Screaming, Sam sits up in bed, panting hard. She can still feel Discord squeezing her barrel. Kicking at her sheets, she looks around in a panic. Breathing hard and fast, her heart feels like it’s going to leap out of her chest.

Sitting up quickly, I bound over to the bed from the chair I was sleeping in. Truth is, it’s a really comfortable chair for ponies with more than enough room to curl up and sleep on. Gently, I put a wing around her. “It’s okay, calm down.”

Slowly she looks at me, as she does, I can see the fear in her eyes. The confusion of a dream that is here but also isn’t. Her mind struggling to piece together what it knows can’t be real.

“It’s the five score dream, Lighting. It’s your last memory of being a pony. Don’t worry, it will fade.” It always fades. Eventually we remember but for now it’s too hard, so it’s best for it to fade.

“Dust… my family is gone, my sisters…” Hugging me, she starts crying into my mane. She holds tightly to my neck.

“Don’t worry, you might see them again. The first dream is always the worst. That’s why I spent the night.” Nuzzling her cheek I hug her tighter with my wing. “And one of the ponies with the 520th might be your sister.”

Slowly Sam calms down and looks at me, “I… I didn’t even know I had a sister.”

“And there it is, the cluelessness of the pony life kicking back in.” I say, smiling. “Don’t worry you’ll probably have a few strange dreams. It’s hard but it’s a way for our minds to try and sort out our pony pasts.”

“I… I read the reports it’s just…” Sam shivers, hugging me tighter.

“It’s just different when it happens to you?” I say softly.

Nodding slowly, Sam lets go of my neck and backs up. Reaching over, she picks up a stuffed Rainbow Dash plushy and sets it between us.

“Sorry, I’m not usually clingy like that.” With a bit of a blush, she looks down.

“Part of being a pony, we’re social.” I say, trying to look innocent.

“And I think I left wet spots.” She says to me.

Totally caught off guard by that one, I feel my wings go up. That is until I realize what she meant. Smiling, she picks up her sheet and starts to dry my mane and shoulders from her crying.

“Um yeah, any luck with your name?” I stammer, trying to change the subject.

“Lightning I think. Or Lightning something. My cutie mark though, it’s pretty common, so I probably won’t know for certain until my mane and fur comes in. All I know is, I’m a pegasus mare, and a fast flyer.”

“I knew you’d be… I just knew it.” I say, hugging Sam again. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you trained in flying in no time.”

“First though, we need to find this griffin. And hope to heck she doesn’t hurt any of the pegasi out there.”

With a firm nod I get up and let her get dressed, it a big day for her today, we get to find out her mane color and see her tail.

*** New York ***

*Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz*

Reaching out with her wing, Jetstream hits the alarm clock several times until it stops making the offensive noise. After the fourth hit she hears a crack, and then silence. Pulling the pillow over her head more she mumbles. “Better.”

A moment later, she finds herself bounced into the air. Flapping rapidly to right herself, she lands on her hooves on the bed, panting hard. Beside her, Drizzle stands on the other side of her bed, giggling. “Morning sleepy head.”

It takes a moment for the fur on her back to come down. Her tail, however, doesn’t stop lashing as she steps off the bed, heading for the bathroom. “You are evil.”

“We have coffee and donuts waiting for us in the hall. And we are supposed to be up in the air at the crack of dawn.” Drizzle says, giggling.

“Bathroom, shower, then food.” Jetstream says with a giggle.

“Need any help?”

“With bathroom? Eww.”

“With food, silly, your mind goes to strange places.” Drizzle giggles right back.

The shower feels great, relaxing her muscles. Flying isn’t tiring, or stressful, especially at the low speeds she has had to maintain. She could loiter forever and that’s all she is doing, loitering. The strawberry shampoo the hotel provides filled her nose, making her sigh with happiness.

She knows this treatment isn’t normal for the 520th but maybe she could get a job here. She has found she has an easier time reading ponies than people. Drying herself off, she stepped out, smelling the coffee… thick, rich, dark roast coffee.

Preening her wings as she walks, she looks around the room. No Drizzle. Heading over, she opens the door to the hall to find the rest of the squad milling around. Some are preening their wings, others drinking coffee. Most seemed to be ponying out on donuts, and truth be told, it looks like they brought out a unicorns supply of them.

“Continental breakfast.” Fleetfoot laughs.

Blaze tilts his head and chuckles. “Okay, now I’m having visions of Velvet walking along with several donuts stacked on her horn while levitating a coffee.”

“Velvet or Cipher?” Fleetfoot inquires.

“Yeah, you’re right. BOTH!” Fire says, laughing as well.

Biting Drizzles tail at the end, Streams sits down, her back to the wall. All the pegasi are in the hall meaning there isn’t a lot of personal space. Streams is starting to feel closed in again and needs her safety.

Seeing Jetstream’s reaction, several of the other pegasi back off to give her space. They figure she’ll come around when she is ready.

“You know, it’s going to be hard to eat donuts and drink coffee while holding my tail.” Drizzle says.

Picking the coffee with both hooves, Streams goes to take a sip before Drizzle pulls her tail away. “No, I don’t need coffee stains on my tail.”

Giggling softly, Streams shakes her head, “It’s okay, I’m just having one of those mornings.”

“I just got a call from the office, the Major’s in, screens are up. She’s ready for us to do our job now.” Fleetfoot calls out.

“520th!” everypony responds.

“I also have some news… We aren’t doing this for ourselves. The Major got her cutie mark, we don’t know who she is yet, but she’s pretty sure she’s a pegasus. So this mission in honor of her!”

“520th! For America and Equestria!!!” Everypony calls out again.

Everypony charges for the door. Once outside, each takes wing, heading for their designated area.

They are concentrating their search, more eyes in a smaller area. She ate yesterday and might have kept some food so there is no certainty she will show up again, but they have to try. Lives are at stake.

*** CMC EC ***

“Come on, it’s not like lives are at stake.” Cloudy says, sipping her milkshake.

Feather huffs, “It’s more important than lives, it’s our cutie marks. It’s discovering who we are.”

Candy hums softly the Oreo song while bobbing his head in time with the music. Oreo milkshakes are his favorite and the store has fun making them for him.

The patrons of the ice cream shop all look over at the mention of cutie marks. A dark foreboding filling the air, as people considered the repercussions of these three little foals trying again.

“How about treasure hunters, you know, like American Pickers.” Candy says, sitting up.

Giggling, cloudy smiles, “Ohh, Tank Restoration was a good show.”

“Pimp my tank.” Feather says, covering her muzzle. “No, I think treasure hunters could be fun!”

“Cutie Mark Crusader treasure hunters are a go!” All three high hoof.

Had this not been a military base, the sight of several patrons putting on combat helmets might seem strange. Well strange, unless the patrons know the sheer destructive power of the phrase Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Bounding over to the courtesy papers Feather brings back several papers, “Ok yard sales, swap meets and flea markets.”

“Got it!” Cloudy says, smiling brightly, “Flea market in town!”

“Let’s go!” Candy says and turns, bounding out with his sister.

Rearing up, Feather places a bill on the counter. “Thanks again.”

*** Velvet ***

“FLEUR!” Running up, I rear up to hug her. “Rose, Sunshine, this is Fleur, she was in my last class.”

“Is she still as brutal a teacher?” Fleur giggles, “Has she gotten blood to come out of your ears yet?”

“No way, she even said she was going to teach us how to melt the faces off people with energy blasts!” Sunshine says, bounding around.

“I said shields yes, energy blasts no.” Huffing, I shake my head. “She has problems with her PTA meetings.”

“I know the feeling.” Fleur says and shakes her head. “Don’t worry she won’t teach me energy blasts either.”

“That’s cuz I’m worried about you vaporizing a building by accident.” I say, giggling. “So what brings you here, pleasure or fun?”

“Business.” Fleur says with a sigh.

Blinking I sit down. “Okay, what happened?”

“We have a griffin that’s killed four people already in New York. Do you have any information on griffins?”

“I might, in one of the books I had copied but it’s probably pretty vague.” Thinking for a second, I look back at Rose and Sunshine, “Ok girls the scales are set up, I need exactly 10 ounces of water in each bottle. Remember to factor in the weight of the bottles when you do your weighting. TK only, no funnels and try not to spill too much, because you don’t have much extra once you fill the three bottles each. A chance to work on your fine control.”

“Do you sit up at nights figuring out ways to torture unicorns?” Fleur giggles.

Blinking, I look back and shake my head, “No actually, that one’s out of the book. One of the funny parts, it says in the book that you can use TK to remove water from the bottle too, if you put too much in, just don’t tell the class that at the start.”

“OK, who wrote the book?” Fleur asks, giggling.

Crossing the field we enter the transient barracks, and I shake my head. “Inkwell. She was evil.”

Walking over to my sofa, Fleur hops up and takes a seat, “So how are things?”

“Oh fine, I’m pregnant, we are just getting things sorted out,” I giggle softly.

“I heard. Melted any more barges recently?”

“Hey, they were picking on me.” I can’t help but giggle as I pull down the book I’m looking for off the shelf and lay down on the floor.

“Book form? You weren’t kidding, were you? Why would you have it printed out and bound when you could just keep it in computer format?”

“It… well, for Cipher she keeps it in computer format, but for me... There is just something about being able to lay down in the candlelight and read.”

“Candles? You know the humans invented this neat thing called electricity.” Fleur says with a smile.

“Really? That sounds shocking.” Turning the page, I hum softly. “What would my daughter do? Call Spike to get you some tea, then complain that the books haven’t been put away. That’s not helpful.”

Looking over to the kitchen I bring out two tea cups. Putting one in front of myself and the other in front of Fleur. “Here you go.”

“Thanks, so how goes the unicorn club?”

“Were going to the spa this afternoon, they finally decided to buy some proper tools.” Turning the page, I look down the list and hum again.

“Tools?” Fleur blinks, then she giggles, “You mean your spa actually has things like rasps and such now, for your hooves?”

“Yep, oh here we go. Griffins: Half cat half predatory bird, carnivores but able to eat baked goods. Comparable to dragons for their greedy streak. Got it, while not as strong as earth ponies, pound for pound, their claws are capable of rending through metal. They are not broken into classes like pegasi, and lack the basic magics of weather control. Though, they can cloud walk. While flight abilities differ, some can match the speed and maneuverability of a pegasus in the air.”

“Ok so they have speed, agility and metal rending claws… and can cloud walk.” Fleur huffs softly, “I’ll let the 520th know.”

“You know, you could have called and got this information.” I say, looking up.

Fleur sips her tea then sighs. “If I’d done that I wouldn’t get a chance to spend time with my favorite teacher.”

“Okay, class is over at 6, than were going to the spa. Want to join us?”

“SURE!” Fleur says, smiling brightly.

“Great, I have some extra paper and pencils, let’s see how much you remember from your last class.” Standing, I trot outside.

“Wait! Join for the class? What about the spa?” Fleur protests.

“Class first, spa later.”

*** New York ***

“Jetstream, are you coming down for a rest?” Drizzle calls over the coms.

Banking a bit Jetstream blinks, “What time is it?”

“Almost noon, you’ve been flying for six hours straight.” Drizzle huffs.

“I’m fine, but if you want to bring up a saddlebag with water and some power bars, that would be great. I think I’m on to something.” Streams calls out.

“Oh? What?” Drizzle picks up a saddle bag and she loads it with a water bladder and power bars.

“It’s… well it’s just garbage but… It’s just too orderly.”

A few moments later, Drizzle catches up with Jetstream and drops the saddle bags on her. “Here you go.”

Pulling the straw from the saddlebag, she starts sucking until she gets some water, and points.

“Where I don’t… Wait what is that?” Drizzle says, blinking.

“Plastic bottles that have had their tops ripped off. I got lower to get a good look. Either her beak or talons are having problems with the bottles, so she’s just ripping the tops off of them.” Jetstreams says.

“Control, we have a possible location. 55th and 8th south side, top of a skyscraper.” Drizzle calls out over the coms.

“Hold and maintain. We’ll have a unicorn there in about thirty minutes, and she’s bringing a translator with her.” The Major calls over the coms. “Good job, my little ponies.”

“We need to back off a bit, don’t crowd the airspace. Keep helicopters away, we don’t want to spook her.” Jets calls out.

“Where do you think she is?” Drizzle asks.

“Either under the water towers for shade and protection, but with easy escapes. Or she’s under the machinery there, it would stop us from seeing her in the shadows but let her see out. When she sees it’s clear, she comes out and gets things.” Jetstream says. “She’s playing like a Light or TD in World of Tanks, protection from above and camo.”

“Too many video games.” Drizzle just can’t help giggling.

Jetstreams looks at her friend and smiles, “What else was I supposed to do? No one ever came to visit at my home. No one from work ever invited me out. I had nothing else. At least online I had some friends.”

“And now you have me.” Drizzle says, doing a barrel roll. “And your sister, and everyone at the 520th.”

“But is it because of who I am? Or what I am?” Jetstream sighs. “I wouldn’t have any of these friends if I wasn’t a pegasus. So does that mean I deserve them?”

“Don’t overthink things… your life was like this cuz you were cursed by Discord. If you hadn’t been cursed you’d still have your family and friends.”

“Like hers?” Jetstreams says, motioning towards the rooftop.

*** CMC EC ***

“Okay Crusaders, we need to stick together and watch each other’s backs.” Feather says, hopping off the bus.

“Oh, laser tag,” Cloudy says, perking, “Can we try that next?”

“Maybe, since it’s here, shopping first though.” Candy giggles.

“What is it with girls and shopping?” Cloudy grumps.

“Well you’re a girl so, you need to start liking it too.”

The three little fillies make their way across the parking lot for the door to the flea market. Though something just feels amiss in the area. There is something that just isn’t right.

Glancing back, Feather can’t see anything wrong. The only thing of real note is a Chuck E Cheese across the street. “I… feel like I’m being watched.”

“Probably just your pony senses tingling.” Candy giggles and hits the button to open the door.

Bounding in, all eyes quickly fall on the ponies with people mumbling.

“Well this is where the base staff mostly does flea market stuff. But I guess there are a lot of civilians here too.” Feather gulps.

The Crusaders quickly began their job of bargain hunting, checking out each stall for…

“The Flim Flam brothers?” Cloudy squeaks.

Candy comes over, “It can’t be, why would they be on Earth? At a flea market, as humans selling diet supplements?”

“Maybe they went through the mirror and came back?” Feather says, “At best, we should stay clear.”

“At worst?” Candy looks over to Feather.

“Run for the hills, to avoid the law suits because of whatever they are selling.” Feather responds with a firm nod.

“Ohhh, plushies!” Cloudy calls out.

Bounding over, the girls look at a large table of homemade, handmade and store bought stuffed animals.

Tilting her head Candy looks at one of the bears and blinks. “What’s a Steiff?”

Feather moves up and smells it, then she wrinkles her nose. “Don’t know but it smells bad.”

Sniffing also, Cloudy pulls her nose away. “Ugh, smells like road kill.”

Feather starts moving around, sniffing the different toys much to the annoyance of the vender.

“All of these toys have been properly cleaned.” He says, looking sternly at the foals, “Wait, why am I talking to walking plushies?!?!”

Stopping, Feather pulls her head back and looks at one pony doll. It doesn’t really look like a pony. It is ratty with loose stitching. One pink button eye is falling off, while the other eye is a mismatched blue color. It has black and grey candy cane striped colors used for its mane and tail. Overall it is grey but has blue pants with white polka dots on it.

Feather recognized it, someone had put a lot of work into making it look old but… She sniffed it and wrinkled her nose. It smells old… it smells burnt, like it had been in a fire, or perhaps near one. “How much?”

“For that ratty thing?” Cotton says, “Ok we need to go, Feathers lost it.”

“Umm 10 bucks.” The vender says.

Candy gives it a sniff and wrinkled his nose too. “Smells like burnt apple wood.”

Checking her bag, Feather pulls out a five. “I got a five, will that do?”

Grumbling he the vendor shrugs, “Sure, take it.” He tosses the old thing in a bag. No one else seems interested in it after all. It has been on his table for years.

It’s Cloudy’s scream though, that catches everyone’s attention. Not just the other two ponies, but several bystanders find themselves looking over at the little pony. Cloudy has been pounced and grabbed. A young girl, no older than six, has now firmly attached herself to Cloudy’s neck. “Mommy look, I want it!”

“How much?” The girl’s mother asks, looking at the vendor.

“Umm excuse me.” Feather says, looking up at the lady.

Blinking the lady looks down at the talking plushy.

“Your daughters holding on to my friend, could you ask her to…” Feather starts.

Maybe it’s the walking and talking pony, maybe it’s the wings, maybe it’s the second plushy that walked over. The people aren’t sure what the trigger is, but the fact that the little girl’s mother just screams and passes out definitely has everyone’s attention.

“And… were in trouble again aren’t we?” Candy says, looking at Feather.

Cloudy backs out of the girls grasp, “Sorry, we’ve got to go.”

All three foals make a break for the door. At least they would be safe outside. Shopping cutie marks though, are a total bust.

It could have been worse though. They could have been the real cutie mark crusaders. Or maybe some of the more famous ponies like Lightning Dust, Derpy, or maybe one of the Pincesses. Sometimes you don’t have to be famous though.

Bursting out of the flea market all three are panting hard, looking at each other. There aren’t that many cars in the parking lot which gives a clear and unobstructed view of the Chuck E Cheese across the street. Girl Guides, or should we say brownies, as well as a junior girls soccer team are currently exiting their buses, ready for a fun time at the restaurant.

Sometimes fame isn’t required. Sometimes all it takes is being a pony. Or worse yet, a cute and adorable pony foal. Once combined with large groups of kids that are without sufficient adult supervision and...

“Oh buck…” Cloudy says slowly.

Candy froze, “Normally I’d say watch your mouth, but right now… I think I’ll just say…. RUN!”

*** Velvet ***

Ah-Pee huffs and grumbles.

“Oh come, on its going to be fun.” Sugarberry says as she prances beside me.

“To quote mah cuz, ah don’t usually go for all this frilly stuff.” Ah-Pee grumbles.

Cipher bounds doing, a Pinkie pogo hop. “Oh, oh, oh, do you know why Rainbow Dash didn’t like getting her hooves done?”

“Ticklish hooves, Blaze has them too. Vibrations to the hooves give them the giggles.” I say and look as all the girls stop.

“Blaze… is ticklish?” Ballad says, blinking slowly.

“Yep, so is Dash.”

“Oh that’s too good.” Cipher says, giggling.

“So I have to keep vibrating things away from his hooves.” I say and shake my back and tail out.

“Velvet!” Sugarberry says, looking shocked.

Blinking, I look at Sugarberry, confused. “What?”

Ah-Pee looks at me for a long moment, then at Sugarberry. “This is Velvet were talking about. Was it an electric screwdriver that got him?”

“Drill, but close enough, we were fixing moms house and…” Blinking, “Why are you blushing, Fleur?”

“Cuz like every other girl here, my mind went somewhere else.” Fleur says, shaking her head. “I just keep forgetting you didn’t grow up as a girl.”

“This time,” Ballad adds, “but she’s as much a mare as any of us.”

I giggle softly and hold my head high. Walking down the streets on base has become so commonplace we don’t even get a second glance from a platoon. We aren’t marching, heck, none of us are in uniform. Just the six of us girls heading to a spa, nothing strange to see here.

“Even if she doesn’t know some things.” Cipher says, bounding by.

“What do you mean by that?” I say, blinking

“Like the joy and fun of a…” Cipher starts before both Sugarberry and Ballad both close her mouth magically. “mhmmhr mhmmhr!”

Glancing over Ah-Pee smiled, “I’ll tell you when it won’t be as embarrassing.”

“Oh, thank you.” Opening the door I hold it while everypony trots in.

Given the amount of pony traffic in and around the base, an actual Groom, Hostler, and Farrier are actually on staff. Given the importance of hooves, the farrier can almost be considered a necessity for us.

“I’ve never been to a spa as a pony.” Fleur says, looking around.

Ballad blinks, “That you can remember, come on I through you were like a big name fashion model.”

Fleur grumbles, “There ain’t no cameras, mirrors, or clothing accessories on my butt.”

“Sorry, guess we don’t know who we really are sometimes.” Sugarberry says.

“Shower, cleaning, brushing, mane and tail styling will be first. Followed by complete hoof care and polish.” I say with a smile.

“We have a special today on tail extensions, as well as eye lash extensions.” The clerk says cheerfully.

I looked at everyone else’s manes, mine was definitely the shortest. “Um, no thank you.”

“Ok but something to think about, we can do color matchings, or complete dye jobs.” She offers as she starts washing my back and mane.

The salon had been commissioned by the base itself, standing showers, that could accommodate up to three ponies at once, where the groom could give us proper cleanings. Once done we have an initial drying and body trim by the groom before moving into room with the beds.

Lying down, with our coats cleaned, it’s the mane and tail trim time. I just have the ends done, and the mane styled a little, letting its natural curl settle in. At the same time the farrier is working on my hooves, cleaning, trimming, and finally polishing.

“Ah, the finer things in life.” Fleur says, relaxing.

“See I told you, she’s got that ‘enjoys to be pampered’ streak in her.” Cipher says giggling, while wiggling her forehooves to emphasize the quotes.

“Oh come on almost all girls do, look even Ah-Pee’s enjoying.” I say.

Moaning softly Ah-Pee shakes her head no. “Ah don’t know what you’re talking about, this is insuff… oh that’s the spot… insufferable.”

*** CMC EC ***

“I think we lost them.” Cloudy says, panting hard.

Candy looks around the corner and nods, “Yeah but I think we lost ourselves too.”

Feather flies up to the top of the building and lands on the roof, looking around. She can see the girls heading back towards the restaurant. Jumping off the roof, she twirls and spirals down to land beside the twins.

“Okay, so how do we get back to base?” Feather asks with a huff. “The bus stop is right in front of that restaurant. I’m not sure where the next one is.”

“Taxi might be our only option.” Cloudy huffs.

Blinking, Candy looks around. “Let’s find a recognizable store or such and call for a cab.

*** New York ***

Taking a deep breath, Goldie opens the door to the roof. She isn’t a unicorn, but she is an OSI officer. They first considered sending in Fleur, but she is still having trouble with her control. She has a tendency to crush cellphones and tablets.

Stepping out into the light, she looks around on top of the roof, she can see the two water towers. The wind is throwing her mane and tail off to one side. Her eyes take a moment to adjust to the glare when she sees the little griffin hurtling at her like a bullet.

Closing her eyes she flinches, then she hears the roar. Deadly, powerful, a sound that chills her to the bone. The roar is so loud it leaves her ears ringing.

The little griffin hits the ground skidding and comes to a stop a few feet from Goldie. Looking up, her eyes are as wide as they can get. She sits trembling, a little bit unsure of what to say or do. Curling her tail around herself and keeping her wings tight to her side. The only thing she can do is let out the cutest little chirp.

Stepping out from the door into the full light, Natalia spreads her wings wide. The full grown adult griffin dwarfs the fledgling. Huffing a bit from the roar, she looks around the roof, then back down at the fledgling, focusing on her.

Natalia stands firm and commanding. Her wings are shining in the late afternoon sun. Her talons and beak gleams and sparkles. She speaks clearly in Russian, “Enough, no more bloodshed. You’re safe now.”

Author's Notes: