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Chapter 4

Star Show’s mood was darker than his graphite-colored coat. While he was sure Smith had a good reason for calling off the spell, it didn’t please the unicorn.

If anything, the man’s expression was even more displeased. He examined the contents of the suitcase, checking the magic storage device. The concept of how it worked was remarkably similar to an electronic capacitor, temporarily storing energy. A faint light glowed from within the sphere.

“That isn’t enough power by far,” said Star. “You should have let us keep going.”

Smith glared at him. “If I had, we’d all be dead right now! As it is, I’m damn surprised we got away.”

The pony smirked. “A cloaking spell isn’t that hard to accomplish. Throwing in radar-fooling is just a matter of fine tuning it.”

It had been a little surreal to see the fishing boat’s deck under his feet while being completely invisible to the men on the Navy ship. The old boat had quietly slipped away and had been putting miles between them and the destroyer ever since. Smith begrudgingly admitted that the stallion had been right to take action first and argue later.

“So when are we going to start up with the other spell?” asked Star. “We can’t cloak at the same time. There just isn’t enough magic to go around.”

Smith knew there were a few unicorns maintaining the magic that kept the boat hidden. It would have to be certain that they were all alone before dropping the cloak and restarting on the main priority. The US Navy was probably pissed now, and there was no way Smith’s men and Star’s ponies could hold them off in a straight-up battle.

“What about the prisoner?” asked Smith. They’d dragged an unconscious sailor from the ocean.

Star shrugged. “What about him? Are you thinking of some kind of hostage deal?”

The man thought for a moment. “We were going to use that foal to complete the process…what if we could speed things up?”

The pony’s eyebrows went up. “Two at once? You know, that just might work.”

★

Shining Armor still hadn’t had lunch. He’d had a phone pressed to his ear for what felt like hours. He was getting a better picture of the situation, albeit slowly.

The phone call had been bounced around various government centers in Canterlot since he’d placed it. Nopony seemed to have what he wanted to know, but there was surely another he could be transferred to. It had taken a while, but Shining was finally talking to one who had been briefed on the situation.

“Thank you for taking my call, Princess,” he said.

“It’s no trouble,” said Celestia, her voice slightly distorted through the secure phone. “In fact, you’re in a position where you should probably know the details anyway. The US Navy is asking for our help.”

“Strange thing for an Army pony to be handling,” commented Shining.

“True,” agreed the Princess, “but you’re close, and I know you’re competent.”

Being married to Princess Celestia’s niece had its good and bad points. It was good that he knew her on a personal level—

“They will be flying you out to the ship. I’ve already made the arrangements for you.”

—and bad that she had made him her number one troubleshooter. Celestia reviewed the details, of which there were surprisingly few. Other than “a suspicious boat with mixed human-pony crew attacked a US warship,” there wasn’t much to go on. Maybe by actually talking to the sailors, Shining would be able to get a better idea of what had transpired.

The stallion’s stomach growled loudly enough that the Princess heard it through the phone. Celestia paused. “I’m afraid you won’t have much time to eat. The helicopter is already on its way.”

Shining’s thoughts filled with explicatives he hadn’t used since boot camp. Still, he got where he was by being professional. He said, “I understand, Princess. I’ll deal with it.”

★

“I can’t believe we just lost it!” grumbled Sampson. His watch was over, and he had joined Martin for chow.

The Lieutenant, who hadn’t rested even though he’d been off duty since Sampson had relieved him, nodded sympathetically. It was hard to believe that such an advanced combat ship could lose track of an old fishing boat when they were within visual range.

Sampson brightened. “I heard they’re sending a couple of Equestrians to help out. Maybe we can fight magic with magic.”

“We don’t know anything about fighting with magic,” Martin pointed out.

“Well, I didn’t think ponies did either, but they sure showed it off today.” Sampson had a point, Martin thought.

“I guess you’re right,” the senior officer agreed. “Generally, I thought natives of Equestria were pretty peaceful. It’s a little disturbing to find ones that are aggressive. Worse, we still don’t know why.”

“So what’s the game plan if we eventually find that rustbucket?” asked Sampson.

Martin shrugged. “We’ll probably try to board it again. Maybe we can fly some SEALs out here to help.”

“Let’s just blow it up,” Sampson muttered. At the moment, Martin had to agree with him.

★

The deck was cold under Bryant’s face. His whole body hurt, and the clothes he wore seemed to be damp. Moving his fingers and toes a little, he decided that nothing was seriously wrong with him.

“He’s waking up,” said a voice. The Petty Officer didn’t recognize the speaker, and rolled over. An earth pony, a unicorn, and a man sat watching him. None of them looked friendly. The compartment was small and had an ordinary door. It resembled a closet, Bryant thought.

The man shifted his jacket slightly as Bryant sat up. There was a bulge under his arm that was probably a gun. He glowered at the sailor. “Lie back down.”

Slowly, Bryant complied. He carefully used his movement to hide his hands brushing over the pockets of his trousers. It was a useless effort. Anything he might have been carrying had been taken.

There were footsteps—or maybe hoofsteps?—outside the door. A couple of voices had a short conversation. Bryant struggled to hear the words. He thought they might have been talking about him.

Bryant didn’t know where he was, how long he had been comatose, or the dangers he might now face. One thing was certain, however. Things were going to get worse before they got better.

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