Sighing softly, I look at some of the reports. They had been forwarded to me by Cipher who is currently in somewhat of a cyberwar with NCIS over information. One hundred two arrested, fifty-eight suspects killed, six officers killed, eighteen officers injured, and twenty-one ponies found. While the numbers seem good, the fallout is already starting.

With another sigh I nuzzle Cloudy softly. As a pony, she is so young. She doesn’t deserve any of this, none of this is her fault. None of this is any of our fault. We never asked to be cursed, well most of us didn’t ask for it. I’m almost willing to bet some did, just for hopes of being reunited with loved ones. Closing my eyes, I give her muzzle and cheek a gentle lick.

People, the humans, are protesting though. How dare the police break into people’s houses. How dare they shoot American citizens. The fact that these people were armed with illegal weapons seemed to be lost on most and the media has barely mentioned that information. The fact that they were keeping slaves was lost in the noise, apparently. It seems the media cares more about the fact that a fifteen-year-old was gunned down in his own home by police, rather than the fact that he was armed with an M-4 and was shooting at people. When a father and his two teens are holding a pony in their basement and torturing it, the media covers it as family wiped out in their own home.

People protest the use of police force. They protest the invasion of privacy. And they ignore the slavery, the child abuse, the murder, and the pay per view shows of ponies being tortured, raped, and killed. It seems like they would cheer if an officer was shot, and would likely be even happier if the officer was killed.

“Velvet?”

I lift my head and look over, “Morning Goldie.”

Blinking, the earth pony looks around, confused. “What? What happened?”

“You got shot, lost a lot of blood.” I shake my head.

“Where am I?” Looking around Goldie lets out a pained whinny when she tries to move a foreleg.

“You’re on Earth. Sol System, Milky Way galaxy.” I say as I put down my tablet and walk over, nuzzling her gently.

“I know I’m on Earth, silly.” Goldie sighs and looks up at the ceiling.

Shaking my head, I smile and switch to English, “Okay, so you remember how to speak English then, right?”

“Oh oops, yeah, I didn’t even realize I was speaking our language.” Looking around she sighs, “how bad was it?”

“You got flown in by White Lightning. You lost a lot of blood, but we had ponies here to give transfusions. Blood matching and plasma matching was fun for the doctors. Apparently, our blood types are like horses with dozens of different combinations.” Smiling, I stroke her mane with a foreleg. “I gave for plasma, Ah-Pee was close enough to give for blood. Even White Lightning donated for plasma.”

“Will I… walk… again?” Goldie asks, looking down at her foreleg. “I can hardly feel it unless I try and move it.”

“Oh, that would be the painkillers. Yeah, you’ll be fine.” I say, laughing. “Just don’t try flexing your fingers and toes.”

“I don’t have fingers and toes.” Goldie says, narrowing her eyes.

Gently I put my hoof against her nose, “That’s why you shouldn’t try flexing them.”

“Why wouldn’t they just surrender? Heck, there were kids there.” Goldie says, then she sighs and puts her head down on the bed.

I shake my head, “Some… Some people… don’t care about anything but themselves and their beliefs. They would rather die than sacrifice their beliefs. While this isn’t bad if their beliefs are altruistic. When their beliefs are corrupt or dark…” I trail off, not really knowing how to finish.

She nods, “I guess. I tried to get close enough to take them down without killing them.” She shakes her head and looks up at me, “But they just wouldn’t stop.”

“Its going to be hard, I know. But there are going to be trained specialists to help you through this.” I sigh, “Just like Feather, Candy and Cloudy are going to need help.”

“Are they ponies?” Goldie asks softly.

“You know, I really hope we have a lot of pony psychologists, we’re going to need them.” I say softly.

***

Feather kneads her forehooves a little bit as she lays in the nurse’s lap. He had taken a seat in a chair at the edge of the kitchen and put a blanket partly over her back to keep her warm. With a large yawn, Feather fought to stay awake, not wanting to miss a moment. Gently he scratched her mane and behind her ears with one hand while they both watched the show. And show is all this could be described as.

It is like watching some sort of insane cooking show. A hospital bed has been brought in and raised up to act as a platform. The bed is pushed up beside one of the prep stations which allows Candy pace back and forth on it. On the other side of the prep station, a hospital dietician and nutritionist is in the process of pulling her hair out as the little foal calls out orders.

“No! You have to move faster!” Candy growls, “If you move to slowly it will cool down and crystalize too quickly.”

A food service prep worker speeds up with the whisk, panting a bit as he works the mixture. “Shouldn’t we just use the electric blender?”

“I don’t know the sounds of the electric blender here. If I had more experience, I could tell when the load on the motor was right for consistency.” Shaking his head, the colt looks at the bowl, “Just keep working it. I don’t want to have to start over.”

“Come on, I’m getting diabetes just looking at this.” The nutritionist says, “This is NOT what she needs.”

“Well I guess we’re lucky ponies don’t get diabetes. We use sugars more than humans, kind of like horses I guess. Carrots, peas, beats, sweet onion, apples, berries. Added to sweet grasses and such and pony diets are very high in sugars and energy.”

“That may be true but…” The nutritionist starts.

“But nothing, my mom, my…mom in Equestria…taught me this recipe. I’m trying as hard as I can to remember it and how to do it, but its for candies that help foals after surgeries. She used to make it for us.” Candy shakes his head, “Its made with several different types of sugar since different sugars are processed by the body different ways.”

Lifting her wings, Feather giggles, “Trust him, he wouldn’t be doing this is it wasn’t important. The boy hates sugar candies and such.”

“If he hates them why is he using like five different kinds of sugar.” The Nutritionist says with a huff. “Bodies don’t process it that differently.”

“Trust me, with some things about ponies, you just have to toss logic aside and roll with it.” Feather says with a nod, “For example, Candy, ever heard the song sugar rush?” Feather asks and arches her back a little into the scratching.

“Nope,” Candy says, distracted, “Okay, now pour that out onto the table and start rolling it.”

“Wreck it Ralph?” Feather asks and winks at the nutritionist. Getting a grin from the young woman.

“What’s that got to do with this?” She asks.

“Nope, Cloudy was always into that sorta thing. Not me.” Candy says, sniffing the mixture a bit before moving to another bowl.

Clearing her throat, Feather starts singing cheerfully, “S U G A R Jump into your racing car…”

Giggling, Candy responds, “Say Sugar Rush, HEY! Sugar Rush.”

Bouncing a bit, Feather continues, “S U G A R, jump into your racing car.”

“Say Sugar Rush, HEY, Sugar Rush!” Candy sings back and sits, his tail bouncing to the beat of the tune.

Looking up, Feather shrugs, “Some strange ability of ponies, we can pick up music and join in songs even if we’ve never heard them before. So yeah, when magic is involved, sometimes logic falls to the side.”

Lighting his horn, Candy brings down several dyes and colorings, adding them to another bowl, smiling as he sings softly.

***

Transient noise: In submarine terms, this is inadvertent noises made by crew members. Daily activities such as letting a door close too loudly, dropping dishes or books, or even putting the toilet seat down too hard, generate sounds that can, and have, given away submarine’s positions. By far they are the most common ways submarines are detected. Especially when you are talking the black hole in the water known as an Ohio class missile submarine.

“We should blend in with the wreckage and debris.” The XO whispers as he looks at the charts.

The USS Florida lays quietly on the costal shelf at about seven hundred twenty feet of depth. The submarine is running on low power mode, with all machinery that is not necessary turned off. It is a waiting game now, waiting for orders, waiting to see if they are detected, waiting for someone to make a mistake.

“Last year a bad storm blew though this area, several exploration drilling platforms went down and Russia hasn’t had time to remap the bottom. There’s so much metal down here, MAD will mistake us for part of a drilling platform.” The captain says and leans back in his chair.

Walking onto the bridge, ensign Peterson hands the captain a paper full of numbers, statistics and graphs. “Sir?”

“Yes, ensign?” the captain whispers back, aware that even voices might be heard.

“All oxygen systems are working fine, but the number three scrubber is acting up a bit, I think its filter is clogged, we should be good for a few days though.” The ensign says softly.

“Keep an eye on it, if air quality changes replace it, quietly.” The Captain responds.

“Roger.” Turning, Peterson heads off the bridge.

The entire boat is quiet, people walking down the halls move with measured steps. Every action, from working on machinery to brushing teeth is being done as quietly as possible. Even a sneeze could give their position away, but this is war footing. Even the food is prepared to minimize sound, leaving the choice of foods limited.

Picking up a coffee, lasagna and salad, Peterson sits down at a table with a huff. Food is always there to keep moral up and stress down, but this isn’t helping. Everyone on the sub is stressed, they are one mistake away from having the entire Russian Navy on them.

“I still don’t believe we are supposed to strike Russia directly. What’s your take on that Eddie?” Ensign Matt Roberts says, part of the weapons department, and Eddie Peterson’s bunk mate.

Propping his chin up, Peterson takes a slow swig of his coffee before shaking his head, “Stupidity. Civil unrest in Russia, US carrier getting attacked in the Persian Gulf, the whole world is coming unglued starting last May.”

“With the ponies, yeah. My sister claims to have seen one with her daughter.” Matt says softly, “All fluffy and pink.” With a bit of a chuckle he finishes, “To die for.”

“Well people are dying for them, or dying because of them. Scuttlebutt is there’s some group of them in South Africa that the Russians are trying to recruit. They want them to help shift the balance of power in the region into their favor.” Peterson says, “And they have attacked US assets to do so. Given that, we are supposed to act as retribution if it continues.”

“And its going down in the next few days? I don’t think they would leave us sitting here for more than a week. That would be nuts.” Matt whispers and looks around. “Of course, the world seems to have gone nuts.”

“So how is your niece, Lilly right?” Peterson asks softly, a shift of compassion to his voice.

Matt shakes his head slowly, “I don’t know, the doctors first said her version was extremely aggressive, and she would likely die in three to four months. Then they tell us there’s been some kind of misdiagnosis and she has to be brought back several times. Then they tell us in September that she’s in remission but they need more tests. Finally, they tell us she has no signs of cancer in her anymore. That the treatments worked far better then expected.”

“Doctors sometimes. Probably a mix of the meds and chemo worked better than they anticipated and now they want to figure out how to try it on others.” Shaking his head, Peterson smiles, “Well at least she’s better now. We can thank God for that.”

“Amen.”

***

“Amen.” Shoe Shine says, her head bowed, before burying her muzzle into the bowl of cereal. It isn’t pretty, but it is her first meal as a pony, a mix of rolled oats, grains, and alfalfa cubes. Nothing better to reset the body to a proper diet.

Smiling softly, Masquerade munches on her own granola, before looking up, “Not hungry sis?”

“I… I don’t know, I guess I’m just worried.” Katie sighs and looks down at her cereal.

Masquerade tilts her head, “About what?”

“About you, about Shoe Shine, about everything.” Katie sighs, “I still don’t know what to call you.”

“Masq, Masquerade, sis, big brother if you really want. Whatever you call me doesn’t change the fact that we’re family.” Masq smiles and wiggles her tail.

Katie gives a soft smile before looking at Shoe Shine, the new mare’s muzzle is coated with grains and milk. Unable to help giggling, she picks up a cloth and starts wiping Shoe Shine’s muzzle and face. “There you go.”

“What about mine?” Masq whines playfully.

“What about yours? You are clean. Don’t ask me how.” Katie says, laughing.

Hopping off the chair, Masq walks around and wraps a wing around her sister, hugging her tight. “Practice, trust me, I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but I do remember being a pony.”

“I know, and you seem so happy as one.” Gently Katie hugs Masq, considering as she looks deep into her sister’s eyes. “But how do I know my brother’s still in there?”

Blinking, Masq pulls her head back, “Oh come on sis, what other pony out there is as fun and funny as me? Remember, when you fly with Pony Air, your safety is guaranteed. Pony Air is a registered trademark of the Pony Air Group, subsidiary of the US Air Force. Pony Air takes no responsibility for emotional distress of passengers, lost baggage, pets, or dragon servants in flight. All meals for Pony Air are provided by the US Air Force, even if some may be labelled US Army Air Corps. Pony Air prohibits flash photography on all flights. Any complaints may be submitted to the President of the United States directly.”

“Oh god…” Katie laughs, “Ok you’re my bother, you kept your insanity even as a pony.”

“It’s a requirement.” Masq says with a firm nod before snuggling into Katie.

Shoe Shine smiles as well, “Well I wouldn’t say that, I’d like to think ponies could be sane.”

“Meh its 50-50,” Masq says, wiggling her forehoof side to side, “Though most of what humans would consider insane, to us is instinct, magic, and ponykind. Ponies are somewhat chaotic, with a lot of randomness about themselves. Though they wear their hearts and emotions on their butts.”

Wiggling her butt side to side and her flicking her tail, Masq smiles, “Between our ears and tail expressions, and our FDA approved Butt Stamps, you can tell a lot about a pony if you understand them. But you generally go nuts trying to understand them.”

“Bah, you were nuts even before the ponies.” Katie says with a smile.

Shaking her head, Masq walks around and puts her wing over Shoe Shine’s back, hugging her. “That’s the thing, we were always ponies. We just didn’t know it yet. We all remember Discord, some by his words…”

Shoe Shine closes her eyes and trembles for a moment, “Five score, divided by four.”

“Me, by his eyes and laughter. It’s real to us, I don’t know why, or how, but it happened.” Masq says.

“Well, why is pretty obvious, Discords the lord of chaos, sought to overthrow Equestria, grand plan, and all.” Shoe Shine says, “Didn’t you watch the cartoon and briefing?”

“I wonder if we could contact DHX studios to do a mini animation for the briefing.” Masq muses, looking up innocently before getting the back of her head smacked lightly by Katie.

“Behave, we don’t need ponies more confused during the change.” Katie laughs.

“Trust me, I was confused enough.” Shoe Shine says with a firm nod, “Finding out the cartoon was real.”

“I wouldn’t say real, more like excerpts and dramatizations. Memories or glimpses of what happened, remembered by others, or drawn from the subconscious.” Rubbing Shoe Shines muzzle with her wing, Masq smiles, “Just because you, because we weren’t starred in the show, just means no pony really close to us worked on the production staff. It doesn’t mean we aren’t important.”

“I guess, I just always wished growing up I’d be a Princess and have my own unicorn.” Shoe Shine says with a sigh.

“Well, if you marry somepony like Prince Blueblood, you’d BE a princess AND have a unicorn.” Masq says with a mischievous smile.

“Ok first, ewwww… and second… ewww.” Shoe Shine says shaking her head so hard her ears flop, “Blueblood was a self-centered jerk, and that’s not what I meant by having a unicorn.”

Quickly covering Masq’s muzzle, Katie shakes her head, “No, no riding jokes either.”

***

Arba Minch Airport in Ethiopia has been used by the US military for almost a decade now. Drones from the US Air Force operated over parts of Somalia, monitoring militants and pirates. Several strikes against extremists by drones have been carried out from this base.

The runway at the airport was also large enough to handle US transport aircraft, this meant it was well suited for a staging. It had taken four of the C-17 transport aircraft to fly in all the vehicles. A mix of LAV’s and Hummers make up the ground transport for the US Marine Corps Force, Africa.

The convoy of vehicles runs with the smaller Hummer’s running out front. Armed with heavy machine guns they are the scouts. Behind them, the LAV 25’s followed, intermixed with TOW and Stinger equipped Hummers. Rear guard was one last detachment of Hummers with heavy machine gun and grenade launchers. More than equipped to deal with any rebel force they encountered.

“Godfather actual, this is Hitman, we are underway. ETA to target area, three hours.”

“Hitman, this is Godfather actual. Roger that, keep advised, remember, hostile air assets may be present.”

Traveling south, the convoy would be crossing the Ethiopian border in about an hour. Then, they would be in Somalia.

***

With a loud groan, Fleur collapses onto a pile of pillows. Her normally white coat is still covered with dirt, black marks and grass stains. Her mane is matted down in the most undignified manner from her combat gear, but really, she doesn’t care at the moment.

Sea Swirl face plants, her front legs just giving out at the edge of the sofa. With a little work, however, she manages to walk her body with just her hind legs, sliding it along the couch until she can fully roll onto it.

Sugarberry, on the other hoof, doesn’t even make it to the pillows, she just finds a place on the carpet to collapse, “Oh Celestia what a day. Heck what a week.”

Laying down beside Sugarberry, Ballad droops her head over the other mare’s back using her as a pillow. “Hundreds of arrests, at least I don’t need to do the paperwork.”

“Oh no, don’t remind me.” Fleur groans, “I so need a shower.”

“Bath here!” Sea Swirl says weakly, lifting a foreleg.

Ballad groans, “To much work, somepony just carry me out back and hose me down please.”

“Doc’s say Goldie is awake and responsive, and should be just fine.” Sea Swirl, “But she gets sponge baths.”

“Honestly, I’d go to the spa but, I can’t feel my hooves.” Fleur moans, “I had three different SWAT assaults in one city.”

“Four here.” Sea Swirl groans, “I thought the unicorn guards were supposed to do this, where are they all?”

“All those guys went back to Equestria. They left us girls behind.” Sugarberry says and huffs, “Stallions.”

Fleur laughed softly, “They fought a war, so we’d have a home to go back to someday.” Laying her head back down, Fleur groans, “Even my horn hurts.”

“Aww the poor fashion model doesn’t like hard work?” Ballad says with a giggle.

Fleur eyes her for a moment, “No more then the minstrel. You’re as wasted as I am.”

Anthony walks in, carrying several boxes and blinks, coughing slightly, “Oi, ok, air freshener time.”

“Says the two legger that got to spend the entire raid run in a command vehicle.” Fleur says with a huff then stops and blinks, “What… are you carrying?”

“Alfalfa, onion, mushroom, and bell pepper pizza’s, with extra cheese. Special delivery from the 520^th.” Putting the boxes down, Anthony walks over and opens the windows. “Apple cider, and rye and barley beer.”

Turning he blinks as all eyes, noses, and ears are now fixed on him, “Yes, I got enough for everypony and some extra.”

“Oh what’s that one?” Sea Swirl asks, looking at one box set aside.

“That’s mine, onion perogies, with goat cheese and mozzarella and alfredo sauce. Hooves, and horns, off.” Anthony says as he puts the pizza up high.

“But but but….” Sea Swirl whimpers, “Food.”

“Yes, but I can’t eat alfalfa, so this is the only one I can actually have.” Anthony says before walking over to Fleur, “Ok Lis, lets get you up.”

“What? Wait!” Fleur blinks as Anthony helps her to her hooves, “What are you doing?”

“Bathroom, we are getting you washed up and prettied up again.” Anthony says walking with her into the bathroom.

“But, food?” She whines.

“I’ll bring you in some when you get in the bath.” Chuckling, Anthony walks over and starts filling the tub. It’s a massive 72 inch monstrosity that probably holds over 80 gallons of water. More than large enough for a pony of Fleur’s size. Testing the water, he nods, “Ok in ya go.”

Fleur climbs over the edge of the tub and lays down, moaning softly at the warm water. Adding a little scented bath to the water Anthony nods and steps out.

“Pampering your partner?” Sea Swirl asks with a giggle.

“You’re next.” Anthony says as he picks up some cider and pizza, he turns back towards the bathroom, bringing it in and setting it in sight of Fleur. “There you go Lis. Now lets get to work.”

“Work?” Fleur asks curiously before eeping and moaning again.

Walking around the tub Anthony picks up the water sprayer and starts soaking down Fleur’s mane before beginning to wash it, massaging her scalp and neck. Letting Fleur relax, Anthony steps out into the main room again. “Ok Lis will be a bit.”

“We heard the moans out here.” Ballad says, giggling, “She sounds like she’s in bliss.”

“There’s only one tub though.” Anthony says before sitting down.

“So how long till you turn into a stallion?” Sea Swirl asks, her ears perked forward as she looks at him before leaning sideways to look at his hip.

Laughing, Anthony raises both hands defensively, “Nope, not for me. I’m happy being human, and with my luck, I’d turn into somepony like Snips, or worse… Silver Spoon.”

“He’s too old anyway,” Fleur says, stepping out of the bathroom.

Laying down towels on the floor, Anthony makes an area for Fleur to lay down on before going into the bathroom, “Take a second to clean the tub.”

“So do you think we made a difference?” Fleur asks looking over at Swirl.

“Most definitely, the FBI and other LEO’s showed this is about more than just ponies, its about a way of life that doesn’t include slavery or brutality.” Swirl says with a firm nod. “We made a statement out there!”

“Yep, ponies can get dirty.” Anthony says, walking back in, “Swirl, you’re up.”

“Wait what? Me?” Swirl blinks as Anthony wraps his arms around her, helping her to her hooves.

“Come on girl, into the tub.” Anthony says gently, pushing her into the bathroom.

“But, but, but…privacy?” Sea Swirl squeaks, before being helped into the tub.

Shaking his head, Anthony starts spraying her mane down with hot water, “No complaining, you girls all worked hard, you need to relax, get your energy back, and stop smelling.”

Sea Swirl huffs before closing her eyes and relaxing, “You win, this feels too nice to argue.”

Lathering her mane, Anthony smiles, “I figured, seems all mares like this kind of pampering. And since there isn’t a local spa I figured I’d step in and help. You all deserve it for the work you did, heck Goldie deserves it too, but she’s stuck with sponge baths by nurses.”

“Thank you. You’re such a stud.” Sea Swirl then blinks, her ears going red, “I mean such a great person. I didn’t mean…Eeep”

Laughing, Anthony picks up a brush and walks out of the bathroom. Sea Swirl sinks so just her nose and eyes are above the water, her ears bright red. Heading over to Fleur, Anthony starts brushing her mane for her.

“So what’s the plan?” Ballad asks.

“Well, we are supposed to wait here, while the rest of the teams to get back, for final debrief then everyone and everypony is returning to their home bases.” Fleur says, looking back at Anthony, “Going to do my tail too?”

“That would be overstepping my bounds.” Anthony says, “And I don’t wanna get fired for that.”

Fleur laughs, “Its ok, I’ll do it myself.”

Humming softly for a moment, Anthony switches sides and starts brushing again, as he starts to sing. His voice strong and true, “As dawn shines on us every morn, the fire of friendship is reborn, and all the friendships we have made, we cherish in every way.”

A shiver goes up Ballads back as she looks at her cutie mark, her voice joining in automatically, “Loyalty binds us and keeps us strong.”

Fleur looks at Anthony and gulps once, “Honesty shows us that we belong….”

“And Kindness shared will unite us though each day….” Sea Swirl finishes as she steps out of the bathroom. “No truer those words, then to those of us here and around the world.”

***

“Godfather Actual, this is Hitman, we have crossed the border. I say again, we have crossed the border.”

“Hitman this is Godfather Actual, roger that, Godfather out.”

“Hitman Actual, this is Hitman 2 bravo, I have an object in the road up ahead.” Shouldering his rifle, the marine sergeant rubs his eyes before looking through the scope, “It looks like a small animal, zebra I think.”

“Hitman 2 bravo, this is Hitman Actual, zebra are not small animals.”

“Honk the horn a couple of times, see if it moves.” The marine sergeant says.

The driver hits the horn a few times, slowing down as he gets closer. But the object in the road simply tilts its head, looking at the convoy.

“Hitman Actual, this is Hitman 2 bravo, it looks like a zebra pony thingie, one of their kind. I think it’s a child, err… a foal, but it’s not moving. Should we stop?”

“All Hitman this is Hitman Actual, any sign of hostiles?”

“Hitman 3, no contacts left.”

“Hitman 5, no contacts right.”

“Hitman 9, No contacts rear.”

“Hitman 7, I have a high airborne approximately one five clicks south-south east, holding speed two five two knots at thirty thousand feet, orbiting.”

“Hit the brakes.” The marine sergeant calls out.

The lead hummer skids to a stop about a hundred feet from the foal. As it does, the rest of the convoy, fishboneing as they spread out on either side of the road.

“Hitman 2 this is Hitman actual, what’s going on?”

Picking up the mic, the sergeant takes a breath, “Hitman actual, remember the intel, air target is likely the dragon, intel had it with a little zebra foal, didn’t it?”

“Hitman 2, this Hitman Actual, that’s a roger, so you think if we pose a threat to the foal the dragon will attack? Also remember, its not a foal, it’s a 25-year-old human.”

“Hitman actual, Hitman 2 I’m going to move in on foot.” Clicking the mic, the sergeant leaves the Humvee and slowly starts walking towards the Zebra.

The zebra stands up as the human approaches and walks side to side, looking at him, watching the rifle closely. Narrowing his eyes the zebra shakes it’s head, “Stop.”

Checking his rifle, the marine sergeant stops and takes a knee, “You speak English? I’m Sargent Riggs, United States Marine Corps.”

“Geen, Afrikaans. Strepe.” The zebra says and shakes his head.

“Great.” Keying his mic, the sergeant leans into his radio, “Hitman actual, this is Hitman 2 bravo, the foal is a zebra from Equestria, I’ll need a translator for African.”

“Hitman 2 bravo, this is Hitman, Hitman actual is on his way up with Wise-guy.”

Clicking his mic once, “Hitman 2 bravo, copy.” Looking back at the zebra, the sergeant reaches into his combat webbing and pulls out a ‘Soldier fuel’ Bar. Opening it, he holds it out to the foal.

Blinking, the foal steps forward and sniffs the bar once before turning its head away and sticking its tongue out.

“Hey it doesn’t smell that bad does it?” Taking a sniff himself the sergeant shrugs, “okay, maybe it does.” Breaking off a piece he sits down and starts eating.

“Sargent, this isn’t break time.” The captain says firmly from behind.

Without even flinching or looking back the sergeant chuckles, “Just trying to keep the situation calm and relaxed.”

“Look if we are to believe the show, we got glimpses of pony culture but nothing of zebra. Besides, this is a foal, we need someone in charge.” The Captain snarls.

Looking down, the translator kneels, “May we speak with the leaders of your community?”

Looking up at the men the zebra chuckles, “Sure, but you’ll need to leave your weapons here.”

“He says you’ll need to leave your weapons behind.” The translator, a Kenyan contractor says firmly.

“We don’t leave our weapons. That is just stupid.” The Captain says firmly, “He expects us to go in unarmed.”

Sighing, the translator looks back down at the zebra, “They don’t like the idea of leaving the weapons, someone could take them. Or worse.”

“Most of the ponies here have had bad experiences with guns. Witnessed terrorism and kidnappings. Seen entire villages wiped out, child soldiers given drugs to make them angry and set loose to kill those that didn’t follow their belief. No, no guns.” The zebra says, shaking his head no.

The translator shakes his head, “It’s non-negotiable, no weapons, anyone going in must be unarmed. The residents have had enough issues with guns.”

“Is there someone else with we could talk to?” The Captain says, “Someone with more authority?”

Looking down the translator shrugs, “Is there a grown up that can make the decision to override that rule? So that we can enter your town easier?”

“It’s our town, but we didn’t make all these rules, some of the rules we accepted on arriving.” The zebra says, “It’s not our territory after all.”

“Who’s is it?” the translator asks curiously.

“Hers!” The zebra says, turning and pointing at the sky, the form of the massive dragon rocks back and forth, keeping its distance but circling in case of trouble.

***

“Come on Sis.” Candy says softly, crawling into the hospital bed with his sister, “You’ve gotta wake up, you’ve just gotta.”

Rubbing his cheek against his sister's he holds a candy in front of her nose, moving it back and forth like smelling salts. “Remember these, sis? Mom made them for us in Equestria, she said it helped us young unicorns.”

Closing my eyes, I gently nuzzle both foals before I climb into the bed with them, thank gosh we are little ponies. The hospital bed is only a single, not even as wide as a normal single but it is big enough for me to lay on my side, pulling both foals tightly to me. Softly I can start nuzzling Cloudy gently.

Blaze chuckles softly, “Mothering instincts, Hun?”

Nodding, I curl tighter around the two. “Mama’s here.”

Gently opening Cloudy’s mouth, Candy puts one of the chocolate bon bons onto his sister’s tongue, before closing her mouth. Putting his face against hers he cries softly. “Please sis. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Candy it’s not your fault.” I say and softly rub my cheek against his.

Crossing his horn against his sister's, “I just need her to be all right.”

“I will be, I just wanna sleep a little more momma.” Cloudy says softly.

Blinking Candy sits up quickly, “Sis? SIS!”

Rubbing the side of her head Cloudy looks up, “Mom?”

“It’s me, its Candy.” The colt says, looking down.

Cloudy looks up at me, then at her brother, “I had a dream of mom, of her candy.”

“I made some, I made some of mom’s special candy for you.” Candy says, tears in his eyes. “I put all her love… all my love into it for you.”

“You always did like making them with mom.” Cloudy says softly, before looking up, “Sorry mom.”

He hugs his sister tightly, Candy blinks, “What are you sorry for?”

“I got carried away I guess, and scared mom.” Cloudy says softly.

“You don’t have to call me mom if you don’t want to.” I say softly

Both of them look up and blink, before they hug me in stereo. “You are mom. We can have two moms.”

Looking down I see the glow on Candy’s hip. A sprig of cotton candy appearing with hearts on the cone. With a smile I hug them both a little tighter.

Author's Notes:

Thanks again for Sparky for his great editing.