No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy

by Green Hills

Chapter 19: Tying Tides (Part 1 – Leading the Way)

Twilight Sparkle hangs her head out the window of the royal carriage, gazing down with awe at the four U.S. Navy ships moored at least a fourth of a mile from the coast. She nearly forgot the sheer size of them as she, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Lyra Heartstrings watch as the two MV-22 Ospreys land on a platform of the largest ship she has seen in all her life.

“Wow,” Rainbow compliments. “From up here, you can really see how big those things are.” Pinkie, her head resting on top of Rainbow’s, starts giggling. “What’s so funny?”

Pinkie continues to snicker. “The way you said it, it sounded… hehehe…” She finally stops after a snort, realizing a thought creeping into her mind. “Uh… maybe I’ll stop at that.”

Rainbow moves her eyes to the party pony still hanging above her. “What?”

“I blame him for putting that weird thought in my head!” Pinkie screams, pointing her hoof to nowhere.

“I don’t see anything,” Twilight says looking in the direction.

“No, him!” Pinkie corrects the lavender unicorn. “Th-the guy who’s writing!”

“Pinkie, what are you talking about?” Rainbow asks, her face full of disbelief. “What writing? What guy?” Pinkie grumbles, and pulls her head back in the carriage, finally giving enough room for the Pegasus to move about freely. Just before she could lift her head, Lyra suddenly bashes her head through the window to have a glimpse, bumping Rainbow back down.

“Oh, come on! Really?” she says annoyingly, looking up at the mint-green unicorn.

“Hey, I wanted to have a look too!” Lyra says.

“Then why on me?!”

“You’re the one who has the smallest head!”

“You’re calling me stupid?!”

Twilight rolls her eyes while the two ponies continue to rattle about, and returns her gaze back at the four ships. She tilts her head to the side at the peculiar formation by the ships. The largest one, where she is watching the last MV-22 land on the rear deck, sits between two other ships, to her perspective being the smallest judging by the length and shape of their hulls, and are fairly identical. The final is respectively longer and has a slight bigger height than the two twin ships, but not as nearly compared to the largest sitting in the center. Even from above, she is still fascinated by the looks of it. She pictures the large vessel stretching across Ponyville end to end. What catches her most attention is the ship’s two large cone-shaped masts; one close to the bow, and the other sitting around the center, but fairly close to the flattop stern where the Ospreys just landed. The eagerness boils inside her the more she looks down at the small fleet, wanting more than ever to step aboard an alien boat.

Before long, Twilight shakes her head when she realizes the princesses’ carriage hovering in front of them begins to descend, later them following behind.

“We’re moving!” Lyra gasps excitedly, pushing herself out more, but crushing Rainbow beneath.

“H-hey! Y-you’re… squ-squishing… me!” Rainbow tries yelling back, but Lyra is too distracted from being too excited.

*****

The first royal carriage steadily lands on the stern flight deck of the San Antonio-class USS Anchorage, catching all the attention of the crewmen and the commanders. Commander Gaines is the first to step up through the crewmen, as the door of the fancy carriage swings open, and steps out first is Princess Celestia. All crewmen freeze in position, except for the commanders. As Princesses Luna and Cadance step out next, similar to Celestia, they quickly stop short at the sight at a dozen humans dressed in blue and purple vests staring back at them.

Princess Luna takes a good look at her surroundings; the three princesses are standing between two Ospreys, both in their compact storage configurations, with two more up front in the same forms behind the humans. The night princess looks ahead at the large complex-like building with a large open door, though she can barely see what is in there due to the third Osprey obscuring her view. But, to the very top left of the building is a set of windows slightly jutting out, with a couple of humans behind Luna can well spot. Looking upward, she sees several more humans standing on the roof of the complex building; most of them next to a rectangular-shaped device supported by two stands, possibly almost twice the size of her older sister.

When Luna turns back to face the humans, who most of them still have the same awe expression stuck on their faces, she didn’t realize Princess Celestia is already talking to two of the commanders. Has she been observing the ship's features for too long? She didn’t even hear the commanders introduce the crew to them, or the ship.

“Y-yes,” Celestia replies to Commander Gaines, gazing at the ship’s complex building before scanning the four Ospreys around them and the rest of the humans. “It is quite a ship you have.” Luna can tell her sister is still processing at the size of the metal beast they are now standing on.

Commander Gaines merely nods. “Yes, it is one of our most advanced amphibious transport ships in our navy.”

“Very interesting.”

There is a long pause, all except for a random low rumbling hum beneath the princesses’ hooves, the crashing waves, and the gusting wind blowing against their ethereal manes, except for Princess Cadance. Princess Celestia takes a quick look at the rest of the humans huddled together behind the commanders, whispering words to each other about their sudden appearances.

Princess Cadance twists her head to look behind while the two Royal Sisters begin chatting once more to the commander, looking at the other large ship moored behind at least three hundred meters away, but looks as though it is much closer due to its size. Its complex building structure is much like a stretched polygon, with an octagon placed close to the top left. Different bulbs and other small objects twirls around above the building complex that is too complicated for her to describe in her own words. As the princess looks to the sky to check on the Royal Guards surrounding the small fleet, she spots the second carriage gently descending until they reach next to theirs.

“Princess Celestia,” Cadance taps Celestia’s shoulder to get her attention. When the sun princess turns around, she too notices the carriage door opening. Stepping off first is Twilight Sparkle, a shocked and nervous expression stuck on her face as she hesitantly steps on to the deck of the amphibious transport ship.

“Hello, Twilight,” Princess Celestia says calmly to her faithful student.

Twilight, of course, can barely hold in the excitement as she starts hyperventilating after stepping one hoof for the first time on an alien craft. Her heart begins beating rapidly as she looks down at her hoof on the asphalt deck. Slowly, but at the same time quickly, the lavender unicorn manages to get her four hooves on the large ship. Her heart rate suddenly spikes and her breathing becomes more frantic. She is really here. She is literally standing on a ship belonging to a different species. If only Spike were here, she would tell him to pinch her if she is dreaming.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie pop their heads out from either side within the royal carriage, staring at a dozen humans standing at least eight or so meters away, all of them wearing purple and blue vests over their tan clothes and oddly-shaped helmets of the same colors. To Rainbow’s eyes, they look almost too identical to one another, which nearly ticks her off.

Not even five seconds later, Lyra springs out of the carriage, sending Twilight’s hairs standing on her back and nearly shrieking.

“Oh, this is so cool!” the mint-green unicorn cries excitedly, bouncing up and down passing Twilight until she stops next to the surprised princesses. Even the humans seem to have a surprised look from the sudden appearance of Lyra, her eyes gleaming like one of Rarity’s gems and a smile so big it nearly puts Pinkie’s to shame.

“L-Lyra!” Twilight whispers loudly, gritting her teeth. Sweat starts pouring from the top of her head, slowly seeping into her coat as Twilight bites her lip hard and stares at the commanders, like the time she had to take the entrance exam in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, a nervous breakdown.

“I… I’m glad you’re enjoying,” Commander Gaines almost stutters, showing the unicorn a crooked smile. Twilight feels a sense of relief in her churned stomach, but still has to find a way to calm down her rapid beating heart from the fact that she is still standing on a ship that completely alien to her and probably the princesses. Twilight turns around to see Rainbow walking out the carriage instead of flying, while Pinkie merrily hops off like the usual her. After what feels like hours by just walking a meter, Twilight and her friends manage to stand next to the princesses, now staring at the humans in the background with eyes covering almost their entire faces. Twilight gulps audibly. She never thought about how many humans could be in this ship. There could possibly be hundreds, or thousands.

“Well then,” Commander Gaines begins speaking again, and Twilight blinks a few times. “Welcome aboard the San Antonio Class USS Anchorage.”

Twilight blinks a few more times. “Woah…” she says dryly. She remembers during research before moving to Ponyville of Princess Celestia’s airships named after what they look like. For example, the Blue Beluga, a recent airship that carried the humans’ ‘other’ flying contraption that crashed in Sweet Apple Acres yesterday. Still, she wonders why she feels surprised to hear an alien boat have a name. Of course, at the same time, she punishes her head for responding like a dope to an intelligent race.

“Anyway,” Princess Celestia clears her throat, “without further ado, when would you like to start to head to Manehattan?”

“As soon as our Osprey is refueled,” Commander Gaines replies almost straightforward. “We’ll execute the operation shortly.”

“Of course.” The sun princess turns down to Twilight and her friends, the four of them still having that look of awe at the other humans and the structures in the background that seem to accelerate their minds. “Twilight?”

Twilight suddenly shakes her head from her devious stare, quickly realizing she is staring at the humans for far too long, and twists up to her personal teacher, nearly pulling a muscle in her neck. “Y-yes princess?”

“I hope you remember the plan we went over when we got off the train, correct?”

“O-oh! Of course.”

“I am trusting you and Princess Cadance to help Commander Gaines get to Manehattan safely.”

Twilight bows. “Yes, princess.”

“Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie?” The Pegasus and the bouncing earth pony turn to the sun princess. “I am sure you can take care of Princess Luna with Commander Harbort on your journey, correct?”

“You can count on us, princess,” Rainbow replies somewhat normally.

“Very well, then,” Celestia replies with a smile, and turns back to Commander Gaines. “Shall we begin?”

*****

“Attention all crew, this is your captain speaking. As of now, I want all members to report to the mess hall immediately. All crewmembers are to report to the mess hall immediately.”

“Are you sure about this?” Princess Luna asks to Commander Harbort with concern and worrisome.

“It’s the only way for my crew to get to know you three while we head south and around to Manhattan—”

“Manehattan,” Pinkie Pie corrects the commander.

“U-uh… yeah. Sure.”

The commander, the night princess, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash casually walk through the now desolate and narrow hallways of the Arleigh Burke-class USS Michael Murphy. The only sounds are the tapping of hooves behind Commander Harbort, the low hums of the ship’s idle engines and the distant chatters of sailors in the mess hall the closer they walk.

“They may not trust us, you know,” Princess Luna reminds the commander.

“They have no choice,” Harbort replies without looking back. “Either way, they have to get used to the fact that horses like you talk.”

“Technically, we’re ponies,” Pinkie corrects him again.

“Does that mean you have ponies in your world?” Luna asks.

“Yes,” the commander answers. “Except they don’t talk, and are not colorful. Unicorns and Pegasi are actually myths in our books.”

“Now how’s that possible?” Rainbow Dash asks almost rhetorically. “And another thing; how do you even know your way around this metal boat? It’s like a maze in here.”

“You’ll get used to it after you serve on an Arleigh Burke Class ship for at least fourteen years.”

“Did you say ’Airy Bulk’?” Pinkie asks springing next to the commander, but he shakes his head silently. “Somehow that sounds similar to bulls. Oh, speaking of bulls, I remember Rarity and I talking to a bull once last year, I think. His name was Iron Will. Ever heard of him?”

“No.”

“Well, he was the one that tried making my friend Fluttershy into a ‘lean, mean, machine’, and that’s when—”

“Pinkie,” Rainbow stops the pink pony short. “Now’s not the time.” The group falls silent once again.

Rainbow looks around the narrow hallway to keep her on-going mind occupied. The hallway is uneven with pipes and other three-dimensional polygons poking out, all in the same pearl white color and with small to large warning labels on almost all of them. Up on the ceiling are dozens of wires held together by thin cages; with lengthy light bars hanging below less than three meters apart form each other. Rainbow imagines if Rarity were here, she would have a heart attack by a sight like this. They pass a closed heavy metal door with a label that says DO NOT ENTER AUTHORIZED PERSONAL ONLY. Of course, as curious as she is, Rainbow wonders what could be behind that door, but shakes it out of her head as they continue down.

The group approaches an enclosed double door, the chatters louder than ever can be heard from the other side. A sign is hanging just above the double doors, labeled MESS HALL. Princess Luna can feel the rush of adrenaline soaring through her body as they approach the door, and the commander turns to them.

“Here we are,” Commander Harbort says. “I’ll first talk to my men about the situation, then I’ll introduce you.”

“Of course,” Princess Luna replies. “Are you sure about this?”

“You and your sister introduced us to the country. So, we’ll have to introduce you to our men. One way or another.”

“True.” The commander turns to Rainbow and Pinkie, the many features of the ship occupy the two just by looking at the plain hallway.

“So you’ll stay here until I call you,” he says, and enters the mess hall. About a few seconds later, the chattering settles down.

The night princess stands still in the hallway, looking around the dozens of features that make up this immense ship. Even to her she is amazed despite how small this Arleigh Burke-class boat is compared to the larger amphibious transport ship, it is big on the inside. She has yet to see this ship in action when the commanders said this is used for war, but somehow doesn’t want to at the same time.

“I wonder what they’ll be like,” Pinkie wonders, her tangled swirly tail wagging on the cold floor.

“They’re pretty much the same, Pinkie,” Rainbow responds with an eyebrow raised.

“But just imagine!” The pink pony twirls on her one hind leg before stopping in mid motion in front of the cyan Pegasus. “All three hundred twenty-three humans watching us! They must be like, ‘ooh’, ‘ahh’, ‘look at that one’. We’ll be the first ponies to be introduced to a big boat like this!”

Princess Luna suddenly feels her heart rate climbing further, until she feels sweat starting to pool beneath her mane the more she thinks about it. What Pinkie just said is true; they’ll be introduced to over three hundred humans on this ship. She will not know how they will react to a talking pony; especially ones the commander said are myths in their world. She remembers being reintroduced back to Equestria during the Summer Sun Celebration and Nightmare Night, and so far, she had little to some trouble fitting back in, with the help of her elder sister and Twilight Sparkle. But, this is different. This is an entirely new species, probably the same level or far more intelligent than they are. It will only be a matter of time to fully see and experience how the three hundred humans will react to ponies like her, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, and hope that they will accept them.

*****

“Alright!” Commander Harbort shouts throughout the mess hall, crowded with almost every sailor onboard the USS Michael Murphy, as the commander steps in front of a wall decorated with portraits and certificates of several war veterans, three of them are the largest with a placket on top written in bronze letters WALL OF HEROES. The whole room slowly dies to complete silence, except for the low hum of running electricity running in the background.

“Listen up!” the commander orders. “Let me first brief you on a few things that happened. So far, you may not believe me at first, but we made an alliance with some talking horses.” The commander stops for a moment, watching a few of his crewmen mutter a few words, just like he expected.

“As of now,” he continues. “We have made an alliance between royal sisters of this land we are in called Equestria, and they have agreed to help us find a way back home. But first, we have to help our brothers. Apparently, as far as I know, the three ships from Yokosuka Base are also here, on the other side of the continent.” Again, the room begins to chatter with more voices.

“You mean the three ships experienced the same crystal thing like we did?” a sailor calls from the crowd.

“We don’t know yet,” Commander Harbort answers crossing his arms and leans back against the soft-cushioned table. “So right now, it is our job to get to them and bring them to where we are. The royal sisters of this country, along with a few mayors of some cities, and us came to an agreement we will be staying here until they find a way to bring us home. As for heading to our three ships, we’ll be traveling south, along the coastline, and hopefully, make our way around the country and rendezvous with the Bonnie Dick and two of our destroyers. Commander Gaines and SEAL Team Five will travel by Osprey to get to where they are and prepare them to embark to the rendezvous point. Any questions?”

“How do we know where we are heading?” another sailor calls almost immediately. “We don’t have a full map of the ocean we’re in.”

“And how can we trust these talking horses?” a third says. Once more, the mess hall erupts in dozens of chatters and murmurs, majority of them complaints of the talking horses they just made friends with, and the situation they are in.

“And how do we get home?”

“Why did we make peace with animals?”

“Alright! Settle down!” Commander Harbort shouts. The room falls silent in a matter of seconds. “I know your suspicion of the situations we are in, but we need help in finding a way home, and they are our only chance in helping us! Despite them being talking animals.” He stops to catch his breath, but remains his stoic look as he glances at his crew. “As for heading to the Bonnie Dick and the two destroyers, we’ll be having a few guests on board to help us guide through the waters. One of them being a royal sister, meaning she is the co-ruler of the land we are in. I ‘expect’ you all to treat them as part of us, and ‘not’ animals. If I hear one damn complaint from them, I will not hesitate to throw you overboard. Understand?”

“Aye aye, sir!”

“Now, before I introduce her to you, be in mind, she is of royalty, and you ‘will’ treat her as such, even though she is a horse. Any questions?”

A sailor raises his hand. “Does she have a name, sir?”

“I will get to it when I introduce her.” The commander looks around at the silent room once more, before turning his head to the door he just entered through. “Remember what I said. Okay, princess, you can enter.”

All eyes turn to the door, waiting silently for whatever is on the other side to enter. It feels as though time has slowed from seconds to minutes, as the door creaks open, and steps in a tall dark blue horse with a sparkling flowing mane, a horn and wings. The crew veers their eyes to one another as Princess Luna slowly makes her way to the commander.

Princess Luna’s heart feels like a metronome set to maximum beat, unable to contain her excitement as the hundreds of humans stare at her with awe and complete silence. Walking into the mess hall even gives her a glance at the surroundings; several small to medium tables each with a crest imprinted. Before long, she is already standing next to the commander. Minus her horn and the ethereal mane, she stands at least an inch taller compared to Commander Harbort. The moment the princess turns to the crew, she is quickly filled with hundreds of eyes staring at her. She already feels as though she has caught the case of stage fright, a common plague to any colt and filly when performing to a crowd.

“This is Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria,” Commander Harbort announces. “She will be one of few who will be helping us on this mission. And these two are Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. They will too be accompanying us throughout the voyage.”

All crewmen still remain silent, unable for their minds to process properly of what the commander just introduced to them. Luna can already feel something unearthing within her gut, but can’t even figure out what it is.

“A-A pleasure to meet you all,” the night princess says, containing her calm and collective side, while she bundles her nervousness and eagerness inside. Again, all crewmen remain as quiet as her night, except the fact that most of them have their mouths agape when she spoke for the first time. Slowly, she feels the regret slowly settling into her mind. She thinks about how much of a terrible idea this is; the commander’s crew may reject her and the ponies almost immediately. Of course, Commander Harbort explained earlier they do not have talking horses in their world.

Luna quickly veers her eyes down to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. She nearly forgot the two were also with her. Rainbow has been silent and sitting still like a statue for the longest she has seen, and Pinkie is her usual self, a little bit. She just slowly waves her hoof at the alien-like crowd that has been quiet for barely thirty seconds, but feels much longer. Even Luna can barely take it from the dead silence.

“W-welcome,” a voice calls, forcing the night princess to get out of her thoughts. She and virtually almost all the humans turn to a lone sailor standing to the far right. Judging by his looks, he seems to resemble a kid, very young. He even looks nervous due to his trembling hands.

“Welcome aboard,” the young sailor says with a little more confidence. “Welcome aboard the USS Michael Murphy.”

“Welcome,” another sailor with a deeper voice says next to the first. Seconds later, there are murmurs of a couple other humans saying the same thing, followed by more and more, creating a domino effect. Luna can barely hear herself think by the many introductions and now smiles from the humans. Even though it had a delay, she feels welcomed like the time she returned from her thousand-year banishment, except much more. Sooner than later, the whole room is filled with the crewmen saying ‘welcome aboard’ many times.

“Hi!” Pinkie Pie waves her hoof in the air with a big smile, making some of the crewmen giggle. Even Rainbow Dash seems to be getting into the welcoming, as she too is waving her hoof, but not as much as the party pony is. No words can describe how Luna feels at this very moment. Excitement, eagerness, nerve-wracking, curiosity, welcomed. The final word strikes Luna the most. Sure, the humans stared at her when the commander first introduced her and Twilight’s friends, but they are now greeted by a different race with friendly voices and smiles, according to the princess’ eyes and ears. Already, she has a feeling inside that this mission will be more interesting than she anticipated.

The foghorn of the USS Michael Murphy echoes in all directions, catching the attention of every Royal Guard and the other ships as the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer begins to set sail through the calm waters, steering a hard right while being watched by a few Royal Guard Pegasi hovering above. The ship’s quad gas turbine engines reveres to life as it begins to churn the seawaters from behind, slowly picking up speed.

“Michael Murphy, this is Anchorage. You’ve got a green light ahead of you. God’s speed, over.”

“Roger that. We’ll report back when we rendezvous with L-H-D Six. Michael Murphy out.”

Princess Luna, along with Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and two other Royal Guards, stand next to Commander Harbort looking out through the window of the bridge as the guided missile destroyer slices through waves without hitch. The crewmen on board the bridge try their best to ignore the five ponies that distract them from doing their job. Both Pinkie Pie and Rainbow give themselves a good look at the dozens of monitors each operated by a crewmember, whom are all calling out commands and words the ponies are not familiar with.

“Green light from the engine room.”

“Weapons systems online, sir.”

“Green light from C-I-C. Aegis system online.”

“Your crew are well concentrated in their jobs,” the night princess compliments as she watches Commander Harbort’s men and women work like an orchestra creating a harmonious music piece. Each of them has their own specific role, giving each other commands and passing it on through several devices, to her perspective, sends it all over the ship. For such advanced technology the humans possess, the way they perform and operate amazes her most and raises her curiosity.

“We are one of the most highly experienced and advanced military operatives in the world,” Commander Harbort says, sitting in his chair. “Well, in ‘our’ world.” The commander stands up from his seat, and turns to the Seaman Officer behind the helm, Luna easily recognizes as the young kid who welcomed them first when she was introduced.

“Helmsman, set engines to full speed,” the commander orders.

“Aye aye, sir. Engines full speed,” the Seaman officer replies, and pushes the throttles to maximum. Luna can feel the ship hum louder and louder, feeling it quiver beneath her hooves as the guided missile destroyer begins to take speed.

“Ever been on a fast boat before, princess?” Commander Harbort asks Luna. The princess quickly shakes her head again from her focus and turns to the human.

“I-I’m sorry?”

“Have you ever been on a fast boat before?”

Luna thinks for a quick moment, while calming her excited heart to a steadier beat. “I have been on a boat and an airship during my ruling days, but never in one like this.”

“I’ve never been in a boat before!” Pinkie randomly speaks out. “So have Rainbow Dash, and these two!” She points to the two Royal Guards standing at attention with nervous looks on their faces. “And I’m pretty sure Twilight Sparkle hasn’t been on one, or Fluttershy and Applejack. Rarity would love to go on one—”

“Th-thank you for that… um, explanation, Pinkie Pie,” Luna stops the chattering pink pony.

Commander Harbort chuckles. “Don’t worry. This is a rare opportunity we allow anyone on board and see how we operate, let alone those who are royalty… and are horses.”

The princess smiles brightly, her ears flicker a little. “I am looking forward to it.”

The USS Michael Murphy picks up more speed, cutting through the waves without a hint of struggling as the steel ship sails through, leaving behind a trail of waves created by its twin five-bladed propellers that are at least several feet high. The 155meter destroyer heads through an incoming wave, the bow slicing through like a bull plowing through a brick wall as a spray of seawater splashes over the deck. The ship buckles around as the ocean waves begin to get rougher.

“Now ‘that’ was awesome!” Rainbow Dash says while hovering, while Pinkie Pie, Princess Luna, Commander Harbort and three other sailors stand outside on the starboard gunner’s nest. Pinkie rests her fore hooves on the railing to get a better view of the bow as the ship rolls in the oceanic terrain. The three sailors, however, stay near the twin .50 caliber machine gun turrets, huddled rather close with perplexed looks stuck on their faces as the three ponies gaze at the view. Commander Harbort watches from behind, while the two Royal Guards stand at the very rear of the gunner’s nest.

“I must say, your ship handles the seas very well,” Luna positively comments as she gazes at the clear blue ocean, then moving down to the ship’s bow where she sees the 5-inch naval cannon.

“Ooh, ooh, ooh! Here comes another big one!” Pinkie cries and bounces at the same time. Luna shifts her eyes ahead to spot a second wave, bigger this time, coming in. The Michael Murphy rides over the incoming wave, water splashing along the sides and on to the deck as the bow slowly rises into the air like a car slowly going over a speed bump. The sudden lift makes Luna’s stomach feel heavy, but she is too distracted, let alone excited, to witness the ‘ultimate ship’ tackle the wild seas like she has never seen in her generations of ruling. The night princess can feel the waves batter against the metal hull of the guided missile destroyer as it reaches the peak of the wave, water splashing once more on and around the main deck, before the ship begins to tip like a seesaw, the bow pointing down.

“Weeee!!” Pinkie shoots her forelegs in the air, as the Michael Murphy drops into the sea. Seawater splashes outward in all directions around the bow in a clear white color. The wind carries the tiny remaining droplets, creating a rainbow-like effect for a split second before making contact with the rest of the ship, the humans and ponies. Pinkie Pie raises herself over the railing with her forelegs as much as she can, letting the droplets lightly splash on to her coat.

“It’s like we’re on a roller coaster!” she cheers. “Except this is a boat! And we’re out in the ocean!”

Before anyone can respond to Pinkie’s random and hectic moment, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer plows through another wave, giving the ship a small jump. Like before, the destroyer creates another big splash. Water rushes on to the main deck, and the mist is thrown around carried by the wind itself. Rainbow Dash quickly drops back to the floor after covering herself after the misty wave hits, her fur covered by a very fine but fragile coat of ocean water like morning dew.

“Woah,” she exclaims as she shakes her head and body to get rid of any excess water. “Wow, that was ‘something’.”

“Enjoying the ride?” Commander Harbort asks.

“Are you kidding me? This is awesome!” Rainbow exclaims. “Right Pinkie?” When the Pegasus turns, she spots the pink mare sitting on her rump and wobbling from side to side like she is drunk. “Pinkie?”

“I-I’m… good,” Pinkie slurs. “J-just… just, uh… uh… t-tummy… ache.” Rainbow quickly turns back to the commander, only to see him and Princess Luna glancing at each other.

“If you want, you can do it overboard,” Commander Harbort says. Almost immediately, Pinkie Pie jumps to the railing, tilting her head over and begins vomiting loudly. Even Rainbow arches her neck back at the sight.

Slowly, the cyan Pegasus takes a few steps back, and mumbles to herself. “I didn’t know she could get seasick.” Her, Princess Luna, Commander Harbort, the two Royal Guards and the three sailors staring at the poor party pony continuing her business with bewildered looks.

*****

“Spike!” Twilight Sparkle calls at the top of her lungs as she enters the Golden Oaks Library. The lavender unicorn checks the old grandfather clock perfectly placed between two bookshelves to the left, noticing it is almost five in the late afternoon. Already, Twilight can feel the immense pressure in her head from another dreadful six and a half hour train ride back to Ponyville, this time with Princess Cadance and one MV-22 Osprey with Commander Gaines and SEAL Team Five. The next task she has to deal is to get everything she needs until the next morning. Even that puts more pressure on her.

“Coming!” her number one assistant finally replies from upstairs, and the baby dragon races downstairs. “How was the trip? Did you get to, you know, ride in their contraptions?”

Twilight shakes her head. “No, but Rainbow, Pinkie, Lyra and I actually got to stand on one of their ships.”

“Oh, you mean the one we first saw during our short-lived vacation?”

“Yes,” Twilight mumbles, putting some emphasis on the last note of the word as she takes off her backpack with her signature magical aura. “Okay, Spike, listen ‘very’ carefully.” The baby dragon leaps off the last step and walks a few more steps until he is a couple feet from the unicorn, though unsure of what he is about to hear. “Right now, I want you to go get Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy and tell them to meet at my house.”

“Uh, sure. What’s going on, anyway?”

“I’ll explain later when you get them.” Still held in her bright pink cast, Twilight trots over to a closed door just next to the open doorway to the kitchen. “Now hurry, this is something of an urgent task.”

“Got it, got it,” Spike waves his tiny claw unenthusiastically and leaves, his morale partly drained after Twilight’s usual serious tone in voice. Ever since they moved to Ponyville, Spike should have at least gotten used to Twilight’s behavior whenever there is something serious, or a request from Princess Celestia.

As the main door closes behind after the baby dragon steps out into the summer evening, Twilight lets out a breath of relief. Despite her number one assistant’s whiny behavior, it leaves the unicorn a good amount of time to get on with what she needs to do, without anyone else bothering her for the next possible few minutes.

With her bag still holding in her magical aura, Twilight opens the door at the same time with a flicker of her horn, and descends down the stairs to the large basement. Looking at it right now makes her wish she could spend more time doing her advanced studies. Despite being under a tree, and due to the dozens of tree roots that crawl from the ceiling down the sides of the wall, it is still well maintained mostly thanks to Spike, with a few candles spread around evenly to produce the perfect amount of light. On the ground are two large computer monitors; one is the largest sitting in the center, while the other is standing behind the largest root running down the wall. On the other side of the large room are a couple conjoined desks with a few books and papers for Twilight’s research on certain things she wishes to complete, if she has the time.

The lavender unicorn makes her way to her desk at a brisk but calm pace, immediately shoving all her supplies to the side and settling her backpack down the moment she gets there. Already, she can feel the unsettling nerve developing within her stomach; like she just ate a batch of live butterflies and they are swarming inside. It’s as if time has slowed down to long painful minutes as Twilight opens her bag, and takes out the dark grey curved box that she kept hidden since last night.

Using her two hooves to hold it firmly, Twilight can now actually feel the object to be a little heavier than she anticipated. She looks inside to see the bronze and copper-tipped cylinders still in the same position. She investigates closely and intently at them, looking at her disfigured reflection on the cylinders before twirling the object around. To her surprise, the thin box is made of metal. The unicorn twirls the human-made object within her magic more, looking at the grooves along the two sides. But, what she wants more are the shiny cylinders inside.

Being the smart pony she is, Twilight now knows she is not the smartest as Spike compliments her. The technology the humans possess are the one and only proof she knows for a fact that makes their own obsolete, even though they all lack the use of magic. To her thoughts, she doesn’t know how much, probably generations.

“All right, Twilight,” she says to herself, carefully inspecting the bronze cylinders lodged inside the thin box. It feels as though she has been staring at them for too long, wondering if there is a way to get them out, which she is sure there is, judging by how they are held back by two clips on either side of the box. She can feel her squinting eyes beginning to sore from the amount of intense examining at just a few shiny cylinders that are neatly snuggled inside the human-made device.

She breathes a heavy sigh and settles the dark grey box on the desktop, and opens a drawer beneath. Using her magic, she lifts up a tiny cylinder of the same color as the others. The only difference is its appearance, and she saw it with her very eyes of how it is used a few days ago. The shape of the small cylinder is very stubby and small, and does not contain the copper tip, revealing that it is hollow. However, the diameter of it is greater than the ones in the dark grey box. By looking at it, Twilight can see many scratch marks along the sides, before the unsettling memory begins to take its toll. This very piece was the one that nearly killed her brother.

That memory, as she recalls, still haunts her. Seeing that black device PFC Michaels pulled out back in Canterlot when her brother confronted him makes every joint in her body buckle, and her ears ache from the loud sound. It was very fortunate Princess Luna saved him, barely. Ever since that incident, Twilight must be careful when she will be handling the rest of the cylinders locked in the metal box. For all she knows, she could accidentally set one off, and cause some fatality.

“Ugh!” Twilight face hoofs. “Get it together, Twilight.”

“Twilight!!” Spike yells from upstairs, followed by several clops entering the library. Twilight’s heart suddenly jumps to her throat as she snaps her neck to the clock resting just above, and her eyes dilate at the time. It’s been thirteen minutes already? It feels as though she has been down here for five.

“Twilight?!” the southern accented voice of Applejack calls out a second later.

“U-uh, coming!” the unicorn shouts back, shoving both the dark grey box and small cylinder back in the drawer, before racing back up.

As she runs to the door, she stops for a quick moment to wipe off sweat from her forehead and slow down her breathing. After that, she calmly exits the basement into the main room where Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Spike are patiently waiting.

“Oh, thank you for coming girls,” Twilight says trying to catch her breath.

“Is everything alright, dear?” Rarity asks with a hint of concern, an eyebrow rising. “You look like you had a rough trip to… w-whatever those things in the ocean we saw a few days earlier.”

“You mean ‘ships’,” Twilight corrects.

“Well, Twi had a long journey going to White Tail Forest Beach and back by train,” Applejack explains. “All that traveling will take a toll on all that.” Twilight chuckles lightly, before looking up and realizing her mane has a few strands out of place.

“But, seriously,” the cowpony says in a more serious tone. “Why did you send Spike to get us to meet here?”

“And where’s Rainbow Dash and Pinkie?” Rarity adds.

Twilight takes a deep breath. “Okay, let me first explain some things. This is ‘very’ important. Rainbow and Pinkie are with Commander uh… uh…” Twilight taps her hoof on her chin, trying hard to remember that one commander’s name. She wonders why are human names so difficult to pronounce. “Ugh… one of the commanders. Both of them and Princess Luna are with him. Princess Celestia and ‘Lyra’ are with another commander.”

“Hol’ on a sec,” Applejack raises a hoof. “Why are Pinkie and Rainbow with one of them humans?”

“Their mission is to go around Equestria to find a safe route for the three ships in Manehattan. Princess Luna is with him for guidance.”

“Oh, those horrid looking—” Rarity whines, but shuts her mouth when she notices Twilight’s look of annoyance. “Uh, I mean, uh… those ‘ships’ I saw in the newspaper?”

“Yes,” Twilight nods. “Now then, this is where we come in. As of now, Commander Gaines will be heading to Manehattan in that… flying contraption, with Princess Cadance and I for guidance.” The unicorn takes another deep breath. “I would like for you to come with me.”

Fluttershy, who has been quiet the entire time, yelps loudly as she springs in the air with her wings flared out, and dives behind Applejack. Twilight stares at the timid Pegasus for a moment.

“Twilight,” Rarity raises her hoof. “Are you saying you want ‘us’ to come with you to meet ‘more’ humans? In Manehattan?”

“Yes,” Twilight replies. “Now please—” Twilight is quickly grabbed by her head between Rarity’s hooves, and is pulled closely to the white unicorn until their muzzles touch.

“Are you out of your pony mind?! Do you even know what are you getting into?!”

“Yesh, Rar’ty,” Twilight says through her squished face. “Th-that’sh why I—”

“Rarity, now’s not the time,” Applejack intervenes.

“No! Not ‘that’!” Rarity says back, and drops Twilight. “The great metropolis Manehattan! Do you even know how much I wanted to go there?!”

“Rarity.”

“Do you know how much business that would mean for me? Even famous celebrities live there.”

“Rarity.”

“Oh, please Twilight! I would ‘love’ to go to the city that never sleeps to show—”

“Rarity!” the cowpony bellows out, stopping the fashionista from her signature wailing performance. “This ain’t some vacation, you heard Twilight. This is, uh… what is it, Twilight?”

“It’s a mission,” Twilight explains. “Princess Cadance and I will be going with Commander Gaines by their flying contraption to the three ships docked in the Manehattan Harbor. And that’s where I am asking you to join me. Not just to keep Cadance and I company, but to present ourselves as the Elements of Harmony. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Princess Luna are with one of the commanders that are on their way.”

“Now, wait just a sec,” Applejack stops the unicorn. “You’re asking us to come with you to Manehattan, to those three ‘ships’ owned by humans we barely know? I don’t know ‘bout that.”

“I know it’s difficult to ask you three, but please, hear me out. This is an opportunity for us to see how these humans work.”

“Easy for you to say,” Rarity says making a disgusted look. “Have you seen the newspaper, Twilight? That rectangular-like boat looks like a rusty bucket.”

“W-well, besides ‘that’, we don’t know how many humans are in that rectangle-like ship,” Applejack adds. Twilight puffs her cheeks in frustration, and lights up her horn. Her backpack opens up and a notebook floats out before finally resting in front of her.
After skimming through a few pages, she finds her source. “Commander Gaines said the three ships in Manehattan are Lassen, Fitz-Fit… Fitz-gerald, and B-Bon-homme… R-Rich-ard.”

“Why are human names so complicated?” Spike asks crossing his stubby arms.

“So, they name their ships as well?” Applejack tilts her head.

“Yes. Even Commander Gaines told me the names the ships I visited in White Tail Forest Beach.” Twilight passes through a couple more pages. “Uh, Anchor-age… Michael Murphy, Sp-Spru-ance, and—”

“Okay, we get it, Twi.”

“The point is, dear,” Rarity begins to reason. “I-it’s just that… we’ll be on that boat with humans. We don’t know how they will react.”

“That’s why Commander Gaines said he will explain everything to the leaders.”

“And then what?” Applejack says, her voice slowly rising like she is about to yell. “You saw how they are. Just a small group of them. And we’ll be stuck in that boat filled with hundreds of them for Celestia-knows how long.”

Twilight sighs. She knew they would respond in a defensive matter, especially to an intelligent species. She doesn’t blame them, however. Despite the group of marines that visited Ponyville yesterday in a friendly matter, she still knows how violent they can be.

“Don’t get me wrong, Sugarcube,” Applejack says, her voice becoming calm as she steps up. “I did enjoy the humans’ company here, especially last night’s party Pinkie threw as a welcoming for them. But, being in ‘their’ territory, it makes us feel, well, uncomfortable. It’s not that we don’t like them or anythin’, it’s just we feel… a little insecure.”

“I understand,” Twilight replies, ushering a smile across her stressed face. “I guess, uh… I guess I got a little excited the fact that Cadance and I will have this opportunity to have a look at the humans. Y-you know… there are things like this that… really are worth doing… w-well, for me that is.” Twilight chuckles a little at that thought, even though her friends didn’t understand the reason why. “But still, I understand your reasons, and I will not force it upon you.” As quickly as it is, Applejack and Rarity’s ears droop and their expressions turn from suspicion to now worrisome and slight guilt. Even Twilight begins to notice it. Fluttershy, who has been cowering behind Applejack, slowly pokes her head out, eventually getting the rest of her body appearing.

“You girls are my best friends,” Twilight continues. “And even though I do want you to come along, I do get worried of something bad happening to you during our mission.” Applejack and Rarity turn to glance at each other, and then to Fluttershy while Twilight pauses for a breather. “And you’re right. These humans can be violent, but sometimes they have to face the fact that they are here, and Princess Celestia will find a way to bring them back where they came from. That’s why I will not force you to join. Friends are and will respect each other’s opinions, even though they do sound a little, well… out of place.”

Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike all stare at Twilight merely giving a comforting smile after she finishes, their minds blank of what to say next and their faces now full of guilt and other mixed feelings.

“W-well, then,” Applejack clears her throat and takes a deep breath. “Th-thank you, Twilight. For understanding.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Twilight giggles. “You girls are my best friends.”

“So, uh, when will be leaving?” Rarity asks, rubbing her left hoof against her right foreleg.

“Early tomorrow morning. Cadance will be sleeping at my place. Commander Gaines and some other humans will be staying put by their flying contraption with some Royal Guards to keep their area secure. We set off by eight in the morning. I told Commander Gaines it is nearly a nine hour train ride from here to Manehattan.”

“O-oh. Well, okay.”

There is a long silence in the group. Nothing but the chirping crickets going on outside in the early night, while the ponies in the Golden Oaks Library look around, all of them have their minds full.

“W-well, it is getting late,” Twilight breaks up the uncomfortable silence, and trots to the front door. “I guess you girls better get home.”

“Oh, of course,” Rarity says, her ears quickly perking up. “A lady must need her beauty sleep, especially if she has a big day tomorrow.” Her, Applejack and Fluttershy make their way to the door, only to stop just before they exit the tree library. At first, Twilight looks at them skeptically when she notices the looks of worry on their faces, before they change to a smile like a light switch.

“Just… be careful, Twilight,” Rarity says. “Good luck.”

“I’ll be fine. I have Cadance with me,” Twilight replies, embracing the fashionista in a hug. “But thank you, anyway.”

“Still…”

“Come on, Sugarcube,” Applejack says patting Rarity on the shoulder. “There’s no need to get all emotional now.” After what feels like a full fifteen minutes, Rarity finally releases from Twilight and exits the tree library. Then, Fluttershy walks up to her.

“U-uh, um,” she whispery stumbles on her words. Taking a deep breath, she lifts up her head and speaks more confidently. “G-good luck, Twilight. I-I’m sure you’ll be fine with th-them.”

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Twilight smiles, and the butter Pegasus exits, leaving only Applejack standing in front of the lavender unicorn with a look of concern.

“C-can I ask you something, Twi?” the orange earth pony says.

Twilight raises an eyebrow. “S-sure.”

Applejack lowers her head to think for a moment, contemplating on how she must word her question it correctly, despite the fact that she is not good in sentences. “Um, about the humans.”

Twilight tilts her head. “Yes?”

“W-well, what did the leader say? O-of when they came here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… ugh, how do I put this? D-don’t you think, it’s a little suspicious of them coming here?”

“What?” Twilight pulls back a bit, slightly surprised. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t you think the humans came here, on purpose? L-like, somepony transported them here purposely. Like, they wanted them here.”

Twilight wants to reply on how ridiculous that is, but halts. Applejack does have a point. Other than the princesses, no other pony she knows has such power as the Royal Sisters to transport such machinery like the ships to different worlds. But, the more Twilight thinks about it, it is utterly impossible to transport to different worlds, even though Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are the most powerful ponies she knows. In fact, she doesn’t even know if the princesses obtain such powerful magic to transport gigantic ships from another world. Unless, there is another pony she doesn’t know who might have stronger power.

“W-well,” Twilight stutters while thinking of a stable solution to Applejack’s complicated but reasonable question. “I’ll think about it.” Applejack gives her a nod and heads out into the cool night outdoors, with Rarity and Fluttershy waiting for her.

Before Twilight could close the door, the cowpony turns around. “Hey Twi, be careful with them humans.”

“Thanks, Applejack.” Twilight smiles.

“I, uh, I wonder how Rainbow and Pinkie are doing.”

“Heh, I wonder too. Goodnight, girls.”

“Goodnight, Twilight,” her friends say all together, and the unicorn closes the door.

“Twilight?” Spike asks with full anxiety, noticing his pony sister hanging her head low to the ground as she shuffles her hooves to the middle of the room. “H-hey, come on, Twilight.” Despite his comforts, the lavender unicorn can only ignore her number one assistant as she sits down in front of the table, and slams her head on top.

“Twilight!” Spike yelps, and rushes over to make sure Twilight is all right.

“They’re right, Spike,” Twilight muffles from underneath. Spike screeches to a stop just as he approaches her. He doesn’t even know what she first said.

“Twilight?”

“They’re right. They are violent.” Twilight lifts her head up until she is resting her chin on the table. “Look what they did to Princess Luna’s guards.”

“B-but, we weren’t there.”

“You saw how many remained. Out of twenty-two, only five and her survived. A-and… my brother.” Twilight can feel her eyes begin to water, and squeezes them shut as tight as possible. She can barely get rid of it.

“Twilight,” Spike says her name again, slowly reaching his claw to Twilight’s shoulder. “I-I know… h-how… well… you know… seeing something different is…” Spike can barely say the proper words he wants to say, as he can do nothing but watch and comfort the pony he considers an older sister. Just looking at Twilight in a near-broken state makes him want to cry.

“They’re right, Spike,” Twilight says, her voice sounding scratchy. “Wh-what am I going to do? J-just from what they did earlier…” She slowly turns her head to the baby dragon like a broken doll. “I… I… I’m afraid.”

Spike swears he feels a tear run down his cheek. All the words that he has been processing to comfort Twilight to his best suddenly vanish within his mind. Gone. He doesn’t know what to do, except watch at the pony who confessed that, for once, she is afraid to do a task by the princess herself.

“Twilight,” he says, taking a deep breath for the big list of things he has said to her many times they have lived here. “You’re the most… bravest pony I have ever seen in my life. Now, answer me this; who is the one who convinced everypony in Ponyville about the return of Nightmare Moon?”

Twilight, not even bothering to lift her head, stares at Spike who is tapping his foot on the floor, like a mother scolding a child. She knows where this is heading, and she could use something positive. “Me?”

“Yes, and who’s the one that vanquished the Ursa Minor that boasting unicorn Trixie couldn’t? Just to stand up to her friends.”

“Me.” Twilight’s can feel a smirk beginning to appear.

“Yeah. And who’s that pony that helps out her friends, and has her friends help her?”

“Me.”

Spike swings a punch in the air excitedly. “And who’s the one and only pony that is not only a faithful student to Princess Celestia, but has led her friends to save Equestria many times? From Discord, Nightmare Moon, Sombra, and Chrysalis?”

The morale inside Twilight builds up until she finally can sit up straight. However, she did not scream out the word Spike is hoping for. Instead, she pulls him in for a tight hug. “Thanks, Spike. What am I without you?”

“A unicorn with lack of sleep?” the baby dragon answers.

“Very funny, Spike. Very funny.” Twilight feels a sense of pure relief flow into her, like Spike just transferred some of his to her, despite how awkward that is inside her head. It doesn’t matter to her now. She could use some of it, and a warm embrace from a little brother like Spike.

“You see?” Spike says. “If you and your friends could stand up to them, I’m sure you can handle a bunch of humans on a big boxy boat.”

“You’ll be coming, right?”

Spike snorts. “Who wouldn’t?”

Not to their realization, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Princess Cadance have staring through the window of their friend since they left. It was not even five seconds Princess Cadance convinced her friends to watch carefully.

“You see?” the Crystal Kingdom Princess says. “Despite her being so smart, she has her limits.”

“I kinda’ figured,” Applejack smirks, and hops off the windowsill.

“Where are you going?” Rarity turns around to see the earth mare walking away.

“I’m gonna go home and start packin’ what I need. Can’t let poor Spike keep Twilight’s sanity at bay for Celestia-knows how long they’ll be away on one of them human ships. Y’all should do it as well.”

“She is right,” Cadance agrees.

“W-well, that depends on what we are going on,” Rarity implies, and she and Fluttershy follow Applejack out into the night. “As a lady like myself, I must pack the necessary supplies I need ‘if’ we are going to a rusty-looking boat like that…”

Princess Cadance shakes her head as she watches Twilight’s three friends disappear into the night-filled town. It has been a while since she last saw them, despite the fact they haven’t been properly introduced since they had to battle King Sombra, and they still did not do that.

“I wonder how Rainbow and Pinkie are doing with that other, uh… leader?” Cadance can hear Spike talk to Twilight through the window.

“They’re commanders, Spike,” the unicorn corrects the baby dragon. “And so do I. I wonder how they are right now.”

“What’s the boat’s name they’re on.”

“I don’t know. I forgot. Come on. Go and pack up what’s necessary. Commander Gaines said to bring one luggage for the trip. I’ll wait until Cadance gets here. She’ll be sleeping in the guest room, so don’t mess it up.”

“Got it, got it.”

Cadance giggles a little as she watches Spike drag his feet back upstairs, stifling a yawn before disappearing behind the doorway. Her eyes veer back to Twilight turning around and levitate a couple books to her spot. The princess shakes her head and walks over to the front door.

But before entering, she mumbles something. “Just like old times.”

*****

“Attention all crew on board the USS Michael Murphy, this is your captain speaking. Prepare for night operations. I repeat, prepare for night operations.”

Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria, calmly walks through the narrow hallway, with Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and two Royal Guards treading behind, all of them following Seaman Officer Polenski, the helmsman on the USS Michael Murphy bridge and the young kid who was the first to welcome the ponies when the princess was introduced.

“How you feeling, Pinkie?” Rainbow asks.

“A-alright,” the pink mare mutters, before wobbling to the side as the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer rides another wave, nearly hitting her head against a protruding pipe. “M-my st-stomach… feels like it’s… h-having a p-party… a-and everyp-pony… doesn’t feel too g-good.”

“Good thing you didn’t eat tonight’s dinner, then.”

Both Luna and the Seaman officer ignore Rainbow’s somewhat comforting explanation to her friend, as they all continue down the narrow hallway, when all the lights suddenly turn off all at once.

“Hey! What just happened?!” Rainbow shouts. A split second later, the lights turn back on, filling the hallway in a bright crimson red. Seaman Polenski turns around to see the five ponies twisting their necks in all directions rapidly, wondering what just happened.

“Don’t worry, this is normal,” he explains. “We switch lights to red for nighttime operations.”

“May I ask why?” Princess Luna asks.

“It’s to keep this ship’s signature to a bare minimum during nighttime operations.” The night princess looks at him quizzically. “It means so we don’t get detected at night.”

“Ah, I see.”

The group continues down the red-lit hallway, making a couple turns around corners and going down one level through a low-level stepladder. Due to her height, Princess Luna had some trouble fitting in, but not as much trouble as the Royal Guards, whom both of them tumbled over the first step they made. Even some sailors walking by witness the incident, and didn’t even bother helping out but giggle under their breaths.

After much struggling, but not for a couple more minutes, and with Pinkie Pie’s face on the verge of turning fully green, Seaman Polenski opens approaches a door just to the left and opens it.

“Here we are,” he says, stepping to the side to let the ponies have a look at it. Though as not as he expected, only Rainbow’s face turns to disappointment, while Princess Luna, Pinkie and the two bruised Royal Guards have a surprised look. The room is like any other room for a sailor on an Arleigh Burke-class ship. Approximately five meters inward from the doorway, and a little over a meter in width, the tiny room consists of six beds. There are three on each side, stacked on top of each other, and with a small locker at the end.

“Yeah,” Polenski says, rubbing his nose with his sleeve trying to break the dead silence. “Uh, this is, well, how we sleep, anyways. Sorry ‘bout the not-so-great… well, you get it.”

“I thank you for your offer,” Luna says with a bow of her head, and steps inside the room. As she looks around, she notices each bed consists of a thin blanket and a small pillow. Though it does not reach the highest standards of comfort by not even a bit, it will have to do for the princess, since she, Twilight’s friends and her guards are in a warship.

“O-oh, also,” Seaman Officer Polenski calls, forcing the night princess to twist her neck nearly all the way around just to look behind. “I-if… if, uh, you need anything else… y-you know, um, just ask our boys out in the hallway. They’ll be around.”

“Thank you,” Luna nods. “You shall return in the morning?”

“Uh,” Polenski tilts his head to the side and wipes off some sweat form his forehead. “S-sure. I’ll be here in the morning.”

“Very well. Goodnight.”

“Uh, sure. Yeah…” The young sailor walks away, Luna hearing his every footstep through the low humming of the ship.

A few seconds later, she hears him talking to someone else.

“They’re inside. Your turn now. Commander wants that area secured.”

“What is this? We’re babysitting animals, now?” the other sailor replies, his voice having a deeper tone in it.

“Commander’s orders. He doesn’t want any risks, especially from the blue and pink one. I told her to ask you guys if they need anything.”

“Yeah, yeah. We got it. You head to the bridge and inform the commander. We’ll keep an eye on them.”

Luna can hear more footsteps approach the small room, followed by a couple more voices. She takes a deep breath, and returns to looking around to which bed she will be sleeping in.

“I shot top!” Rainbow suddenly bursts, springing into the air with her wings spread out and hops into the top bunk off to the right side. Pinkie Pie wastes not time and scurries into the middle bunk like a little animal running into its burrow from a predator.

“Oh, beds!” she exhales deeply, and hugs the small pillow. Within a split second, she falls fast asleep. Luna rolls her eyes, and turns to her guards standing behind her, whom both of them are regular earth ponies.

“Which bed would you like, Your Highness?” one of them asks. Luna turns back to the beds on the left side, and scans up and down for a brief moment

“I’ll take the middle,” she replies with a small smile.

“Woo! What a day!” Rainbow Dash breathes, and stretches her four legs before resting on the bed. Of course, she starts squirming around to find a comfortable spot. “Geez, talk about a hard bed. Twilight’s bed is more comfortable than this.”
Princess Luna turns her head to look at the Pegasus pressing her hooves on the mattress. “You have slept in Twilight’s bed?”

Rainbow’s face quickly turns to the princess, eyes full of shock. “W-what? N-no, no! I-it’s just that… well… Twilight sometimes allows me to get some good… b-books… in her room.” There is a long period of silence. “Okay, maybe I kinda’ sneak in a couple naps in there as well. Alone! J-just alone.” Luna only stares at her with a sly look before turning back to her two guards preparing themselves for the night.

“Very well, then. As of now, it is best if you get some rest. We shall be busy in the next few days.”

“Yeah.” Rainbow says slowly, scratching the back of her head. “Hopefully that will go smooth with Pinkie here.”

After letting her guards climb in to their respectable bunks, Princess Luna finally does the same to her bed located in the middle off to the left. However, due to her size, and with the bed having a little over three feet of ceiling space, the princess can barely fit inside if it weren’t for her long horn and her ever flowing mane getting caught in certain areas. After much struggling, she finally gets in a comfortable position, or at least she thinks. The mattress itself is not the softest, but she had worse places to sleep in. But, the pillow feels itchy, despite its tiny size. The blanket is thin, but it gives a perfect amount of warmth for the princess as she tucks herself in. As Luna lays her head on the small pillow, she can feel the small tremors of the ship trudging through the waters. She can hear the hums of its engines like a heartbeat, like the ship is a living, breathing machine.

Thinking back to when she first boarded, Princess Luna has learned so much in just a few hours of this Arleigh Burke-class ship, compared to several days of learning one event of Equestria’s history. Not only has she made some conversations with Commander Harbort, but also she, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie have chatted with a few sailors. The namesake of this ship, the USS Michael Murphy, was named after a certain soldier who died in combat in some country the princess has never heard of, nor can she recall its name. She never knew ships like this have a history by just their name, and the sailors claim they have over sixty of the same class ships in their navy. An amount like that, Luna cringes at the thought if they were all put into battle. She shakes her head, when she accidentally bumps her horn on the ceiling. She sighs heavily.

“Bonny!” a voice cries out form out in the hallway, and Luna’s heart skips a beat from the sudden volume.

“Yeah?!” another voice answers from a distance, before the princess can start hearing footsteps until she can hear them just outside their room.

“Macker says the Sea-whizz on the stern is not working properly. You and Vicks need to fix it by morning.”

“I thought he was the one who will fix it.”

“He’s working somewhere in the middeck area. Probably the engine room. Besides, some of our instruments are still fucked up from whatever the hell we encountered in the Pacific.”

“Well no shit. You saw what that thing did to the Halsey?”

"Who didn’t, man?”

“Christ. And you wonder how the hell we end up here. What are you even doing here, anyway? Babysitting those horses?”

“Gregor, Turner, Grant and I. They’ve got the nearest doors occupied while I’m their damn guard.”

“Heh. And you thought taking a desk job is worse. I have to admit, Vicks and I did have a good conversation with that dark blue one.”

“What dark blue one?”

“You know, the uh… the princess horse. Dark blue, some type of magical hair it’s got, tattoo of a moon on her ass.”

“Oh, the tall one that commander introduced. God, I swear, we must be ‘that’ high if we were to fall in some fantasy land filled with fuckin’ talking animals.”

“Well, you can ask the commander when your shift’s done.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just tell Vicks you and him gotta’ fix the Sea-whizz by tomorrow morning. We already got a few other problems to deal with.”

The conversation ends with footsteps slowly fading away, followed by the creaks of a metal door opening and closing. Still fully awake, Princess Luna can feel an odd taste in her mouth, not because of the awful dinner she just had, but it is something else. Her mind slowly aches the more she thinks about it. They must really hold a grudge against Equestria after that ‘unfaithful’ event. Still, she doesn’t fully know the humans’ behavior, or their culture.

The night princess rubs her head from too much thinking, and rests her head on the small pillow. She wonders if it will be okay if she could ask for more, but she doesn’t want to be a burden. Slowly, but surely, the princess’ eyes close as she dives into a sleep. She wonders what lies tomorrow for her, and what new things will be introduced on this ship.

07:13:46 AM

Twilight stands on the edge of the dirt road just outside of town, with Spike next to her, and both of them wearing backpacks staring at the MV-22 Osprey parked in the open field being worked on by several of the humans. Royal Guards surround the ginormous flying machine, while Princess Cadance has a conversation with Commander Gaines close to the rear ramp. The unicorn stifles a yawn after getting some sleep last night, and turns her head to see Celestia’s sun just about to break the treetop horizon.

“Wow,” Spike says, aweing at the human contraption that is barely twenty meters away. “I’ve forgot how big that grey thing is.”

“Commander Gaines says it’s an Osprey,” Twilight explains.

“Oh, so that’s what it’s called. Well, the name does fit well to it.”

Twilight turns around to see Ponyville basked in the morning sunlight. Her ears droop and her expression changes when there is nothing to see but the sleepy town.

“You okay, Twilight?” Spike asks, placing his claw on Twilight’s back to comfort her.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” the unicorn replies, still looking behind hoping to find her three friends running up to her. Instead, she sighs and begins walking to the aircraft in the field.

“Come on, Twilight. I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’ll be right with you.”

“It’s not that, Spike.”

Twilight and her assistant approach Princess Cadance and Commander Gaines, both of them stop in their topic they were talking about.

“Twilight,” Cadance says, “Spike.”

“Morning Cadance,” Twilight replies. “And good morning commander.”

“Good morning to you, Twilight,” Gaines says. “And you too, Spike.” Spike waves timidly before sliding behind Twilight. The baby dragon nearly forgot how tall the human is compared to Cadance. However, Princess Celestia still him prevails in height.

“So, are we ready?” the commander asks looking around.

“W-well, I guess, yeah,” Twilight responds, lowering her head.

“You don’t have your friends with you?”

“U-uh, n-no. They’re, um, busy with other stuff.”

Cadance lifts her head to look at the surroundings, and her eyes set on something in the far out distance.

She smiles and leans close to the unicorn. “Twilight, I think you need to look behind again.” Twilight looks at the princess with a puzzled look, but does what Cadance says. As she and Spike turn to look back, expecting the same sleepy town, their eyes suddenly widen at the sight of Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack racing down the road, each with a bag over their backs.

“Wh-what?” Twilight trips over her words, befuddled yet somewhat happy to see her friends.

“Wait up!” Applejack screams as she is the first to halt her four legs, and slides to a rough stop with a small pile of dirt formed at the base of her hooves. As for Rarity and Fluttershy, they gradually slow down until they stop next to the heavy breathing cowpony.

“A-Applejack? Rarity? Fluttershy?” Twilight says, still comprehending of what she is seeing, but finding hard to believe. “What are you girls doing here?”

Applejack takes deep steady breaths before replying. “W-we couldn’t just leave ya’ behind, Sugarcube.”

“We had a talk,” Rarity takes over. “And, we agreed to come along with you.”

“B-but… but you said you didn’t want to.”

“Well,” Applejack resumes, veering her eyes pass Twilight. “A certain pony convinces us to why we need to.” Twilight blinks a few times, and turns to where her three friends are looking, meeting face to face with Princess Cadance smiling back. She suddenly feels her heart begin to flutter with joy and relief. Cadance couldn’t have done that, right? Twilight quickly turns back to her friends, the anxiety and stress gone in almost an instant. She is utterly speechless.

“Just like you said,” Applejack says, breaking up the silence. “Friends always respect each other’s opinions, and are always there no matter what. A true friend is always there to help anypony out.”

Twilight can feel her eyes water from the multiple feelings she is having. The only thing that is on her mind is to run up and give them a group hug.

“You guys,” she says softly, a smile appearing on her face. “What am I without you?”

“A unicorn with lack of sleep?” Applejack jokes. The small group falls into a silence for a long moment, before they burst out into a laugh.

Twilight will never know where she would be if it weren’t for her friends, or if she hadn’t moved to Ponyville, besides being with the princess. Of course, an egghead like her has studied many interesting subjects when she lived in Canterlot, but nothing to an extent like this. Studying and living in the middle of an entire new intelligent species has put more stress on her since she went to the Crystal Kingdom. Then again, her friends were by her side the entire time. And this time, they are with her again on another mission by not only by the princess, but also by the intelligent species, humans.

“Now then,” Princess Cadance says after she and her friends share their good laugh. “Shall we get going?”

“Of course,” Twilight says with full confidence.

“Let’s hit ‘em up!” Applejack cheers, and all five of them make their way to the MV-22.

“O-oh my…” Fluttershy stutters, looking at the aircraft surrounded by humans and several Royal Guards.

“This is gonna be awesome!” Spike says, grabbing hold of his straps. “I always wondered what it feels like to be in one of those things.”

“An experience like no other,” Twilight replies.

The large three-bladed rotors of the Osprey, call sign White Knight Three-two, begin to spin up as its twin Rolls-Royce Allison turbo shaft engines are awakened by its pilots. Commander Gaines, captain of the amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage watches as Twilight, her four friends and Princess Cadance enter the aircraft, followed by the members of SEAL Team Five.

“First in, last out, boys!” Chief Petty Officer ‘Honeydew’ screams as the engines slowly roar into life. Looking around, and noticing several of the town’s citizens coming out to look at the Osprey once more, Gaines enters the aircraft and seats himself somewhere in the center next to Chief Petty Officer ‘Knight’ and his men. On the opposite side are the ponies, looking around the interior of the aircraft as a crew chief walks down the aisle and exits to check outside. The commander always wanted to see how these equines react to their technology, and he is here to see it. As he guessed, all except one seem fascinated by it.

“Seriously, have you ever heard of cleanliness?” the white unicorn, Rarity, scrunches her muzzle as darts her eyes around. Her horn lights up in a light blue sparkly aura, as well as her bag, and out comes a folded pillow floating to the seat before she settles herself on top. “Ah, there we are. Fit for a lady.” Commander Gaines looks to his right, noticing the SEALs are turning their heads away and rolling their eyes. The same goes to Twilight and her other friends.

“We’re clear!” Staff Sergeant Barnes, one of the aircraft’s crew chief, shouts and twirls his arm in a small circle through the roaring engines as he and another crewmember, Sergeant Volper, enter the Osprey. Volper makes his way to the front, and secures himself in a small stool with an M2 .50 caliber machine gun turret on the left side window, while Barnes stays behind looking at the passengers.

“Alright, people!” Staff Sergeant Barnes continues, as he slowly steps his way down the aisle checking on the ponies. “And ponies! Thank you all for choosing to fly White Knight Three-two. I’m your stewardess, Staff Sergeant Barnes on this lovely flight from here to Manhattan.”

“Manehattan!!” Twilight, Rarity and Applejack correct the crew chief at the same time.

“Got it. Got it. What they just said. Flight from here to there will be approximately four and a half hours, until we reach our destination, Bonnie Dick.”

“He did not say what I think he said,” Rarity leans and whispers to Applejack.

“He did,” the orange earth pony replies. Barnes makes his way through, staring mostly at the ponies to make sure they are seated properly, when he meets eyes with Rarity.

“Please make sure that all seats are in your upright position, tray tables are up and locked at all times during the flight, seatbelts fastened at all times and luggage stowed properly,” he continues as he makes his way to the front. “All cellphones and other electronics are to be turned off during takeoff and landing.”

Puzzled by his random explanation, Twilight looks at the humans who are shaking their heads with a smirk on their faces as the crew chief heads to the cockpit. After a few seconds, he walks down the narrow lane.

“What is he talking about?” Rarity asks. “I don’t see any tray tables, or any seatbelts.”

“I dunno,” Applejack shrugs. “Just go along with it.”

“Once again, people…” Barnes finishes, “and ponies, welcome aboard this ‘lovely’ flight with the U-S-M-C. Hope to see you again.”

“Not in something like this ever again,” the white unicorn mumbles under the powerful engines, puffing her cheeks as she looks around the interior with an almost disgusted look.

“Don’t worry, Rarity,” Spike says to his crush mare. “I’ll make sure this flight will be comfortable for you.”

“Oh, great…”

Twilight stares at the staff sergeant as he hooks a line tied from his back to the ceiling, and swirls a mounted M240B machine gun to the center of the loading ramp. A quick check of the weapon and its ammunition, and the crew chief sits just close to the edge with the turret firmly gripped in his hands.

“Attention all crew, this is your captain speaking,” a voice announces through the speakers, though Twilight and her friends scramble to see who is talking. “We’ll be taking off shortly after a few adjustments. For those that are new to flying, please have all seatbelts fastened at all times whenever the rear ramp is open.” Again, the ponies have the quizzical look on their faces.

The twin engines roar even louder until it is brought to its full power, nearly deafening the ponies’ ears. The MV-22 buckles and bounces as Twilight can feel her stomach squeeze and sink to the very bottom. She looks out the small window behind her, noticing the large aircraft steadily but quickly rising off the ground while accompanied by several Royal Guard Pegasi. The Osprey trembles all around as it climbs higher, giving Twilight the feeling like this piece of advanced machinery will break apart at any minute. She hugs her backpack close to her as tightly as possible and turns to see if her friends are feeling the same. As it turns out, Fluttershy is quivering much more frequently than the aircraft itself, curling herself up in a ball while staring in all directions with eyes filled with fear. Applejack and Rarity have themselves firmly gripping on to whatever straps are hanging on the seats, both of them with shocked looks from the high frequent shaking of the aircraft. As for Spike, sitting between Twilight and Rarity, he has this excited grin plastered on his face much similar to Pinkie Pie.

“First time flying in an Osprey, fellas?” Chief Petty Officer ‘Knight’ asks the ponies. The Navy SEAL figures neither of them would say ‘yes’. They don’t even have the technology to make something fly besides balloons. The five ponies and the baby dragon nod their heads.

“Y-yes,” Princess Cadance, her voice a little shaky caused by the aircraft’s movement. Before she could say anything else, the Osprey tips upward and ascends almost dramatically. The queasy feeling in Twilight’s stomach returns even stronger, as the unicorn tries to hold in the contents.

The aircraft makes a sharp left turn, and slowly flies over the town Ponyville with its engines still in its upright position. As fast as it made its turn, the shaking gradually stops. The loud beating ‘whup whup’ by the rotor blades wakes up majority of the citizens, who all got out of their homes to see the giant tiltrotor aircraft loop around and over the town. Some of them point and chatter, while the rest have eyes filled with awe, even though they have seen the VTOL during the Royal Sisters’ visit and introduction of the humans.

“Woah,” Spike gasps softly as he looks out the window next to Twilight, though taking up most of the space. He has been around every part of Ponyville since he and Twilight moved, but he has never gotten a view of it from above. Now that he is in a human contraption known as an Osprey, the baby dragon has a full view of the town just below. What puzzles his mind more is that Ponyville is not as big as he expects.

“Twilight, look at this,” he says.

“I wish I could, if you could stop ‘hogging’ the window for a second,” the lavender unicorn replies back in a stern voice. Spike slides to the side to allow Twilight have a look, only to see the treetops as the Osprey spins around once more, slowly picking up speed with the Royal Guard Pegasi catching up. The unicorn explores with her eyes at the wing with the massive engine at the end, and her eyes widen in complete surprise as to what she is seeing.

“Twilight? What’s going on?” Spike asks tapping on her shoulder before sliding over. “Let me have a look.” Twilight ignores and barely shows a nudge. Watching outside, she witnesses an amazing feat that is the rotor engine spinning a full ninety degrees until it stops horizontally, the rotors pointing forward and the aircraft gaining more speed than ever.

“Well, how ‘bout that,” Applejack compliments, her, Rarity and Fluttershy looking out two other windows. “Now that’s some feature.”

“I say, indeed,” Rarity agrees.

Commander Gaines can only watch and try to hold in his laugh. Seeing these ponies, including Princess Cadance acting like they are now makes them look like children seeing snow for the first time. He wonders how they will react when they see the three ships in Manehattan. More importantly, how will the men react now that they are in a world filled with talking ponies? Since the Bonhomme Richard, Fitzgerald and Lassen have been stuck in that harbor for twelve days, one day longer than Gaines and the others have, they should have at least gotten used to it, or least know about their surroundings.

“Um, excuse me, Mister uh…” Spike raises his tiny claw, catching the commander’s attention. The baby dragon stops and thinks for a moment, and leans close to Twilight to whisper something, and she replies back. “Oh, Mister Geenes.” Twilight immediately face hoofs, and Navy SEAL ‘Cutup’ tries to hold in his laugh.

“It’s Gaines,” the commander corrects Spike with a smile.

“O-oh, sorry. Uh… wh-when we get to Manehattan, how big are those ships?”

“Oh, Spike,” Twilight butts in. “Have you seen the cover of the newspaper a few days ago? They pretty much took at least half of the Manehattan Harbor.”

“They were all taken before I could have a chance.”

Commander Gaines stifles a giggle. “They’re unlike any other, kid.”

Author's Note:

FACTS:

"Leading the Way" is a motto for Spruance-class USS Conolly (DD-979).

Comments

[Night-Watch-The-DAD]

Marines don't like being called soldiers. So you might want to change that.

[swisspony]

well Look at this Pinkie gets sea sick, didn't expect this, nice chapter

[Kalbim]

I wonder how everyone will react once they figure out Twilight stole a magazine. They have a limited number of those things by the way!

[CK Holliday]

troll.me/images/frankenstein-its-alive/its-alive.jpg
'Nuff said.

[The564mumble]

pinkie pie seasick?

IMPOSIB..... well its possible....... idk

[Bloodrunner]

They'll be pretty pissed about the magazine. That's MILITARY PROPERTY , and she stole it.

[totallynotabrony]

Again, no asphalt on a ship.

Again, it's a galley, not a mess hall.

The captain would probably not come over the 1MC to tell everyone to prepare for night operations. "Darken Ship" would be more likely.

Seaman Officer is not a real rank.

Michael Murphy wasn't a solider, he was a SEAL. I guess I'll let this one go because it's Luna's half-remembered thoughts about it.

There's no CIWS on the stern. It's on the aft superstructure. Of course, in Michael Murphy's case, saying "aft CIWS" is redundant because that ship was built with only one CIWS. This being the future, though, I suppose it could have been refit.

[Fa-18]

Celestia you should see the Nimitz aircraft carrier and the Iowa class battleshipsand rarity...get used to the design cause things in war aren't suppose to be pretty

[Brony Pacific 4023]

5373475 I thought the galley was the kitchen.

[Marauder15]

7821586 Depends on the era your thinking of.