Alexia stood at the head of a brightly lit classroom amphitheater double checking her notes for the twentieth time in the past two days. The whiteboard at her side held a heavily modified shielding array in blue ink. Various notes and bullet points lined either side of the circular array, some pointed out various runes while others professed the importance of line thickness.
Sitting in the stands were over one hundred naval officers and engineers of various rank. Just over a half of their number wore the casual white uniform of the US Navy or the black Royal British uniform. A third was dressed in that of the Russian Navy, and the rest of the audience hailed from other nations. Alexia allowed a warm smile at the sight of a scattered few ponies in the mix. Those in the back of the room were still walking in, and booting up their own computers. The majority of them possessed laptops and were reading over the preliminary files related to the class while the more artistically inclined were practicing drawing the shield array from a file she had given to all of them upon entering the room.
The alicorn was bereft of everything, save her royal necklace. She used her magic to hold a pointing baton at her side and briefly checked her phone for the time. Three, two, one. With a touch of magic, she enhanced her voice to carry. “Good morning, Sailors. As I’m sure you’re already aware of, I am Princess Alexia Tune. I want to start by thanking you for volunteering for this mission. We all know the stakes. This is bigger than any one nation, and we must act as a whole to see our civilization survive.”
There were a few murmurs in agreement and nodding heads. Alexia knew to keep such an introduction short, time was not their ally. The earpiece she always wore on duty buzzed in her ear. “No Mion signatures detected in the building, and the background checks all come up clean, we’re good to go.”
Not outwardly acknowledging the comment from Thompson, Alexia pointed her baton at the array on the board. “This as I’m sure you’ve already guessed from the files is a shield array. Thanks to the assistance of some magitech researchers,” that and Sensei Twilight, “we have devised a way to modify it to allow military submarines to descend the ocean floor, and engage the alien sphere. Power will be pulled directly from the nuclear reactor. All of you will receive both the necessary equipment and technicians to assist in connecting the arrays.
In addition, we fully expect that traditional torpedoes will be insufficient to damage the sphere.” She scanned their faces. As far as she could tell, Alexia couldn’t find a doubter so far. Perhaps magic has been around long enough for everyone to accept it, but not long enough for everyone to know its limits. “Judging from our findings of early Mion strains reacting poorly to the presence of magic, we have assumed that the aliens who created this sphere are as completely ignorant of magic as we were. Therefore, the torpedoes’ warheads will be replaced by a shaped charged with a mana payload. This is just guesswork, but we’re hoping the interior of the sphere is far more susceptible to being crushed by oceanic pressure.”
One of the engineers, an Australian if Alexia was not mistaken, in the front coughed and raised his hand. He spoke after Alexia acknowledged him. “Just how much power will this be taking?”
Alexia tried to hide her ill-at-ease. “Even if the sphere has no defenses to speak of, this might be a one way trip. Electric to mana transformers are still practically in their infancy and the array itself is power hungry in the extreme at the required depth. The exact numbers will be given to you by more qualified nuclear engineers later. All I can say is that this might very well be a one way trip.”
The engineer leaned back in his chair. A cold yet determined look on his face. I knew that much coming in. It better be my crew who take that damned thing down if we’re going with it.
The class went on for another hour before finally ending. Alexia’s part in it all was ultimately rather small. Between herself and the Magitech company, they had developed the necessary arrays, but it was up to the naval personnel to implement it.
At present, Alexia was walking out of the building and into the San Francisco US Naval base. The sky was as bright and shiny as any other day on the western coast as she jumped into a low level flight back to the hotel. While flying was permitted within US military bases, she could only go five meters high, and still had to go through a security checkpoint at the perimeter fence before leaving for the hotel.
She mulled over the past two weeks since leaving Trinity, and Joe’s funeral five days ago. Fortunately, the act of flying was almost automatic for her now. Damn it all. I only hope the arrays hold. With the current predictions coming out of headquarters, if we wait any longer, there won’t be a civilization to save. Nor will we have the logistics to crew and supply a fleet of submarines to strike at the sphere.
She came up to the checkpoint and landed next to the guard post. A Humvee was ahead of her, yet it sped off before she even finished tucking her wings in. The closer of the two marines waved his buddy back. While protocol demanded an ID check, everyone knew the alicorn when they saw her. “Good morning, Princess Alexia,” he said while pulling out a smartphone.
Alexia double checked the uniform to make sure she had the correct military branch. “Morning, Marine. I trust your day’s been hectic with so many foreign officers coming in.” She withdrew her Section Nine badge and ID.
There was an almost personable nature about Alexia that caused the man to slacken his military bearing enough to give an exaggerated sigh. “I’m just glad the computer can scan all that stuff.” He pulled out said scanner and swept it over her ID and badge. He was not surprised when her badge came up as classified and the security check date was promptly erased from the registry. “Right…” Even now, spooks can’t get enough secrecy. “You’re all clear.” He gave her items back and snapped a crisp salute. “Have a good day, Princess.”
She returned the salute with a wing before taking off. She soared to a comfortable altitude that gave her a grand view of the not so grand city. The past few years and dwindling world market had taken its toll. A large number of the high rises that used to be centers of business and commerce had been converted into domiciles and shanty towers. Large groups of refugees from the rural states had been congregated in the coastal states. Down below, food lines wrapped around several city blocks. San Francisco was one of the few major cities that didn’t have typical biological defenses.
Alexia saw three large blimps one might have seen over a sports stadium. Now they were repurposed as bases of operation for pegasi weather teams to divert any virus clouds towards the ocean via a new technique of directing wind currents rather than directly manipulating the clouds. Upon various buildings, even in the heart of downtown, sat a number of missile defense systems, all under heavy guard. More than one city, Paris included, fell due to sabotage of the local missile defense batteries.
She hummed as she passed one such battery on top of one of the few remaining office buildings. Even with her harness’ transponder, the guards watched her closely. They didn’t raise their weapons, but they were thinking about it.
Pushing the city out of her mind, Alexia settled down on top her hotel. It was one of the few that had a more decorated roof for pegasi patrons. Granted those accommodations were limited to a rather friendly human bellhop who was extremely uncomfortable in the high cold air. Red carpeting led the way into a lobby which was little more than a reception desk and elevator housing. A couple of passing hellos and a short elevator ride later, she arrived at the presidential suite.
While Elizabeth and Bella Anderson were staying in the suite next door, the herd and three foals were staying in the same one. Even though we ponies rarely wear clothes, sis and Bella still can’t let Conrad stay in the same room, she scoffed as she walked inside. In the end, she couldn’t blame them. I suppose I don’t give personal privacy as much weight as it did in my human days.
The first room of the suite was a den larger than a studio apartment. The rest of the suite consisted of two bedrooms, a full bar, and even more these days was a Jacuzzi. All of it was pro bono on the hotel’s part for hosting America’s princess. Of course, Thompson dropping a hint to the manager and owner that she was planning the end of the Mion threat, and that she would still be staying there when the press was informed.
I suppose it’s a fair exchange. The manager sure thought so at least. Alexia walked in to Conrad sitting on the couch with the trio of foals watching old reruns of Sesame Street. Crimson and Loki were absent. The room itself was comfortable enough, the furniture was clean and well maintained, but there were subtle signs of wear and tear everywhere Alexia looked. A few loose threads in the rug, the polish on the glass table was less than perfect, and a corner of a lounge chair had popped a staple and was hanging loose. Something most people would overlook, if they spotted it at all. And yet if this was five years ago, the managers might have had someone shot for allowing it.
She didn’t have a moment more to contemplate it, or even fully enter the room, when her daughters looked at her and squealed in delight. “Momma!!” Aurora Sky leapt from the couch and sprinted forward, while Violet Spark climbed over her father to do the same.
If there was one thing besides her fellow herdmates that could brighten Alexia’s day, it was her daughters. Even with Joe’s funeral and wake being only a week past, the fillies still managed to draw a smile, however faint, from their mother.
Alexia shut the door and rested on her belly so she could scoop her children up in her wings, and nuzzle them affectionately. I only wish I could have been there to see it happen.
Marcy rather enjoyed the foals’ company. Dusty was easily placated with a rattler, for the moment. Violet was teething on her necklace, finally relieving Aurora’s ear from the hunt. The little pegasus was sound asleep across Brad’s lap as he gently petted her mane. Marcy looked at the man with a knowing eye. “You should think of finally settling down with a nice woman and having a kid or two. You’re a natural, you know that?”
He huffed loudly. “I’d be better off adopting. I can’t hold a relationship down to save my life.”
“Only because you love your work. maybe if you…” Marcy trailed off when she noticed Violet’s pendent was starting to luminesce. “What the?”
Brad stopped petting Aurora when her necklace started glowing as well. “That’s normal, right? Tell me it’s normal.”
Marcy looked around the drab concrete room. Aside Brad and foals, they were the only ones in the windowless room. The security guards stayed outside to keep the foals at ease. “I ahh... I think the princess said to keep these on so their mana flares wouldn’t damage the room.”
Brad was started to sweat as Aurora’s necklace started to be a little too bright to look at directly. “I think we need to get a mana grounder before these overload.”
Violet was getting scared from the glow from her own necklace, causing the filly to start crying. Marcy started gently shusing her. “It’s okay little one. Umm…” I can’t take it off because of the clouds outside, and I am not going to let wild mana melt a hole to the outside. She grabbed a cloth from the diaper bag with her magic and wrapped it around the now blindingly bright necklace.
She looked to Brad who simply took his suit jacket off and had the necklace wrapped in it before it awoke the sleeping pegasus. “See? Yet another reason you ponies should wear clothes more often.”
Marcy playfully huffed at him while passing a hoof over her barrel. “And hide this luxurious coat and cutie mark? Perish the thought.”
Any reply Brad had in the works was cut off when Aurora started glowing a gentle white. “Ummm… Actually I think we really need that mana sink right about now.” Aurora awoke with a start as she started floating and started flapping her wings to try and stop only to find her magic was funneling through the necklace. Brad tried to pick her out of the air, but the necklace slipped out of his jacket as Aurora pushed herself up in the air. The necklace burned his eyes with its brightness, making him stumble backwards.
Marcy was shielding her eyes while Violet was bawling as she floated in the air. The two guards noticed the change from generic baby crying to that of actual terror and ran inside only to stand in awe as the light from each filly started to localize. The light around Aurora moved to her forehead as a horn started growing. Violet’s light moved to her back where a pair of wings painlessly appeared. The moment both alicorns had fully awakened, they dropped to the floor. Thankfully, Brad and one of the guards had been quick enough to catch the fillies before they could hit the ground.
Everyone was stunned before the guard and Brad tried to calm the fillies down. When her wits returned, Marcy slumped to her haunches with tears of joy and a quivering lip at the sight of the fillies. “My stars, I got to see two new goddess awaken into our world!”
Brad gave her a concerned eye as he petted Aurora into calmer sniffling. “I’d be more worried about how the Princess will react to not being able to see it herself.”
The guard jabbed a finger at a ceiling mounted camera. “At least we have a recording of it.”
Alexia’s recollection of that video was interrupted by Conrad walking over with Dusty on his back and nuzzled her. “How’d your class go, Honey?”
Alexia had to jerk her head up to avoid having an eye poked by Aurora’s new horn. “The world’s remaining navies have been fighting their respective governments to remain active for the past year and half. Giving them my plan just vindicated all of their efforts.” She watched Violet start spinning in circles trying to bite her new wings. I just preened them this morning. “Even though some of them have only recently started putting trust in Magitech, it wasn’t a difficult sell.”
“Then the fate of the world is up to the navies.” Conrad gently tugged Violet’s muzzle away from her thoroughly slobbered wing. “I still can’t get over the fact that I fathered a pair of alicorns.”
Alexia shot him a wry grin. “So the fact that you’re married to one has worn off?” Both chuckled, but Alexia was still reeling from the massive weight of a lonely ageless existence no longer dragging her down. Between Violet fumbling with her disobedient wings, and Aurora trying to pull her horn off every so often, Alexia could relate.
“Hardly…” Conrad replied with his first thought to flirt, but the shadow of the funeral stayed his tongue. Alexia turned away from the two sources of hope for a bright, if personal, future. She saw Conrad staring vacantly at the closed bedroom door.
“Crimson’s still hasn’t come out?”
Conrad’s ear flicked her way, but his gaze never moved. “She did for breakfast, but only just. Family is everything to her.” He finally looked to her while mussing up Dusty’s mane and placed him down to play with his sisters. “How about you? Twilight’s reaction to your nightmare episode wasn’t exactly pleasant.”
Shivers ran down Alexia’s spine. Her mind recalled the look of pain and disappointment in Twilight’s eyes. Deep down, Alexia knew that disappointment wasn’t directed at her, but it was Twilight blaming herself. For letting a human turned pony then to alicorn go that long without at least some form of self control training that didn’t pertain to magic.
“I’m so sorry, Alexia. With everything you’ve been going through, I thought that growing up in such a world would have hardened you enough so that the nightmare was next to impossible to come out.”
Alexia was sitting alone with her tome in a private room back at Section Nine. The book was on a metal table with Twilight’s phantom standing nearby. A solitary hanging light cast the room in stark white light. Alexia herself was on a removed sofa cushion, shivering despite not being cold. Joe had only been cremated barely four hours ago, and she was still reeling from both the loss and the nightmare.
It took her several moments to find her voice, and even then it was still shaky. “I-I don’t know what to say… I lost control.” Twilight wanted to say something, but let Alexia continue. “I used to be such a laid back person. My biggest worry used to be getting route seven on my mail delivery. Boss always yelled at me no matter what I did on that route.” She gave a weak chuckle. “Now? I become a monster if I get too angry.” She looked up at Twilight purple eyes, wishing for all the world that she could see pride in them again. “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
The one thing she feared most at that moment, was Twilight giving up as her instructor and friend. Alexia read the short history of Nightmare Moon. She knew Twilight had personal history with such matters, and feared what she would do. Twilight heaved a sigh. “I don’t know if I can help you with this, or if this first incident opened… Pandora’s Box, I believe is the saying. So I’m going to request that Princess Luna to assist you personally on this matter.”
Alexia returned to the present when Violet started whimpering. She looked down to see the filly crying every time she bit her own wing. A light chuckle escaped the gloomy atmosphere as Alexia pushed a hoof between the filly’s mouth and distraught wing. “That’s not a toy, that’s a limb.”
Conrad shook his head. “You think these girls will ever stop fussing over their new parts?”
“Oh give them time.” Alexia smoothed out the filly’s feathers after seeing Violet start to cry over the obvious pain. “I’ll admit having a large weight on my forehead took some getting used to, and don’t me started on all the stiff-wings I had for the first month.”
Conrad smirked and nibbled her ear a little. “With your history, I’d have thought you’d be used to handling unruly stiffies.”
Alexia huffed in forced amusement. “How do you do it, Conrad?” He looked at her questioningly. “I have to be able to function in case the navy calls on me or Thompson has further news from the National Guard around Trinity. But you… You and Joe were close. How can you be so upbeat?”
He gave her lopsided grin while brushing a lock of azure hair out of her eyes. “Because you give me strength, so that I in turn, can give some to you.” Alexia’s eyes started misting over as he spoke. “I’ve noticed that we ponies are miserable creatures when we’re alone, far more than a human when solo. But so long as, the four or seven,” he added with a short chuckle, “of us stand together, the pain of loss doesn’t feel as bad as it used to.”
It was a bittersweet comment that Alexia easily picked up on. Conrad never spoke about it, but she knew that his father’s betrayal left its mark on him.
Just then, Alexia’s tome started glowing on the coffee table. The silver alicorn cringed while stepping away from the foals. “That’ll be Twilight and Luna.”
Conrad nodded and scooped up the fillies, much to their protests at wanting to cling to their mother. Dusty was more than happy to drool over his father’s mane. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stick around? I know the mares would welcome three noisy distractions right about now.”
“Thank you, but no.” Alexia’s skin crawled as she fretted over what Luna wanted to say. “Princess Luna asked that I be alone with her. Not even Twilight will remain after activating the transmission.”
He already knew that would be her answer, but he felt obliged to ask anyway. He simply nodded to her before slipping into the bedroom.
Steeling herself, Alexia set the tome in the middle of the room and opened it. A few moments later, the images of Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna materialized. It was the first time Alexia had seen another alicorn besides Twilight. Since Twilight kept her tome at her tower in Ponyville, the option to have one of the three other alicorns pop in for a quick introduction could never fit anyone’s time table. Twilight had tried taking the tome to Canterlot a few times for that exact reason, but the needs of the CIA always pulled Alexia away. However, an emergency of nightmarish proportions was enough for Luna to suspend her royal duties.
At present, Alexia couldn’t help but to study Luna, as she was studied in turn. Will I really grow to that size?
“Princess Luna, I’d like you to meet Princess Alexia.” Twilight’s nervous introduction snapped Alexia out of her musings. “I only wish we could have done this sooner and under better circumstances.”
Alexia managed a feeble wave and nod. Luna on her part went from cold to slightly chilly at the readily apparent self-disappointment Alexia was showing. “Such is the way of things, Twilight Sparkle.” She tilted her head in Twilight’s direction. “But you must admit, if we weren’t so busy, we’d go crazy regardless.”
“I suppose.” Twilight cleared her throat enviously. “Well I better leave you two to it then.” She nodded towards Alexia to convey her silent assurances before walking away from the tome and disappearing.
Luna watched Alexia squirm uncomfortably for a few moments before speaking in a flat tone. “As I understand it, by your own admission, you had an… episode in which you apparently fully transformed into a Nightmare. Am I correct?”
“Y-yes.” Alexia couldn’t help but to stammer. She didn’t truly fear any sort of punishment, from Luna at least. Outside of Tina, who was already largely insane as it was, no one on Earth outside of the immediate herd knew of the incident. The only thing Alexia feared from the midnight blue alicorn was her cutting off her only link to Equestria.
Luna nodded slowly, she stood up to idly flex her wings. “I expected this to happen at some point. But even I didn’t expect it so early, even if I can understand what triggered it.”
Alexia blinked a few times at that before raising an eyebrow. “You expected me to go nightmare?!”
“Truly, I do indeed enjoy Twilight's company,” Luna commented with mild disdain. “But sometimes she doesn’t want to see the bitter truth about those she cares about.” Which is rather odd considering she’s at the head of Equestrian Intelligence. Luna stopped fidgeting and fixed Alexia with an icy stare. “I’ve read your world’s history. Genocide, wars, holy wars, oppression,” her tone grew a little condescending, “did you know this United States of yours has been in seventy eight wars since it’s inception barely two hundred years ago? Taking a moment to ignore the wars of your world’s other nations, and the Mion war you’ve been fighting so far.”
Damn, seventy eight? Really? I know about the world wars, and the other big ones, but damn… “Equestria’s history isn’t exactly bloodless either.”
Luna scoffed, but not at Alexia. “Oh, believe me, I’m fully aware of what Equestria has done to become as large as it is. But what I’m getting at, is that Twilight is ill prepared to teach you how to control certain aspects of alicornhood. Something I must admit, I should have been more adamant about given her own lack of experience.”
I… guess that means she isn’t too pissed at me. Alexia absentmindedly started scuffing the carpet with a hoof. “So what does that have to do with the Nightmare?”
“Tell me, Alexia,” Luna started as she ignored the question for the moment. “Do you fear what you became?”
A flash of all the hate and rage boiling over to explode, and the reflection of her frightful features replayed itself in Alexia’s mind. “Yes. I do.” She shrank a bit, feeling like a prisoner in an interrogation room. “Is there anyway you can train me or at least give me some pointers to never do it again?”
Luna rubbed her chin, humming all the while. “Yes and no.” That got a bewildered look out of Alexia, although Luna acted as if she didn’t notice. “As you are no doubt aware, anger and hatred is what caused this. The trigger, I must give you my most sincere condolences,” Luna hesitated, giving Alexia time to give a nod of thanks. “Was a herdmember’s, or honorary one I believe, death. Having succumbed to the nightmare once myself, I am hardly one to judge, and even if I was, that is about as good of a reason as any I suppose.”
Alexia said nothing as Luna grabbed a glass of water before continuing. “Since then, I’ve learned how to control myself. Now, even if my fury knows no bounds, I can at least rest easy, knowing I will not have a repeat performance.” She paused to study Alexia intently. “Personally though, I believe that the Nightmare is a tool. A dangerous one, but a tool all the same.” Alexia’s eyes widened considerably. “And I want to train you how to use it without falling into the same hate again.”
“B-but why?!” Alexia finally managed to say after losing her voice for a moment. “Everything I read from your incident and what I nearly did to Tina…” Alexia wrapped herself in her wings to escape the sudden chill. “What I might have done across the world… I never want to touch that stuff again.”
“I thought the same for year and a half,” Luna agreed. Curiously, her tone shifted to inquisitive. “But tell me this. Do you fear nuclear weapons?”
“What does that have…” Alexia connected the dots faster than Luna predicted. “Hold on. Nukes are deterrents. The whole point of having them is so that they’re never used.”
“Ahh, but your planet does use them. Constantly I might add.” Luna grinned slightly at Alexia’s obvious confusion. “And no, I don’t mean nuclear tests. I am referring to nuclear power plants. From what Twilight explained to me, these plants, as you call them, are basically controlled nuclear explosions. Is that fair to say?”
“I…think it’s a little more complex than that,” Alexia commented before understanding dawned on her. She looked at Luna as if she had grown a second head. “You want me to use the Nightmare!?”
At that, Luna’s form started shining brightly as she grew to Celestia’s height. Alexia was paralyzed by the armored form of Nightmare Moon standing before her in all her dark glory. Her first reaction was to freak, but a tiny voice grunted in frustration. Damn it, she looks a lot prettier than my nightmare did.
Nightmare Moon breathed deeply to relish the power for a bit before reverting back to her normal Luna form. “You earthlings have a curious history when it comes to war technology. Within the span of twenty years you took the airplane from a novelty to a weapon of war and then into a civilian industry that today spans the globe.” Luna inwardly chuckled at that. A global industry. Will these aliens never cease to amaze. “You’ve done the same with gunpowder of all things,” she added with concealed amazement. “A tool you use for both war and delightful fireworks. Something we can only imitate through magic.
“So I ask you, continue this unwritten earthling tradition of turning the destructive into something constructive.”
Alexia averted her gaze to think. Luna watched on in unreadable patience. All I ever saw of the nightmare was evil, but… She looked up at Luna. “I suppose it’s better to control the beast rather than let it fester behind a cage.”
“That’s a start,” Luna commented with an approving nod. “I thought the same way when I began my journey towards self-mastery. True self-mastery that only applies to us alicorns. When you have the time, I will teach you all I know about controlling the Nightmare that is a part of every alicorn, whether my sister and her former student accepts that truth or not.”
Alexia searched herself for a few minutes to collect her thoughts. “Alright, I’m in. I have to learn this anyway should my daughters ever have an episode of their own.”
“A prudent choice,” Luna replied with an approving nod. “I dare say you earthling alicorns are going to be more vulnerable to the nightmare by nature. Best you learn sooner, than later.”
Captain Walker of the USS North Dakota leaned over his sonar operator’s shoulder as the submarine descended into the depths of the Pacific Ocean. The crew was at general quarters and everyone was on edge. The red lights in the operations compartment affirmed to all aboard that this was it.
“The objective is still on the move, captain. Wolfpacks one and four are maintaining their distance.” The sonar operator was sweating profusely as he whispered to his commander, the captain noted. “Seems like the Russians and Aussies are sticking to the plan.”
Walker was pleased to see the four submarines under his command were staying in formation behind the North Dakota. It was expected of course, but he was still pleased to see it. “This is not some battle for vain glory, son. You would do well to remember that.”
With his weak joke backfiring, the operator gulped and refocused on his monitor. “Aye, sir.”
Walker patted the sailor on the shoulder. “Inform me immediately if there’s a change.”
“Aye sir.” With that, Walker stepped back to give the fraying sailor some space. His eyes wandered around the room. They eventually rested upon the large array that spread out from the ladder that led to the bridge. All over the hull, both inside and out, were Magitech arrays that burned softly in the otherwise red-shifted room.
The hull creaked and groaned under his feet. More than one person glanced at the depth meter reading well over twelve thousand feet below the surface. My boys nearly panicked when we kept diving below crush depth. I just hope these arrays hold long enough for us to get the job done.
His train of thoughts was interrupted by the sonar operator. “Captain, the objective has stopped!”
Walker raced over as quietly as possible to look at the sonar screen. Sure enough, the large sphere had come to a dead stop in the middle of a large flat plain. “Has it finally decided to take notice of us?”
The sonar operator pressed his headphones tight over his ears to listen. With both a stern look and cutting gesture from Walker, what little noise the crew was making ceased immediately. Thankfully, the other submarines in Wolfpack Two mirrored his boat’s actions.
The operator listened intently for a minute. “I don’t think it’s taking any hostile or defensive action. It just seems to be making a lot of noise while staying in place. I think it’s taking in a massive amount of water.”
“Good! Now’s our chance.” Walker looked to his comms officer who was just pulling his headphones off to speak. “Captain, Pack One has given the order, all boats are to close and open fire.”
“Very well, relay those orders to the rest of our pack.”
Within moments, the world’s remaining submarines closed in on sphere. The current situation rolled around in Walker’s head as he foresaw multiple outcomes. We have to hit it hard and fast before it can try to get a message out to its creators. There’s no time for silent running as it’ll start moving again soon.
As planned, sixteen submarines closed in from all directions, each one opening all forward tubes with the Magitech torpedoes lying in wait. Is the sphere aware of us and simply ignoring us? Does it have defenses? What will set it off to phone home, requesting an actual fleet be sent to Earth?
All of his worries and concerns came to a head when the time came to attack. As one, all sixteen submarines fired a full spread of torpedoes. The collective volley ripped through the water and every last one of them connected with the target. The resulting explosion rippled through the water with a pressure wave so violent it tore into the circle of submarines. The shockwave damaged the array on two of them so much they almost immediately crushed under the weight of the ocean. Four more were damaged and were on an emergency ascent within seconds of impact.
Walker feared the same for the North Dakota, but fortunately all of the damage control crews reported minimal damage. “Sonar, report!”
“We did it, Captain! There’s nothing left of it but debris. The thing crumpled with one go.”
The image of Captain Walker standing over the sonar screen faded and was moved to the top left corner of the screen with a news anchor taking over the TV. The frozen image of the cheering sailors was captioned, “Reenactment.” The woman sat beside a mint green earth stallion with a carefully crafted cheery smile. “Our best wishes and thanks go out to the families of those lost in Operation Vindication.”
The pony nodded firmly as a graphical reimaging of the attack started playing for the viewers. “Military officials claim that the unifying intelligence behind the Mion threat resided with the sphere that was destroyed by joint forces two months ago. It was believed that intelligence operatives from the United States discovered this fact some time before, and the theory was corroborated by findings in Britain, Russia, and several other surviving governments at the time. Intelligence theorized that by removing this “Herald” as it was known, the Mions would cease to be a threat. We now go live to our reporter, Cathy Macerson for an on the scene update. Cathy?” he asked as he swiveled in his chair to the next camera.
The viewers saw the screen split between the anchors and a rather young woman standing behind an army armor division as it growled its ways up a highway into a half dismantled town. The afternoon light allowed the camera to catch sporadic gunfire much further into town. “Hello, David, as you can see I am standing outside of what used to be Birmingham, Alabama.” She paused to let a trio of low flying helicopter gunships fly overhead. “The military is committing to a massive offensive to retake territory lost to the Cultists and I have Lieutenant Joffre here to tell us what he can of the situation.”
The camera panned left and down to a pale brown unicorn mare in BDUs who took the microphone. “Forward observers noticed a distinct breakdown of unit cohesion among the Mion ranks soon after we were told to look for signs of it forty five days ago. Ever since then, the Mions have been steadily growing increasingly incoherent and animalistic. One observer witnessed a pack of cultists hunting down their pony supporters and either gunning them down, or slicing them open like animals.” As if on cue, the new anchor’s image was replaced by several images of mutilated ponies in grassy fields or in parking lots. “Command decided to let both sides kill each other off for a while as we marshaled up for a major offensive.”
The female news anchor replaced the gore soon thereafter to ask a question. “So would you say the operation is going smoothly? How long do you think it will take to recapture the lost inner states?”
“I am not at liberty to say. But I have been advised to inform your viewers to not try to assist the armed forces in this matter. While the Mions seem to be devolving into little more than animals, they are still dangerous and infectious. Let the professionals do their jobs.”
The camera switched over to the reporter. “Thank you Lieutenant. Back to you, News Room.”
The female anchor took center stage with a fly in title reading “Road to Victory” displaying under her. “There you have it ladies and gentlemen. With similar reports of mentally destabilizing Mions coming in from all over the globe, it is this station’s firm stance that the storm has finally passed. We need only to retake what was once ours before the road to rebuild can truly begin. Coming up, we have a live statement coming in from Washington.”
Alexia was in a backstage powder room while the news report came to an end. Conrad clicked it off to trot over to his alpha as she touched up her mane with some hairspray in front of a mirror. He braved the chemical cloud to sneak a quick kiss on her cheek. “You ready for this?” He bounced back to get out of the hairspray cloud.
“As I’ll ever be.” She sized herself up in the oversized mirror and used a hoof to smoothen the fur where he kissed her. “I knew Fitzgerald wanted me to be a rallying figurehead for America’s ponies, but to try and extend that to the world?”
“You practically are already,” Conrad shot back with a shrug. “Besides, he said you could turn the offer down. After all we’ve done, even he wouldn’t try to force an obligation like this on you.”
With her fur and mane perfect, Alexia looked down at her necklace and traced it with a hoof. “I know. it’s just… I feel if I’m not the one to do it, I don’t think anyone else will try and push the idea that we should unite as terrans of a single world nation.” She looked at him with steel in her eyes. “No UN, but an actual single nation. After everything this planet’s been through, now’s our chance to push for it.”
He nodded in agreement. “Not to mention the Koridost are still out there. We can’t afford not to.”
A secret serviceman outside the room poked his head through the door. “Princess Alexia, the president’s opening address will be ending soon.”
“I’ll be right there,” she called back. She looked to Conrad and pecked him on the lips. She drank in his loving expression, drawing strength from his support. I only wish Crimson and Loki didn’t need to watch the foals so they could be here. “See you after the show,” she told him.
Alexia walked out to follow the servicemen through a few corridors in the White House and into the press confrence room. This it is, Alexia ol girl. Time to see if the Earth is ready to stand united. It’s the only way we’ll have a chance when the Koridost show up.
With her mind made up, Alexia stepped up to the podium to take her best shot at her hopes and dreams. “Good Evening, my fellow Terrans.”