"Ferry flight seven to anyone who can hear me." I scream into my microphone. Moments ago, my port engine produced a muffled explosion. I'm losing altitude, every indicator in front of me is in the red, or is dead. The radio remains silent. Why in the holy hell did I volunteer to ferry some F/A-18E Hornets across the pond. I'm four hours away from land. And now I think something is wrong with my radio.
I waggle the wings a bit, I've still got some control, but my starboard engine is dangerously overheating. I think I'm going to lose it too. I look at one of the other ferry pilots. My best friend is in the other Hornet. I can see him gesticulating through the glass of the cockpit, but I all I hear over my radio is static. He is staying with me, the other two ferry pilots are continuing on. But at least Michael is with me.
"Hey, Moose, can you hear me?" Silence from my radio.
"Moose, by God, I hope you can hear me, my starboard engine is about to fail." I notice his helmet jerk in response. So, I'm transmitting, I think.
"Moose, if you can hear me, put your hand on the canopy." Dutifully his hand splays out on the glass of the plane thirty feet from me.
A muffled explosion shakes me in my chair as my only remaining engine dies. My combat ready aircraft is now officially a glider. And it's not that good at gliding. I can see the whitecaps about ten thousand feet below me. I look back at Moose.
"Moose, there is no choice now, I'm going in, I'll punch out before I hit. Try to get someone here soon. Go, catch up with the ferry flight, and get some Coastie to pull me out of this jam, you hear me?" His hand forms into a thumbs up. I look at my instruments, apparently they are operating on battery right now, I'm actually pretty close to stall speed. I push forward on the stick to keep my speed up, don't want to fall like a rock. I look over at moose. He's flipped the sun visor up on his helmet, I can see his eyes. He's scared. We are really far from land. It will be a while before any rescue effort can get to me. Well, I can float around for a while until they get here.
"Damnit Moose, get going, I'm not going to have you crash trying to save me. I'll punch out just before this brick hits the water. I'll be fine. Get going man." He pulls up and accelerates, in a minute him and the rest of the ferry flight are but specks on the cloudless horizon. Now I need to worry about more immediate problems. I have less than five thousand feet until I hit the water. It looks like the wind is whipping out there. Well, I'm a good swimmer, and I've got some survival equipment integral to my flight suit. I would rather be with my regular command, the Black Knights flying off of the Nimitz. But I got volunteered to do this ferry flight. The only reason I was looking forward to it is I was going to have four days layover in Kuwait before a scheduled C-5 Galaxy flight would take myself and the rest of the ferry pilots back to Norfolk. The Kuwaiti's have been waiting for this delivery of Super Hornets for months, and I get roped into flying these aircraft to their new owners. I've had the compressor blades on the engine fail before, and that sounded just like this did. But two engines failing within minutes of each other is pretty bad luck, even for me. I guess the techs at GE were sleeping on the job. Oh, whoops, better stop daydreaming, punch-out time is on its way. I reach up behind my head and grab the two pull loops. I take a deep breath, and yank hard. There's a short delay as the bubble canopy is blown clear by explosive bolts, then the rocket underneath my ass takes over. I'm jettisoned by the chair. The G-forces nearly cause me to black out. In moments I'm under my parachute watching my aircraft impact the water. Now, that was pretty bad, the majority of the plane heads to the watery deep, leaving some debris floating. In moments I'm in the water myself. I pull my belts off, letting the chair loose, where it quickly sinks, my survival suit inflates automatically. Now all I have to do is wait for rescue. I briefly thank God we were taking a southerly route to the Middle East, and, it's August. I don't have to worry about hypothermia.
******
It's night now. I check my watch, I've been in the water for a little over twelve hours. I don't have to work to stay afloat, but, God, I'm thirsty. I lean back in my suit a little bit and my eyes close.
The dawn wakes me up. I look around, I'm not going to be rescued soon am I? Most of the debris around me sunk hours back, I'm going to be impossible to spot, and my radio beacon doesn't give any indication whether it's working or not. Add to that, it's hot during the day in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The wind died down, so the water is calm. But I just float here. I can't do anything else. I pass the time, I don't know how, it's so boring, nothing to do. I nod off to sleep after the sun has been up for only a few hours. I think that's dangerous. I'm showing signs of dehydration.
I start awake and thrash in the water. It's a full moon, and a bright clear night sky, though I think I'm somewhat delirious from dehydration. I'm seeing things. A midnight blue horse of all things. Wait, it gets closer to me, this horse has wings, and a horn. Its mane is dark blue as well, and… are those stars in its mane? That is impossible. Wait a moment, horses don't have wings, and they certainly don't have horns jutting out the middle of their foreheads. What the hell? I'm focused with all my being on this strange vision. This horse is laying comfortably on a cloud? I shake my head, look at this lounging horse again, shake my head again, no change, it's still there.
"Horses don't fly." I say the first thing that comes to my head.
A definite feminine giggle. So this is a female horse, "I'm not a horse."
I'm struck dumb, she talked to me? How can this not horse be talking to me.
"I'm a pony, well…" She spreads her wings and looks up at her horn. "I would be called an alicorn."
"An alicorn." I'm not a very good conversationalist when I'm stuck in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, after my aircraft fails me, and I've been floating for nearly two days. I shake my head again. "Do you have a name at least?"
Another very feminine giggle. "You may address me as Princess Luna, young human."
Oh great, not only do I have to hallucinate a talking midnight blue pony with wings and a horn, she has to be a Princess. Boy, my time in church when I was younger didn't do anything to prepare me for this. Where are the singing angels, the cherubs? I'm just so tired, and so damned thirsty.
"I'm sorry Miss Princess Luna, but I'm not in the habit of conversing with hallucinations." I lean my head back and try to fall back asleep. Maybe I can just die in my sleep, anything would feel better than this.
Her voice takes a very sharp tone. "I am not a hallucination, Nicholas."
I would expect my hallucination to know my name. I ignore her. I feel something grab my head and open my eyes. Her horn is glowing, and apparently somehow that's causing my head to be forced to face her. She floats her cloud closer to me. I gaze into her impossibly large eyes. The pressure holding my head disappears as her horn stops glowing, but I'm mesmerized by her eyes. They are so beautiful. In moments it seems as though she's looking into my soul.
"So, your parents are dead, no other family, no children. You have a kind heart." She's murmuring to herself, at least I think she is, her voice is very quiet as she speaks. Her muzzle is mere inches from my nose, her eyes boring into me. After several seconds she jerks back with a happy smile.
"You are aware that you would not last the night if I do nothing, Nicholas. You are dying."
I shrug, she's not telling me anything that I don't know. The human body can only survive a couple of days without water, and salt water just dehydrates you more. Add to that the exertion and the heat. I'm in severe trouble.
She brings a hoof up to her chin. "Yes… yes, I think you will do."
Now I'm confused. Do what? "Huh?" As I said before, I'm a great conversationalist when I'm stuck in the middle of the ocean.
Without another word, her horn lights up again, and she brings it to touch my forehead. I black out. As I lose consciousness I hear her voice. "You are perfect to teach a very dear student something important."