a room for the foal. We can’t have it sleeping in the same room as us.” James says, smiling down at her.

“You mean you’re not mad at me?”

“Why would I be? There’s no one else I trust or care about more. You’ve been in my mind, helped me work through some of the worst experiences of my life and come to terms with some scary events.” Pulling up her muzzle to look into her eyes, he smiles, “I’m not abandoning you or turning my back on you now.”

“But you’d still share a bed with me?”

“If that’s what you want, yes. If you want your own bed, or your own room, we can make arrangements for that too. But I will stand by you. We shared something very special, and we will continue to be special to each other.”

Fleetfoot’s eyes widen looking at James for a moment. Then as what he said fully sinks in, she smiles as bright and wide as she can. She wraps her wings and forelegs around James as she cries into his shoulder in joy and relief.

“It’s our baby after all, and I’ll do my best to be the father he or she deserves.”

*** Henry / Sugarberry ***

“We’re here.” Henry says with a chuckle as he ruffles Sugarberry’s mane.

Yawning and stretching, Sugarberry uncurls herself in the front seat before sitting up. An interesting advantage to pony size is she found she could sleep on car seats easier. Looking around, she rubs her eyes with the back of her hooves. “Where is here?”

“Welcome to Sugar Creek.” Henry says, getting out of the car.

“Why are we…” Sugarberry stops mid-sentence, looking up at the signs. Looking back at her cutie mark she blinks. Several places bear the same mark as her cutie mark. Taking a step back into the car again, she looks around timidly.

“Come on, it’s safe.” Henry puts his hand on her neck and leads her into a large store.

The woman behind the counter blinks a few times, looking at Sugarberry, gulping heavily then goes into the back.

“Are you sure we should be here?” Sugarberry asks.

A moment later, an older gentleman walks out with a big smile, he extends a hand for Henry to shake, “You must be the one who called.”

“Yep, this is her.” Henry says, “Sugarberry, this is Martin, he operates local mine tours, gem prospecting and he’s a geologist.”

“I don’t really know anything about magic and cutie marks. But if you have a tie to gems, we’ll help you find it here.” Martin says, smiling.

Kneeling down, Henry puts his hand softly over Sugarberry’s mark. “Trust in your mark. Trust in your magic. And trust in your heart to guide you. I’ll be with you all the way.”

“You arranged this? Found this place and called ahead so they wouldn’t freak out? Drove all the way here? Just for me?” Sugarberry looks at him in shock.

Henry chuckles softly, “You are worth it, never let anyone or anypony tell you different.”

Rearing up quickly, Sugarberry hugs Henry as tight as she can with her forelegs. Clinging as tightly as she can to him, all she can say is, “Never change.”

“I wasn’t planning on it.” Henry chuckles.

With a quick kiss on the cheek, she drops back to all four legs and looks around. “Where do we start?”

“I’d like you to start from the end. I want you to try touching different gems with your horn see what they feel like. Magically.” Henry says smiling.

Taking the pair into the office, Martin has trays lined up with different gemstones ready for her. The work he had done to get this ready for her, it must have taken him hours.

Prancing over, she lights her horn. One by one, she touches it to each of the different gems, trying to see if she can sense, or feel anything.

“Take your time, don’t rush. You don’t want to go so fast that you miss something that might be in your mind.” Henry kneels beside her, gently putting his hand on her back.

Looking back at Henry she shakes her head. “Nothing.”

“That was just the first step. If you have certain spells they probably won’t trigger just at the cut stone. Next, we are going to see some concentrate.”

“What’s concentrate?”

Martin walks over with two large buckets of soil and gravel. “Concentrate is raw gem containing ore that hasn’t been passed through the sluice box yet. We sell buckets like this to customers to have fun trying to prospect themselves, it’s always a gamble though, because there’s no guarantee that there’s valuable gems in any bucket.”

“What I just want you to do now is, remember the gems on the table. See what you can sense in the bucket.” Henry says.

Touching her horn to the gravel, she concentrates, making the bucket glow. Looking up, she shakes her head. “I… I don’t’ know what I’m looking for.”

“You’re not looking for anything, you are simply just seeing how it feels, and you are seeing what comes to mind. Magic is as magic does sometimes.” Henry says softly.

“Maybe a different bucket?”

Looking to the owner Henry nods, “I’ll pay for a second.”

“Pay for?!?!” Sugarberry blinks.

Martin comes back with a second bucket of concentrate. “They are 25 dollars per bucket to sort through. On average, there are five carats worth of gems in a bucket. They are usually in quarter carat or less stones.”

Sugarberry touches her horn to the second bucket, holding it there, then she relaxes away from the bucket as she sighs.

“I don’t know what I’m doing.” She whimpers.

Gently Henry hugs her. “You’re experimenting. You’re trying things to see if they match your mark. Nothing more and nothing less.”

“And if my cutie mark is just wrong?” She moans softly, looking at it.

“It’s never wrong, it’s special and means something to each pony. We just need to find what yours means to you.” Henry says, smiling.

After a few minutes, Henry turns and looks at Martin, “You said we could see the mine?” he asks, “I’d like her to have a chance to feel the mine itself.”

Martin leads them outside and up a winding hill. It is a good ten minute walk, but they finally arrive at a shaft mine, dug into the side of the mountain. “Hard hats are required, so she can’t go any further.”

“You told me that.” Henry says with a smile and pulls out one of the equine combat helmets, putting it gently on Sugarberry’s head. Next he carefully puts the back armor on her and cinches the straps. “It’s military issue combat gear, so it should work as a hardhat for her.”

Martin stands there, blinking for a few moments, then he nods and they head inside.

Lighting her horn, Sugarberry looks around. “I… I remember playing in the caves under Canterlot.” Walking forward she closes her eyes. “My sister and I went there all the time. Amethyst Star showed us the way in.”

Slowly, she walks forward, her horn shining. “We would pretend we were Star Swirl the Bearded, searching for great stones of power.” She can’t help giggling.

Moving over to one wall, she uses her hoof to kick at it a bit.

Martin kneels down and pulls out a small hand pick, clearing some of the outer rocks to show some ruby chips. The chips are nothing to speak off, they are mostly fragments and chunks. No single piece adding up to even a tenth of a carat.

Touching her horn to the chips, she grows them together into a single gem. When she pulls her horn away, there is probably a three carat stone sitting there. Martin looks at the brilliant stone on the ground, then at Sugarberry, then at the stone, his jaw hanging.

“She grew the stone?” Martin says in wonder.

“You can grow gems, like sugarberries.” Henry says with a chuckle.

Blinking, Sugar looks at what she did, then up at Henry.

“Well we found your special talent.”

Sugarberry pounces at Henry, pinning him to the wall in a hug. “Oh God, I love you so much. This means so much to me.”

“I know, I know how hard it’s been, not knowing for sure. We should be getting back to base though. It’s getting late.”

Nodding slowly, Sugarberry follows him out.

“And Berry?”

“Yeah?” She says, looking up, as he gets into the car.

“I do love you too.”

*** Velvet ***

“Don’t be afraid to call. Or visit, I’ll always be your mom.”

“I won’t, mom.” I giggle softly.

“And come back soon.”

“I will, and you can visit when we get settled in.” Looking at Blaze, “Our wedding will be next month, I want you there.”

“I will be. Don’t worry. But a month is hardly enough time to plan a big wedding.”

“Mom, it’s not going to be big. I can’t even really wear a dress like that. There aren’t places that make pony dresses.”

“I know I know. I just want you to look beautiful. Like a princess.”

“No mom, princesses have wings, I’m happy with just my horn.”

Mom giggles, “You know what I mean.”

“I do. We are doing a little military wedding. Close friends and family. Ponies and humans.”

“Even Ron?” Mom asks sternly.

“Yes mom, Ron can come if he wants.” I say, “Even if he is a heartless jerk.”

“Do you need anything? Will you need anything?”

“Not really mom. I just need my family, and you’re still part of that.”

Mom starts crying again, which gets me crying. Blaze puts his wing over me and hugs me tightly. I never usually get this emotional. But I might as well chalk it up to the stomach flu as well.

“You just got here, I wish you didn’t have to go so soon.”

“I know but, the military needs me back at base.” I sigh, “More ponies have changed and need my help.”

“I know. It’s a military life. I just want to see you and talk to you more.”

“You will, I’ll try and call you on the computer whenever I can.”

“And don’t forget to get yourself checked out at the hospital. And get yourself an OBGYN!” Mom says.

“Yes mom. I have to go.”

“I know.” Mom says sadly, sitting on the steps.

“I’ll have family with me to help me.”

“I know but you’re still my little baby.” Mom sniffles.

“That includes Feather, mom.” I say, looking at her.

Mom hugs Feather tighter in her arms, the little foal curled up. Looking at me, she’s trapped in my mom’s arms as mom cries into her mane.

Looking down, mom slowly lets go of Feather. Acting almost like she’s reluctant to give up her favorite stuffed toy. Feather turns and hugs my mom tight with her forelegs and wings before flying over and landing on Blaze's back.

Laughing softly, I turn and get into the car. With one final, wave I start driving back.

Cloudy giggled, “I thought she’d never let you go.”

“Me neither, why oh why am I so cute?!?” Feather calls out, raising her hooves up as if asking a higher power.

Candy laughed, “Cuz you’re gonna be a saggy old nag when you grow up.”

Cloudy gives Candy a playful smack on the back of his head. “Behave.”

“Mom! Cloudy hit me.”

“Good, you deserved it for that old nag comment.” I say smiling, trying to look innocent.

Blaze turns around and looks back sternly, “Don’t make me turn this car around.”

“Oh I know.” Feather perks, “Let’s make a Build a Bear or plushy of me, and send it to her.”

“Oooo, we’ll have to make it as cute and cuddly as we can.” Cloudy says, smiling brightly.

“Hey maybe we can get our cutie marks that way?” Candy asks.

“Cutie Mark Crusader Teddy Pony Models!!!!”

Heaven help me.

*** Drizzle ***

Half sitting on the chair, half lying on the bed Drizzle has her muzzle and neck over Jetstream. She hasn’t left her since she got back. A pegasus is in need and can’t be abandoned. The doctors weren’t sure if she’d wake up, but the change had knocked the drugs out of her system.

“Come on, fight.” Drizzle says softly.

Pegasi are stalwarts. Fast healers, but no one knows for sure what happens with the change. It is hard to say if any permanent damage was done

“I’m here for you. Fight.” Drizzle says, wiping her eyes with a foreleg.

The files show Jetstream with two different cutie marks, there is some question as to what it actually is. One is a cloud and lighting bolt, the other is a cloud with rain falling from it. The pony she is holding has a cloud and lighting bolt.

Closing her eyes Drizzle whimpers, “Fight, please… for me.”

Her collector card says she is supposed to be an endurance flyer. It is supposed to be her special talent. She is expected to be the first pony to fly across all of Equestria nonstop, something no other pegasus has accomplished.

“You have the strength in you, don’t give up. Fight.”

“Why?” The voice is soft and weak. The voice of a pony tired of life.

“Because you have to. You’re a pegasus.”

“Oh… so just cuz I’m a pony.” Her voice cracks slightly as she speaks.

Drizzle blinks and sits up. Wiping her eyes gently, she smiled. “No silly, not just because you’re a pony.”

Reaching up slowly, she pulls her mane out of the way of her eyes with a hand. “No one cares about me anyway, so why are you bothering?”

“Well if we didn’t care, why would you be here?” Drizzle says firmly.

“Cuz I’m a pegasus, or going to be one. I might be useful to someone as an experiment or a weapon.” Closing her eyes, she turns her head away from Drizzle. “No one cared about me in life. My last three birthdays came and went with not even a phone call. No presents, no parties.”

“What about family?” Looked down, Drizzle tries to find a way to connect with the girl, her eyes searching Streams face for anything she can use.

“Dad left when I was born, told mom he didn’t want anything to do with me.” Flinching a bit, she wipes tears away again, “Like it was my fault for being born. Mom died of cancer about five years ago.”

Reaching over, Drizzle strokes Stream’s hair, “What about other family?”

“None, only child, no aunts or uncles… grand parents died when I was growing up.” There is a solemnness about her voice, like she is consigned to her fate.

Drizzle sighs, “Come on, you have to have someone. Boyfriend? Friends?”

Streams shakes her head again and sighs, “I’ve never gotten along with people. The doctors say I’m partly autistic. Asperger’s or something like that… I don’t really make friends.”

“We got a call from people online worried about you.” Drizzle says firmly, “So you do have friends.”

“People who don’t see me, don’t have to put up with me in real life. People who can turn me off and walk away when they are tired of listening to me.” Turning a bit, she nuzzles her cheek into the pillow trying to keep Drizzle from seeing her crying.

“Have you tried?”

Stream blinks and then looks up at Drizzle. She sighs softly again before looking away. “That’s like asking a paraplegic if they’ve tried to walk. It’s something that just doesn’t work. I’m broken or defective. I’m not pretty, I don’t really stand out anywhere, so I’m generally ignored. And now I’m turning into a cut and paste background pony.”

“Hey that’s not true.” Drizzle protests.

“I’ve got a cut and paste mane apparently shared by over a dozen ponies. Cut and paste cutie mark that’s nothing but a dulled down version of Dash’s. Heck the name I have is just a recycled Hasbro transformer name so they didn’t have to re-copyright something.”

Drizzle blinks then nose boops her. “That is not the way it works, we came first. Hasbro stole our names. They mined the memories of ponies and used that to create the series. So you were Jetstream even before the Transformers.”

Streams bites her lip, then shakes her head slowly. “Right, and who would call a foal Jetstream.”

“A weather pegasus or a speedster pegasus. Jet-streams are high altitude air currents traveling at high speed. So, to us, it’s like calling you river.”

Streams hugs herself tighter and sniffles, “What does it matter, I’m still a nobody.”

“What? Did you want to turn into Dust, Dash, Spitfire, or something?”

Her mouth feels dry, she doesn’t really know what would make the other pony feel better.

Jetstream finally answers, “No, I didn’t want to turn into anything… I just wanted to…”

“You just want to feel wanted?” Drizzle says sadly.

“I guess. I wanted to feel like there was something special about me.”

“There is, you’re a racer, an endurance flyer.” Drizzle smiles, “Maybe that’s why you never got along with people. Maybe you were always wired that way. Long hours of flying alone takes a special kind of pony.”

“I just don’t… I won’t even be able to type anymore like this…” Looking down at her hands, she buries her face in them. “The few people I knew were online. It’s all I had.”

“You have so much more now. Trust me. There’s ways to keep you online if you want. But your wings will open a whole new world.” Drizzle spreads her own wings, looking at them. “You’ll be able to simply step outside and fly to another town, city, or even country.”

“Why?” Streams looks at Drizzles wings.

“That’s the fun part. There is no why. You can do it simply because you can. You can get away from people when you don’t want to deal with them. Find other ponies and talk or return home when you need to hide away again.”

Streams sighs, and then looks at her own shoulder for a moment as if trying to see her back.

“Look, it’s going to be hard to understand at first. We ponies are drawn to each other. Trust me, you’ll find you have more friends than you know.”

***

Watson runs past Fleur into the central office, “Anthony grab your vest, we’ve got one.”

Fleur blinks, lifting her head and trotting to catch up, “Wait what?”

Strapping on his vest, Anthony pulls out his pistol. He loads it and puts it back into his holster, then he picks up some extra clips.

Watson looks back at Fleur, “Barge holding trafficked slaves, we think it’s from Russia.”

“I’m going.” Fleur says, looking around.

“Sorry you haven’t been cleared for field work again. You aren’t re-certified for weapons.”

“I won’t shoot. Just give me a vest. I’ll hang back as an observer. If there are ponies there though, you’ll need me to calm things down.” Fleur says, putting her hoof down. “Token pony face after all.”

“Fine, hit the armory and get your vest, we’ll pick you up at the back.”

Running down to the armory she digs her hooves in to stop and looks at the techs. “You have a tactical vest ready for me?”

The techs get to work quickly, strapping on what looks like a cross between Equestrian barding and tactical combat gear. It includes basic bullet protection for her body, combat boots for her hooves, and a helmet.

“You know, your head’s shaped different than the other girls, so the helmet is a pain.”

“It’s because I’m royal blood.” Fleur says, flicking her head, then she giggles, “Couldn’t resist, sorry.”

“Well, bring it back when you’re done, for servicing.”

Running outside, she jumps over the hand rail and lands on the ground. Turning, she digs her hooves in and charges up to the SUV. Anthony pops the rear door open and she dives in.

Anthony looks back at Fleur and starts to chuckle. “Modeling the new summer line of combat gear?”

“Do you see a Dolce and Gabbana stamp on my butt? Is my cutie mark a fancy ring, tiara, or some other bling? Come on, we aren’t even sure that she was a model, just high society.” Fleur retorts, as she adjusts the bullet proof vest a bit.

Anthony looks back, chuckling, “Then why are you shifting the vest around so much.”

“Cuz its riding up in places it shouldn’t, and I’m not wearing anything under it. They’re going to have to resize it a bit more for me.” Fleur says with a huff. “Next time I wear shorts so it’s not rubbing against my…”

“You’re? Um, never mind, I’ll just let my mind wander with that one. And yeah you are a bit thinner then Goldie.”

“I don’t know, do you think this padding makes my hips look too big? And this side barding, does it make me look fat?”

Anthony is about to respond when he looks back to see her grinning widely and her eyes slightly narrowed at him. He chuckles, “Oh you little troll.”

“So what’s the target?”

“Interrogation of prisoners has us hitting a barge in New York Harbor. The Russian Mafia has been using it to auction off sex slaves in the human trafficking market.” Watson says firmly.

“SWAT support?” Anthony asks.

“Not this time, this time we are getting support from Special Operations Command. Members of the First Special Forces Operational Detachment will be providing tactical support as will the 2/75th. This is considered hostage rescue.” Watson responds grimly.

“Are the unsubs that well-armed?” Fleur asks, looking at her armor.

“Military supplied, there’s a chance of everything up to, and including, RPGs.” Watson says coldly.

Anthony blinks, “Oh come on, RPGs? Please tell us they are bringing in a tank.”

*** New York ***

“Move it Velvet! Hurry up and stop lagging your tail. I don’t wanna have to bust you to private! ” The LT yells.

Our plane has just touched down in LaGuardia. The rest of the team came in from Fort Bragg, but our flight was diverted so we could meet here.

“Got my stuff?” I call out, running across the tarmac to the armored SUV.

“Sure the kids will be safe here?” Blaze asks, looking back at the jet.

“They aren’t staying in New York. The plane is taking them back to Fort Bragg. It wouldn’t be safe to leave them here.” I say firmly.

“Yeah, New York is a dangerous place.”

“New York nothing, did you hear them say Cutie Mark Crusader Cab Drivers? I’m sending them back to protect New York from them.”

Climbing into the SUV, I strap on my armor first, then look over and put Blazes armor on him.

Chuckling, Blaze fidgets with his helmet a bit so the monocle is sitting properly over his eye. Nodding, he looks over to the LT. “How’s it look?”

Checking his data pad the LT nods. “Ok your video’s transmitting properly. We can see everywhere you look now.”

“So try not looking under Velvet's tail that often.” Eric says from the driver’s seat.

“What… I and…” Blaze tries to look innocent.

“Because we’ll have recorded footage of it now and I really don’t want to be looking at that.” Eric continues.

“And that, boys, is the reason I wear pants and panties.” I say, looking between them.

“Well at least they gave us SUVs for going through New York. They could have put us in a garbage truck.” Blaze says.

“Nope, we’ve got blue, but no red in this group.” I say and nod.

We pull up in a parking lot on the far side of a warehouse. Climbing out, I trot to the back of the SUV, opening the rear of the truck.

“M4’s, grenades, P90 for you Blaze.” The LT starts handing out weapons. “Hopefully we won’t have a fight, and check your fire. There are hostages.”

“Where did this top come from?” I ask.

“That would be us.” A voice calls out behind me, blinking I look over my shoulder.

“Emma Watson, Anthony Wilks and…”

I blink and smile wide, “Fleur Dis Lee?”