Wendelle in the Colony

by ScarFox9700

Rating: mature
Tags: Original Character, Bat Pony, Violence, Slice of Life, Sex, Human, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Romance
Length: 46364

A Human girl named Wendelle meets a the inhabitants of a Bat-Pony colony that help her with her secret. Shortly thereafter, a US Navy Ensign is spared from death, and sent to that same colony. 2 paths become one

Wendelle Williams is an 18 year-old girl that lives in Tennessee. She seems like a normal girl, except for the fact that at her tender 18 years of age, Wendelle is pregnant. This has left her with trying to make a living for her upcoming baby after being dumped by her worthless boyfriend. One day coming home from school, Wendelle finds a strange looking crystal pendant, and after getting struck by lightning, gets transported to a strange place called Equestria, and is found by a group of Bat-Ponies that take her to their mountain that they live in. However, Wendelle is no longer Human. Somewhere between Earth and Equestria, Wendelle was transformed into a Bat-Pony herself, as was her unborn child, now a foal! She begins to make a new living for herself, unaware of the events that are soon to transpire that will change her life forever.

Back on Earth in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, US Navy Ensign Conner Dwight is assisting the rest of his crew with the Self-Defense Test-Ship (SDTS) ex-Paul F. Foster, readying her for her next weapons tests. However, something goes terribly wrong, and the Foster explodes, killing the entire SDTS crew except Conner, and after being blown into the ocean in a geyser of blood, Conner, and the burning Foster vanish from existence.

On his way to Equestria, Conner too is transformed into a Bat-Pony, and was given a new chance at life. Unsure of what to do, and with the broken and shattered ex-Paul F. Foster lying on a river bank below the Bat-Pony colony that he now calls home, Conner must also create a new life for himself. However, what happens when he crosses paths with Wendelle, and learns of her sad predicament? What happens when the 2 of them begin to fall in love, and Conner agrees to raise Wendelle's foal as his own? What happens when the Foster is put back together into her old US Spruance-Class Destroyer configuration, and placed back in service with the Equestrian Navy, just in time for a major naval battle? One heck of an incredible adventure, that's for sure!

(Caution: Story contains, violence, blood, some gore, a drunk guy getting run over by an Amtrak while in his car, a SDTS ship exploding and killing most of its crew, a pregnant teen, a hapless US Navy Ensign, Humans-turned Bat-Pony, Bat-Ponies, romance, tender moments, a little comedy, impregnation, a few sex scenes, childbirth, 3 horrible bullies, a deadbeat boyfriend, the USS Paul F. Foster, action, lightning, and one incredible adventure. This story is NOT for everyone, but it's one that you're NOT gonna want to miss!)

This story used to belong to my good friend Terry the Human, though after expressing that he'd lost interest in the story, and was going to delete it, I offered to take it off his hands, and breathe new life into it. He agreed, and now the story belongs to me, though he's still an active part of it, and helps me brainstorm new ideas. You have him to thank for allowing me to get this story up and running again, so if you would be so kind, please give Terry a nice shout-out in the comments down below!

Published 2018-05-04 14:10:06 UTC
Last updated 2020-02-25 06:45:45 UTC

Chapter 1: The New Chance

"Wendelle... Wendelle... WENDELLE!!! WAKE UP!!!" Came the voice of an angry woman.

"Un.....wait, WHAT?!" Wendelle said as she suddenly awoke from her nap, "Um, what is it Miss Eris?"

The teacher did a stress reaction as she looked down at Wendelle. "Wendelle, you fell asleep in class again, and now school is over." She said in a tired and annoyed voice.

"Um, yes Ma'am!" She said as she quickly got her belongings, and dashed out of the room.

After Wendelle left the classroom, she went over to her locker. As she opened it, she saw the mirror that was inside her locker at the back. Wendelle looked at it, and she saw once again what she looked like. She was 18 years old, and was light skinned, with blonde hair with slight red highlights, and had blue eyes. She was also wearing a purple shirt and tan-colored pants. But the thing that drew the most attention to Wendelle was her stomach. Her stomach slightly poked out, but this was not because she was fat; it was because she was 1 month pregnant.

Wendelle sighed as she remembered the events that led up to this. "I can't believe this, but I can't give up now."

After she got her things together, Wendelle closed up her locker again, and turned towards the school's exit. Unfortunately for her though, as soon as she had reached the school's exit, she heard the voice of someone that she didn't want to encounter.

"Well look who it is Girls!"

Wendelle turned around to see three girls; all the same age as her, and in the same grade. The first two wore blueish-green shirts and violet short skirts, while the third one had on a pink shirt, and wore new blue jeans.

"Hey Wendelle." The girl in pink said in a very rude and narcissistic way, "So I've heard that you're keeping that precious little thing you have there." The girl smirked as she pointed to Wendelle's stomach.

"H-hey Doris." Wendelle said nervously.

"Well, it seems that your little 'Gift of Life' is doing well, for being the child of a f@#king slut that is! Right Phyllis and Lois?" Doris said in a VERY condescending way as she turned towards the other two girls.

Phyllis and Lois snickered and laughed along with Doris, while Wendelle was trying to hold back a tear at what Doris had said. The reason why Doris was calling her a slut was because the person that got Wendelle pregnant was Doris's ex boyfriend, and Doris had never gotten over the fact that Wendelle had gotten pregnant from her ex. Every day Doris, Phyllis and Lois would taunt her for getting pregnant. Wendelle tried to ignore them, but it didn't work.

"It's bullshit! I only did it once, and I get a child, and they've done it with over half the guys in our grade, and they call ME a slut!" She thought to herself as Doris kept on taunting her.

"Well, I'm getting pretty bored with Wendelle. Come on Phyllis and Lois, we're leaving this whore to herself!" She laughed.

The two girls laughed as they left with Doris, leaving Wendelle all alone. After they left, Wendelle started leave the school before she started to cry. After she was out of the school building, she went over to an old trail that was close to her school, and began to walk down it. The trail was a nature trail that was originally used by the athletic team as a jogging/running trail, but it was abandoned after the school had gotten a track of its own.

Wendelle continued to walk down the old trail, and close to the sides where overgrown grass and wildflowers where spilling out onto it. As she continued to walk, she was thinking about what Doris had said to her.

"Well, not everyone can can do more that 12 boys and NOT get pregnant!" Wendelle thought as she walked down the old trail.

After walking for a few minutes longer, she found an old bench that seemed to be sturdy enough for her to sit on. Wendelle then sat down, and after looking down the trail, she knew that no one was going to see her. She then looked down at her stomach, and smiled at her unborn child.

"I promise my sweet child, I will make sure that you will have the life that you deserve." She whispered in a sweet, soft voice.

As she was sitting back upright, Wendelle then saw something that caught her eye; a glittering-shine that came from a bush that was next to the bench. When Wendelle got up, she walked over to the bush, and after pushing aside the branches closest to the ground, she was able to grab the object that had been glittering. After grabbing the object, Wendelle pulled it out, and after standing up, she looked at what she'd found.

In her right hand was some sort of crystal pendant, but it looked a bit off. The crystal of the pendant was a violet, blue and purple mixture in color, and it was attached to a thin black cord that would go around the wearer's neck. She also noticed that the crystal itself also seemed to have been broken off of something bigger, but Wendelle couldn't figure out what it could have been.

"Hmm. I've never seen a crystal pendant like this before. I wonder if I could sell this for a fair amount of money." She thought out loud, knowing that no one would hear her.

Wendelle then wondered a bit more about how much she could sell it for. She knew that she could get at least $100 or so for it, and possibly even more if it turned out to be something valuable. Whatever she could get would be good for her, and after sitting on the bench again with the pendant, she then thought about all of the events that had lead up to that moment.

It had started around 3 months ago, in early January of 2015. Around 85% of her classmates where in some sort of a relationship, and Wendelle was one of the only girls that wasn't in a relationship of any kind. Not in a relationship that is, until Michael Jonas, a football player that had just broken up with Doris, (no one was surprised at that, not even Phyllis and Lois) seemingly took an interest in her. He was someone that said that he would LOVE to have someone special in his life, and his charms began to win over Wendelle. It was around 3:15 in the afternoon on that first day, and Wendelle was sitting on the bleachers next to the football field, waiting for the release bell to ring. She was just about to lay down when she saw someone coming over to her.

It was Michael, and he was sent over to make sure that no one was on the football field. He was just about done when he spotted Wendelle. Sighing, he went over to ask her to leave the football field. Even to this very day, Wendelle still can't recall all of her interactions with Michael, or really figure out when it was that she began to fall for him, however, it all came up to the surface when one Friday morning. Just before class, they FINALLY admitted their true feelings towards each other, and, (not so surprisingly) they kissed. To Wendelle, it seemed like something was finally going right in her high school life, but unfortunately, it was not to last.

As Wendelle was unfortunately to soon discover, Michael had ulterior motives for wanting to be with her. He didn't love her, nor did he even care about her. All he saw in her was a naive young girl, and a cheap lay. Wendelle was unaware of Michael's true motives until it was too late. After they'd been together for a little while, Michael wanted Wendelle to have sex with him. Wendelle was hesitant, but Michael wasn't exactly taking no for an answer. He kept pressuring her, until she finally caved to his advances, though she made him promise to wear a condom, and to pull out. Michael made the move like he was putting on a condom, but in reality, he didn't. He also didn't pull out, and after finishing up having sex, he actually left Wendelle to find her own way home after he left her at the party that they were at! Thankfully, Wendelle did make it home safely, and she didn't tell her parents what had happened, but her problems were soon to get a whole lot worse.

Maybe 2 weeks later, after feeling off for a while, Wendelle took a pregnancy test at the suggestion of the school nurse, and to her shock and horror, it came back positive. Knowing that it had to have been because of Michael, Wendelle went to confront him at the first opportunity that she had. As soon as she saw him after school, Wendelle showed him the pregnancy test, and told him that it was his, since he was the only one to ever have sex with her. She was expecting Michael to take her into his arms and tell her that it was going to be ok, and that he was going to stick by her, but this is NOT what happened.

"Are you f@#king kidding me?! HELL NO!!!! There's not a chance in HELL that I'm dealing with this!"

Wendelle was shocked. "What?! But it's YOUR fault it happened Michael!"

Michael glared at her. "No it's not! I'm done with this. Consider yourself DUMPED Bitch!" He then left with his group of friends, leaving Wendelle all alone.

After that, she ran home crying, and after she saw her parents Joseph and Madeline, she told them, as well as her older brother Paul, everything. When Paul heard what Michael had done to his younger sister, to say that he was mad was an UNDERSTATEMENT! He left the house, and didn't come back until almost an hour and a half later. When asked what had happened, Paul said that he'd gone looking for Michael, and while he did find him at the school's football field, he was only able to land about 2 punches before the fight was broken up by school faculty, and Paul was warned to leave. He did so, but vowed to get back at Michael for what happened to his sister.

Wendelle's parents on the other hand, while they too were beyond outraged, their outrage was fully directed at Michael, and not towards their daughter, who had been lured in, used, and then dumped to the curb when she'd gotten pregnant. She had her family's full support, which she knew was going to be vital now that she was going to be a single mother, but she was still so upset that it had happened. Paul still vowed revenge, but in the end, he never got the chance to execute it.

A scant 2 nights after dumping Wendelle, on April 2nd, 2015, Michael was driving home drunk from a party, and "sadly" never made it home. He was driving through Dyersburg, Tennessee, on his way home to his and Wendelle's neighboring hometown of Trimble, Tennessee, (population: 650), when his car stalled out in the middle of a railroad crossing. He was so drunk that he had no idea what was happening, and he also never saw the Amtrak Genesis pulling an Amtrak train that decided to stop by and have a friendly little "chat" with him about hanging out on the railroad tracks! The devastating impact tore off the ENTIRE back end of Michael's car, and blasted it into smithereens! However, Michael himself, due to being drunk, and in the driver's seat, missed death by a mere hairsbreadth. The impact threw him out of the car, and he rolled along the ground before coming to a complete stop in a bloody mess. First Responders arrived on the scene a few minutes later, and the Amtrak stopped just down the line. Michael would survive that night, although the accident sent him into a coma. Police also found alcohol in the car's remains, and Michael's blood-alcohol level was almost 3 times the legal limit for driving. The engineer on the Genesis had blown his horn multiple times, and had slammed on the brakes, but was unable to stop in time. He was not found to be at fault, and it was agreed that as soon as Michael had woken up from his coma, (IF he was going to be waking up; his survival was uncertain at this point) he was going to be charged with DUI, gross negligence, and damage to railroad property. He was put into Intensive Care at the nearest hospital to Dyersburg with an ICU, and left there for the time being.

When Paul heard about what happened to Michael, he was both glad and upset at the same time. "Heh, the bastard deserved as much. I'm just upset that the train didn't KILL his sorry-ass, but maybe that's for the best. Now I have another chance at busting his ass wide open for what he did to my sister, provided of course that he ever wakes up from that coma he's in!"

When Wendelle's parents heard about the accident, they saw it as Karma coming to bite Michael in the ass for what he'd done to their daughter, and they also planned to help Wendelle sue Michael if he survived for Child Support. Wendelle herself was somewhat upset when she heard the news, but yet she also smiled a bit knowing that Michael had gotten what he'd deserved for what he'd done to her. However, at this same time she was also apprehensive. If Michael died without regaining consciousness, how was he ever going to be made to take responsibility for what he'd done to her? It was a sad thought for her, but yet, her parents and brother were by her side every step of the way. She knew how much they loved her, and she was so thankful that she had them by her side in this whole dramatic ordeal.

Wendelle started crying when she recalled the few nice times that she'd had with her late "boyfriend" before his ulterior motives were revealed. She then looked down at the crystal pendant again, and began wishing that she could be in a place that would be perfect to raise her unborn child. She also wished that she wouldn't have to be alone anymore either, and that she could find someone who loved her just as much as her family did, and loved her for she truly was, and wouldn't care in the slightest that she was pregnant by an asshat like Michael.

What happened next was an event that changed Wendelle's young life forever. First the beautiful crystal pendant that she was holding started to glow in her hands. Wendelle looked at it in shock, as she had no idea what was going on. Then, the skies overhead, which had already been somewhat overcast, began to get darker, the wind began to blow, and the rumbles of thunder could be heard.

Wendelle looked up at the sky. She knew that it was possibly going to rain that day, but she didn't think that it would be before that night. "Darn this Tennessee weather! I'd better get home before I get soaked!" She began to get up from the bench, but that's as far as she ever got.

Before she could get any farther, lightning suddenly struck the ground right next to where Wendelle was standing! Before she could scream out in fright though, the energy from the lighting bolt was seemingly being absorbed by the crystal pendant, and the energy surrounded Wendelle in a swirling white mass. Wendelle had begun to suspect that she was about to be transported elsewhere, but not having even the faintest idea of where she was going to end up, all she could do was hope that wherever she ended up would be friendly.

Little did Wendelle suspect though that she was about to embark on a journey that would surpass even her wildest dreams, and she would wind up getting EXACTLY what she'd wished for!

Author's Note

And, that was the newly revamped Chapter 1 of "Wendelle in the Colony".

I REALLY hope that you all enjoyed that, and that I started my re-write of "Wendelle" off on the right paw. I gave more backstory information on Wendelle, completely re-wrote the character of her ex-boyfriend Michael, gave him an appropriate fate (at least for now) where he got the Karma that he deserved, and I changed how Wendelle got to Equestria as well. This is all gearing up for a brand-new adventure for Wendelle, not to mention the guy I mentioned in the description, US Navy Ensign Conner Dwight.

What's going to happen next? Where in Equestria is Wendelle going to end up? You all know by now that she's going to be turning into a Bat-Pony, but what will she look like as one? What Bat-Pony colony does she find herself close to? Will her family realize that she's gone missing? And now that I mentioned it, what about Conner Dwight? Where does he come into the story? Well, you all know the way I do things around here. You know the drill; stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

In the meantime, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 2!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 2: Into the Colony

An unknown amount of time later, Wendelle opened her eyes again.

"Mmmm...........wha........what............happened.....???" She muttered.

From what she could tell, she was lying on her side in a grove of grass, as well as these really unique-looking dark blue flowers. They were a dark blue, almost black in color, had huge blooms, and their smell was almost heavenly. From elsewhere, Wendelle could hear the sounds of birds chirping, as well as what sounded like flowing water coming from close by. She slowly sat up, and began to look around her. At the edge of the grove she was in, there seemed to be some kind of path, and to her right, she could just barely make out the edge of what appeared to be a small river. The late-afternoon sun was shining, the air was warm, and a bit of a breeze was blowing too.

Wendelle smiled. "So peaceful. This feels like a dream, but yet, I know that it isn't." She then looked down, and saw the crystal pendant lying there on the grass close to one of the flowers. "Well, I don't know what to say about this yet, but I can say that it was probably all due to you that I'm here right now." She began to reach down to pick it up..............only to realize that she no longer had hands!

"What.......???" She began to look down at herself, and it was at that moment that Wendelle realized that she was NOT Human anymore! "WHAT?!?!?! WHAT THE F@#K?!?!?!" Normally, Wendelle did NOT use foul language like that, but considering the circumstances, one could say that it was justified this time around!

"WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!?!?! WHAT AM I?!?!?!" Looking down at herself, Wendelle saw that her hands had seemingly turned into hooves, and that she had violet-colored fur. She could also tell that her clothes were somewhat torn up, and that her shoes had been all but destroyed, with her feet having turned into hooves as well. "THIS IS NOT HAPPENING TO ME!!!! WHAT AM I?!?!?!" She asked again.

After looking around frantically for a few moments, she looked over and saw the nearby river. She ran over to it (on all fours without realizing it!), and once she was on the edge of the river's bank, she looked down into the crystal clear water below her, and for the first time, she saw what she really looked like.

Wendelle could clearly see that she was no longer Human. She now appeared to be some kind of equine-like creature, but not like any she'd ever seen before. She had violet fur, her blonde hair with red highlights had become a blonde mane with red highlights, as well as a blonde equine tail with red highlights on the tip. Instead of hands and feet, she had 4 hooves, her blue eyes were still the same, except that they were now almost cat-like with their slitted-pupils, she also had a pair of small fangs on top of her mouth, 2 VERY furry violet equine-ears on top of her head with furry tufts on the ends, and to her further shock, she even had wings! 2 bat-like wings were folded against her back, and after realizing that she had them, Wendelle unfurled them, and flapped them a few times, and sure enough, they were indeed real!

"Oh...........wow."

Her clothes were still on her, but because of her DRASTIC change in appearance, they were torn, tattered, and falling off of her. However, on her rump, thanks to her pants having torn just right, Wendelle could see that she had 2 pink hearts on both of her flanks. She then continued to stare at her reflection for a fair while longer, just trying to take it all in.

"Wow............I'm DEFINITELY not in Trimble, Tennessee anymore! What.......how....??? I guess that THIS is why you should ALWAYS be careful about what you wish for!" On a thought, she looked around at her stomach, and sure enough, she still had her small baby-bump, meaning that she was still pregnant, though now she had a sneaking suspicion that she was pregnant with a foal instead of a Human baby! "Well, I'm still pregnant at any rate. But wait a minute. If I'm here, (wherever that is) then that means that I'm not close to my school anymore. And if I'm not close to my school, I'm not close to home at all, and if I'm not close to home..............." Wendelle then fully realized that she was now in a strange new world, far away from her school, hometown, and even her family.

"Oh God, MY FAMILY!!!!" She realized that she had no way to contact them, or even let them know that she was ok. In her mind, many nightmarish scenarios began to play out. She knew that her parents and brother had to be looking for her, but she knew that they weren't going to find her. Wendelle stepped back from the river, and after stumbling back to where she'd been lying previously, Wendelle sat down next to her backpack, which was lying fully intact on its side close by, picked up the crystal pendant as best she could with a hoof, and after holding it close to her, she began to cry. She cried for herself, she cried for her family, and she cried for her unborn child.

Wendelle wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there crying, but she eventually felt something touch her shoulder. "Um.....excuse me, Miss? Are you ok?"

Wendelle jumped a bit, but she turned to where the voice had come from. She looked, and to her surprise, there stood 2 other equines. One looked to be a mare with pink-colored fur, and a teal mane and tail, as well as orange cat-like eyes, bat-like wings, and a gold ribbon bow on her flank, similar to the 2 pink hearts on her own flank. The other looked to be a stallion with light red fur, a fire-yellow mane and tail, amber-colored cat-like eyes, bat-like wings, and a sword and shield mark on his flank.

"Are you ok Miss?" The stallion asked again. "We heard crying, and then we came over here and found you."

The mare then seemed to notice her torn clothes. "My goodness! What in Equestria happened to you?! Were you attacked?"

Wendelle shook her head. "N-no......" She said through her tears. "I..........I'm lost. I'm........n-not from around here.......and I......I woke up here.......surrounded by these flowers..........so far from home..........I woke up as whatever I am now............and I just...........I just.............oh God!" She then started crying again.

The mare and stallion looked at each other with wide eyes. They could see the truth in Wendelle's eyes before she buried them in her hooves when she started crying again. They'd never seen her around there before, and they could clearly tell by her clothes, as well as her backpack that she wasn't from around there, and if her statements were to be believed, she wasn't even from Equestria at all!

The mare then went over, and pulled Wendelle close to her. "Shh.......it's ok Miss. You're ok. I'm here for you. You don't have to cry. Everything's going to be ok. You're safe here."

The mare wasn't sure why, but she had a gut-feeling that the young mare that she was holding was very special, though she wasn't sure why yet. She was hoping to find out soon though.

Eventually, Wendelle was finally able to calm down. Once she did, she looked at the mare who'd comforted her while she cried. "T-th-thank you." She whispered softly.

The mare smiled. "You're welcome. It was my pleasure to help you Miss."

"I have so many questions right now."

"Well, my husband and I have a few too, so maybe we can help each other out. We'll be happy to answer all of your questions, and in return, you can answer some of ours."

Wendelle thought about that. "Sure, that works. You can go first."

"Well, you could always start by telling us your name, as well as a little bit about yourself."

"Oh, ok. Well, my name is Wendelle. Wendelle Williams. I'm 18 years old, and as you can probably tell, I'm NOT from around here! I lived in Trimble, Tennessee with my Mom, Dad, and older brother Paul. I was in high school, my last year before I would graduate, and.........." Wendelle hesitated. She wanted to tell the mare and stallion about her present condition, but she was hesitant to do so.

"And what?"

"Nothing. It's............I don't want to trouble you with it. Anyway, on my way home from school earlier today, I found a crystal pendant, and then things started getting strange......" She then explained about the lightning, as well as the mass of white energy, and her winding up where they'd found her. ".....And that's how I got here. I'm not quite sure how long I've been here, but I think that it's safe enough to assume that I've been here for a few hours."

The mare and stallion were surprised. They'd never expected to hear a story like what Wendelle had just told them. They believed her story, but it was just so surprising to hear all the same.

"And now that I've told you a bit about myself, would you mind telling me a bit about yourselves?"

The mare nodded. "Certainly! My name is Moonlight Rose, and this is my husband, Red Dusk. I'm 32 years old, and my husband is 33, and we've been married for 6 years. We've lived in this area our whole lives, and are very fond of it."

Wendelle nodded. "Well it's nice to meet you Mrs. Moonlight."

"You can just call me Moonlight Wendelle."

"Oh, ok. And my next question is, where am I right now? I'm clearly a LONG WAY from Trimble!"

"This is the country of Equestria, which is the largest nation here on Equus."

"Oh. The country I'm from, America, was the most powerful nation on my planet, Earth. And please don't take offense to this, but my next question is, what are you? Or better yet, what are WE? We're all equines of some sort, but not normal ones!"

Red chuckled a bit. "Yes, we're not quite 'normal equines'! We're Ponies. Or to be more specific, we're a breed of Ponies known as 'Bat-Ponies'. We have bat-like wings, cat-like eyes, furry ears, fangs, fur and manes that are slightly thicker than normal, we can see in total darkness, have a heightened senses of hearing and smell, and among other things, are also able to 'scree' when we're really happy, and make other bat-like noises, not to mention being able to hang upside down like ordinary bats can!"

To say that Wendelle was surprised would have been an understatement; she was SHOCKED at what she'd just been told about what she was now!

"So.......I'm......a Bat-Pony now? Wow. That's a pretty far cry from what I used to be!"

"And what was that?" Moonlight asked.

"I was a Human. I stood on 2 legs, had blonde hair, no tail or wings, and my eyes had round pupils. I was also able to wear clothes that fit me, and I didn't have fur or fangs either. Humans were the dominant species on Earth, but I'm not Human anymore."

"No, you're not. And do you want to take those torn and ripped clothes off? I can put them in my saddlebags for you if you want."

Wendelle looked at her clothes, and then over at Moonlight, who was pulling a pair of saddlebags off of her back with her teeth, before setting them on the ground. "Ok, sure." Then, with help from Moonlight, Wendelle took off the remains of her clothes, before gathering them, as well as any pieces that fell off previously, and her ruined shoes, and putting them in Moonlight's saddlebags. Now she was as "naked" as they were in a sense, but neither of them seemed to mind, or really notice.

"There. Is that any better Wendelle?"

"Yeah, it is. Thank you Moonlight."

"You're welcome."

"And if you don't mind my asking, what are these marks on our flanks?"

"They're called 'Cutie-Marks'. They're to show us what our special talent it. Whenever we learn what our special talent is, a mark of it appears on our flanks. My special talent is working with ribbons and bows for store displays, and my husband's special talent is in combat, hence the sword and shield for his Cutie-Mark. And what's your special talent?"

Wendelle looked back at her own Cutie-Mark; 2 pink hearts on both flanks. "Honestly Moonlight, I haven't the foggiest idea. I just woke up with this a little while ago, and.........." She paused. She wondered if it had anything to do with her pregnancy, and the dream that she had of wanting a big family one day. ".........I just don't know."

Moonlight could tell that Wendelle had something on her mind, and she wanted to know what it was, but she didn't want to pry, since it could be something private. All she could do was hope that Wendelle would say something on her own.

"And if you don't mind my asking, what were you guys doing out here when you found me?"

Red answered that. "Moonlight and I were out for a walk. We take them often when the weather's nice, and we heard what sounded like somepony crying close to the Silver Shine River, and when we investigated, we found you."

"Oh." Wendelle then looked at the river that was close by. "So that's the Silver Shine River?"

"Yes. It's quite a nice feature here close to Sundale Mountain, which is where we live, as well as the rest of our colony.

"Um, colony?"

Red nodded. "Yes. Bat-Ponies live together in colonies, which are pretty much just small towns. Moonlight and I live in the colony of Lunar-Nova, which is located above and below Sundale Mountain. It's a very nice place to live, though the population's a little bit small, with only 1,307 Bat-Ponies living there."

Wendelle laughed a bit. "That's bigger than my hometown of Trimble, Tennessee. There's only about 650 people living there!"

Both Red and Moonlight laughed a bit with Wendelle. They never would have thought that her hometown was even smaller than theirs, but now that they realized that it was, it was kind of funny!

Moonlight then asked Wendelle a serious question. "Wendelle, do you...........do you have a place to stay?"

Wendelle frowned, before shaking her head. "No.........I don't. I just arrived here after being plucked away from Earth, and I just realized that I don't have a place to stay."

"You can stay with us if you want to. We have a spare room at home."

"I appreciate the offer, but I wouldn't want to impose."

"Oh it wouldn't be imposing at all. We would love to have you stay with us."

"Oh, well if you don't mind, then I guess that I could stay with you."

Moonlight nodded, and she asked Wendelle if she had all of her things together. Wendelle went over to her backpack, and after finding that it was still intact, she picked it up with her teeth, and set it upright again. She then saw the crystal pendant again lying in the grass next to it. Sighing, she picked it up with her hooves, and put it around her neck for the time being.

"Oh wow. That's the crystal pendant that brought you here?" Moonlight asked.

Wendelle nodded. "Yes. This is it."

"It's a nice pendant. I think that it looks good on you.

"Thanks. I thought that it looked pretty interesting when I found it under a bush on my way home from school. I'd never seen anything like it before, and I was hoping to be able to sell it so that I could have money for my........Oh........" She then stopped short.

"Money for what?"

Wendelle kept opening her mouth like she was going to say something, but no sound came out. Moonlight then put 2 and 2 together. While she'd been helping Wendelle remove her damaged clothes, she'd begun to wonder if she was pregnant, as her stomach seemed to be a little bit rounder than it should have been. Wendelle had also seemed to not want to talk about something, and now she talked about needing money for something, before stopping short.

"You're a mom-to-be, aren't you Wendelle?" She whispered softly.

Wendelle sighed, before nodding slowly. "Yes. I'm 1 month along." She then explained about Michael, as well as her family's support of her. "I wanted to keep my baby, and strangely enough, putting him or her up for adoption never crossed my mind. That's why I wanted to sell the pendant; so that I'd have more money for what was to come."

Moonlight had no idea what to say. She'd heard about this happening to young mares before, but now that she heard Wendelle's story, she felt sorry for her family, burning anger towards Michael, and she felt sadness for Wendelle herself. She'd done nothing to deserve the fate she'd been given, and now she was away from her family, 1 month pregnant with a foal, and had no one to take care of her.

"That settles it then. Even if you didn't want to stay with my husband and I before, with your current condition, there's no way I'd let you say no now. You can stay with us for as long as you like Wendelle."

Wendelle hugged Moonlight with tears in her eyes, before she hugged Red as well. "Thank you. You.......you don't know what this means to me."

"Maybe not, but I'm pretty sure that we can guess."

"And where do you live again?"

Red pointed up the path a ways. "Lunar-Nova is located maybe 2 miles from here, close to the top of Sundale Mountain. Our house is close to the edge of town."

"And can I walk there since I don't know how to fly yet?"

Red nodded. "Yes, you can walk there. Moonlight and I walked from there to here, and we were planning on walking back."

Wendelle nodded. "Ok. Just let me grab my backpack, and then you can lead the way."

"Ok."

She then walked over to her backpack. She tried to put it on like she used to, but due to it being the wrong size, it wouldn't stay on. Red then offered to carry it for her, to which Wendelle agreed. Just before they left the area though, Wendelle had one more question.

"And I have to know. What are these flowers called? They're so pretty!"

Moonlight agreed. "Yes, they really are, aren't they? They're called Lunar Halo Flowers. They grow all around here on Sundale Mountain, but due to their VERY unique anatomy, they can even grow in the caves deep underground due to them not requiring much sunlight!"

"What?! How can they not require much sunlight?!"

"That's just how they work. They're one of the most unique types of flowers in all of Equestria! They're also only found close to Bat-Pony colonies, though this is due to them only being found in and around caves."

"Wow! And can I pick one?"

Moonlight nodded. "Sure. There's no laws against picking the flowers, though the unspoken rule is not to pick more than one small bouquet per Pony per day."

Wendelle nodded, before picking one of the dark-colored flowers, and placing it behind her left ear.

"Aww, you look really cute like that Wendelle!"

Wendelle blushed a bit. "T-thanks Moonlight. And I can still smell it too!"

Moonlight giggled a bit, before she and Red began to lead the way back to Lunar-Nova.

After walking alongside the river for a while, the path that the 3 of them were on soon began to wrap around Sundale Mountain. About halfway up the mountain, Wendelle looked over and saw what looked like a town on the other side of the Silver Shine River maybe 2 miles away from where they were.

"What town is that over there?"

Red looked to where she was pointing. "Oh, that's Brulee. It's the closest town to Lunar-Nova, though it only has a population of 1,200 or so. It's also the closest town to us that doesn't just have Bat-Ponies living there."

Wendelle was surprised. "It doesn't?"

"No. In Brulee, you can also find Earth-Ponies, Pegasai, and even Unicorns. It's a nice little town, and there's a train station there, which makes for easy rail access to the rest of Equestria."

Wendelle blinked a few times. Not only were there Bat-Ponies in Equestria, but there were also Unicorns, Pegasai, and Earth-Ponies? "I know what Unicorns and Pegasai are, but what's an 'Earth-Pony'?"

"Oh, and Earth-Pony is a Pony that doesn't have wings or a horn, but they do have immense strength, and have remarkable skills when it comes to growing crops." Moonlight answered.

"And are Bat-Ponies, Pegasai, Unicorns and Earth Ponies the only types of Ponies in Equestria?"

Moonlight shook her head. "No, there is one more type; the Alicorns, but there's only 4 of them. Alicorns have the wings of a Pegasus, the horn of a Unicorn, as well as the strength of an Earth-Pony. Alicorns are also royalty, and they rule Equestria. At the very top are the 2 Diarch Princesses, Princess Celestia, Princess of the Sun, and Princess Luna, Princess of the Moon. They rule Equestria from Canterlot Castle, located in the city of Canterlot, in the center of Equestria. Then below them comes their niece, Princess Cadence, the Princess of Love. She and her (Unicorn) husband, Prince Shining Armor, rule over the Crystal Empire, which is a territory to the North of Equestria. Finally, there's Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. She more or less rules over the township of Ponyville, located to the south of Canterlot." (Moonlight thought about telling Wendelle that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna also controlled the Sun and Moon, but she didn't want to sound crazy, so she didn't mention it, and motioned to Red not to mention it either).

"And how does a Pony become an Alicorn?"

Moonlight shrugged. "Nopony knows. Some think that they're born as Alicorns, while others say that you just......become one somehow. Princess Twilight Sparkle ascended into Alicornhood somehow, though we're not sure how she did it. She's the most recent Alicorn, only having ascended last year."

"Oh. Maybe I'll have to make my way over to Ponyville, Canterlot, or the Crystal Empire someday. They sound like such nice places. Have you ever been to any of them?"

"Yes, Red and I have been to both Ponyville and Canterlot, though neither of us have been to the Crystal Empire. Ponyville is a nice little town, though Canterlot, since it's the capital of Equestria, is a VERY busy city! I'd recommend seeing Ponyville if you ever get the chance."

Wendelle nodded. "Ok, I'll keep that in mind."

Moonlight nodded, and the 3 of them kept walking.

Not too long after this conversation ended, the 3 of them finally arrived at Lunar-Nova.

"Here we are, Lunar-Nova!"

Wendelle looked around, a little bit confused. All she could see were a few small buildings surrounded by grass, a few more Lunar Halo Flowers, and a few groves of trees. "Um, I don't see a colony. All I see are a few small buildings."

Red laughed a bit. "And that's all you'll ever see if you only look above ground! Our colony is located in the caves BENEATH Sundale Mountain! Some buildings are above ground, though most are below."

Wendelle blushed a bit. "Oh, whoops! My mistake!"

"It's ok, a LOT of other Ponies who come to visit Lunar-Nova make the exact same mistake. The entrance to the caves is just around here." Red then led the way over to a large cave entrance.

The entrance was carved right into the side of Sundale Mountain, and there were several Bat-Ponies entering and exiting through the large entrance. After walking through it, the path that led to the entrance began to slope downwards, and kept going deeper into the mountain. The walls of the cave were lined with both torches and some sort of crystals that provided light, and pretty soon, the path came out at the edge of what looked to be a small town, though all of it was located underground!

Wendelle could see stores, restaurants, houses, a small park, and other businesses. There were Bat-Ponies everywhere, and when she looked up, Wendelle could see large stalactites on the ceiling of the cave, as well as the tops of a few buildings that seemed to go above ground. The ceiling and walls also had a few cracks that let in natural sunlight.

"Oh, so what I saw up there were just the top 1 or 2 stories of a much larger house or other building."

Red nodded. "Yes. Some wanted their house, or other building partially above ground, so while most of it was built down here, the top extends above ground."

Wendelle nodded, and she kept walking with Red and Moonlight. Pretty soon, they came to what appeared to be the town square. There was a beautiful glass dome covering the town square, and Wendelle also saw a building that appeared to be the town hall.

"Wow, this dome is amazing!"

Moonlight agreed. "Yes, it truly is, isn't it? It's called the Lunar Dome, and it dates back to when Lunar-Nova was first founded. The first residents built this dome to protect them against falling rocks and stalactites while they built the town. The dome was left in place even after construction work ceased, and it's been a prominent feature of Lunar-Nova ever since."

"And is that the town hall over there?"

"Yes, it is. That's where the mayor works, the town council meets, and there's an auditorium in there too for public events, though most public events are held here in the town square."

"Oh, so a mayor is in charge of your colony. And who is the current mayor of Lunar-Nova?"

Red spoke up. "Galaxy Cosmos is the current mayor. He's a Bat-Pony with midnight-blue fur with some white patches, as well as a black mane and tail, purple eyes, and his Cutie-Mark is a crescent moon with a white star on the inside. He's a very good mayor, and has been reelected several times now. Everypony here in Lunar-Nova loves him, though he may retire soon."

"Hmm, he sounds like a very nice stallion. I'd like to be able to meet him someday."

"Most likely you will Wendelle. He's at most public events held here in Lunar-Nova, and there are a number of them."

Wendelle nodded, and once she followed Red and Moonlight out of the town square, they led her to a small 2-story light-gray stone house on the other side of town.

"So this is where you and Red live Moonlight?"

Moonlight nodded. "Yes, this is where we live. We've lived here ever since we were married, and we love it here."

Once Red unlocked the door, he pushed it open, revealing a small entryway. Straight ahead from the entryway was the kitchen, and to the left was the living room. A flight of stairs led upstairs, and tucked under the stairs was a storage closet, with a small bathroom and a small dining room completing the first floor.

"Wow, this is a really nice house Moonlight. I can see why you like it here."

Moonlight smiled. "Thank you Wendelle. And Red and I hope that you like it here too."

"I'm pretty sure that I will. It reminds me a bit of my old house back in Tennessee."

Moonlight nodded, and while Red went into the kitchen to begin to make dinner, Moonlight led the way upstairs so that Wendelle could begin to get settled into her new room.

The upstairs of the house was a little bit smaller than the downstairs. At the top of the stairs to the left was a closet, and to the right was a small office. Just past the office was a bathroom, and just past the bathroom was a bedroom, and a guest room. A skylight at the end of the hallway provided some light, though the rest came from electric lights.

"This guest room is where you'll be staying Wendelle." Moonlight then pushed open the door, and walked into the room. Wendelle followed behind her, and when she saw the room, she smiled a bit. The walls were painted sky blue, and there was a queen-sized bed, a desk, a chair, a vanity mirror and stool, a closet, a dresser, and a fur rug that Moonlight identified as a Wampus-Cat fur rug. She went on to explain that Wampus-cats were VERY dangerous creatures that lived in some areas of Equestria, though not close to Lunar-Nova.

"Wow, yeah, I'm REALLY glad that they don't live around here. I'd be pretty scared if they did!"

"So would I." Moonlight then set Wendelle's backpack that she'd carried upstairs for her next to the bed, and she placed the remains of Wendelle's clothes that she'd stashed in her saddlebags in the nearby dresser. After showing her the bathroom, Moonlight led Wendelle back downstairs, and the 2 of them then helped Red cook dinner, though this was somewhat difficult for Wendelle, since she wasn't used to walking on all fours, or gripping things with her hooves and teeth!

After dinner that night, the 3 of them stayed up talking for a little while longer, before they all went to bed. Wendelle had a hard time falling asleep that night. As she lay in bed, Wendelle thought about her family, and she still missed them as much as she knew that they missed her.

"I wish that you were here Mom, Dad and Paul. I wish that I could let you know that I'm ok. I didn't run away, and I didn't kill myself either; I'm right here, just stuck in a different dimension, as a Bat-Pony!" She then reached down a hoof, and gently rubbed her baby-bump. "H-hey there Little One". She whispered softly. "I don't know if you can hear me right now, but a LOT has happened since I said that I would provide the best life that I could for you a little bit earlier today. We're now in the land of Equestria, and I'm a Bat-Pony, just as I'm pretty sure that you're a Bat-Pony foal! However, what I said before still stands; I love you with all of my heart, and I WILL do my best to provide the best life that I possibly can for you. It won't be easy, but I know that I can do it with help from Moonlight and Red." She then blew her unborn foal a kiss. "Goodnight, my sweet Little One. I love you, with all of my heart."

After saying goodnight to her unborn foal, Wendelle was finally able to fall asleep.

After being in Lunar-Nova for a few days, Wendelle was able to settle into a new routine. Life in the colony was so peaceful, and she kept herself busy by helping Moonlight around the house, or helping her make her ribbons and bows for store displays. Red Dusk was often busy with his job with the local guards patrolling the colony, and the rest of Sundale Mountain.

Not too long after her arrival, word of Wendelle's arrival began to spread across the colony. A number of Bat-Ponies were very eager to see Wendelle, and about a week after she arrived in Lunar-Nova, a party was held in the town square to celebrate her coming to live in the colony. Many of the residents of Lunar-Nova were in attendance, none the least of which was Mayor Galaxy Cosmos. He was delighted to meet Wendelle, just as she was glad to finally be able to meet him.

"It's an honor to finally meet you Miss Williams. I hope that your stay in Lunar-Nova has been pleasant so far." He said as he extended his hoof to her.

Wendelle nodded, shaking his hoof. "Yes, it certainly has Mayor Cosmos. Oh, and you can just call me 'Wendelle'."

"Certainly Wendelle. There's no finer Bat-Pony colony in Equestria than Lunar-Nova, and as I'm sure you can see, the whole town's honored to play host to such an amazing Bat-Pony such as yourself; especially one who wasn't a Bat-Pony originally, and instead came from another world!"

Wendelle agreed, and she eventually rejoined Red and Moonlight in enjoying the party, and getting to know the other Bat-Ponies of Lunar-Nova.

A few days after this, after a LOT of deliberation, Wendelle finally decided to get around to selling her crystal pendant. Part of her didn't want to do it, since it was such a lovely pendant, but she felt that it was the best thing to do; both for her, and for her unborn foal. She took the crystal pendant to Mineshaft Digs, which was the best place in Lunar-Nova that dealt with crystals, gems, geodes, jewelry made from these items, anything else related to rocks, and of course, the tools and equipment needed to mine/dig for them. The store was run by a Bat-Pony stallion named Hard Stone, though most in Lunar-Nova called him Digs. He had gray fur, green eyes, a white mane and tail, as well as a white beard. He also wore a prospector's hat, a dirty white shirt, suspenders, and blue sort of pants, which all but completely hid his Cutie-Mark of a miner's pick and shovel from view. In his present state, he reminded Wendelle of an old prospector from the glory days of mining in the Western US in the late 1800's.

He looked up at her from the old cash register when she walked in. "Well, It's nice to finally make your acquaintance Wendelle. I was wonderin' if you'd ever come to my humble shop here, and now it seems that ya finally did! Heh, heh, hee! Welcome to Mineshaft Digs, the FINEST shop in Lunar-Nova that deals in any and all things rock, and the tools to mine them! What can I do for ya?"

Wendelle couldn't help but smile. Digs sounded as much like an old prospector as he looked, and he looked like he'd just jumped off the page of a history book! "Well Mr. Digs, I was told that this was the best place in Lunar-Nova to sell crystals, gems, geodes, and any jewelry made from them, and I had a crystal pendant that I wanted to sell."

Digs nodded. "Yep, you've certainly come to that right place for that Missy! Though you can just call me Digs! Now then, let's see the pendant."

Wendelle pulled it out of her now resized backpack, (which now fit on her back perfectly, though she now used it like a saddlebag) and set it on the counter. Digs then pulled out a jeweler's eyepiece lens, and after putting it on, looked at the pendant.

"Wow, I ain't seen one of these in a VERY long time! Where did you find this Wendelle?"

"It was under a bush alongside a nature trail close to my old school. I found it just before I was sent to Equestria, and I thought that it looked unique. What is it?"

"This is a small chunk of a one-of-a-kind crystal known as the Nightmare Crystal. It was made famous, (or infamous!) by Nightmare Moon. She tried to rise to power over 1,000 years ago, but was stopped by Princess Celestia, and banished to the Moon for 1,000 years. However, before she was banished, she fashioned a special crystal that she planned on using to store Magic in. However, the crystal was destroyed when she was defeated, and its pieces were gathered up, and made their way across Equestria over the years since. The crystal in your pendant is a small chunk of the Nightmare Crystal!"

Wendelle was shocked. The crystal in her pendant was a small chunk of a one-of-a-kind crystal that was used by an evil would-be conqueror? "What happened to Nightmare Moon?" She asked quietly. "She's not gonna come looking for this chunk of her crystal, will she?"

Digs shook his head. "No, she won't Wendelle. She was defeated for good a few years ago, and she ain't comin' back." He then went on to explain more about the defeat of Nightmare Moon.

"And what's this crystal pendant worth?"

"It's actually worth quite a bit. I've seen chunks about this size sell for almost 400 Bits, which is close to what I'm prepared to offer you Wendelle. I can give ya 375 Bits for your pendant."

Wendelle was shocked. Originally she was hoping to get $100 or so for the pendant, but now she was being offered 375 Bits for it, and she learned about its history as well.

"Well, I sure hate to see it go, but I need the money for my unborn child. I'll take the 375 Bits."

Digs nodded. "Certainly Wendelle. I'll just ring that up for you." He then opened the register, and after counting them out carefully, handed Wendelle a bag of 375 bits.

Wendelle took the bits, and put them in her backpack. "Thank you Digs. I hope that you can find a buyer for that crystal pendant."

"Me too Wendelle. I appreciate ya selling it to me, and I hope that you'll come back sometime!"

"I'll try to Digs!" Wendelle then left Mineshaft Digs.

Once she was gone, Digs looked at the Nightmare Crystal Pendant. He didn't know why, but he had a strange feeling about that pendant. He felt like it would soon belong to somepony else; somepony else who was buying it for Wendelle for a special reason. He tried to shake the feeling as he put it in a glass display case behind the counter with other crystals, crystal jewelry, and crystal pendants, but it wouldn't quite leave him be.

"So strange." He muttered. "I've heard some pretty bizarre stories 'bout folks who found one of these chunks of the Nightmare Crystal, but now that I have one of the chunks? I'm gettin' weird vibes 'bout it. I hope I can sell it soon."

He then left the pendant be, and got back to work.

Once she had the 375 bits, Wendelle put most of them in her bank account that she opened not long after coming to Lunar-Nova. She also earned a little bit of money from helping Moonlight with her business of making ribbons and bows; money that also went into her account. Life was really starting to look up for Wendelle, but yet at the same time, aside from a few friends that she'd made since coming to Lunar-Nova, not to mention Moonlight and Red, she was lonely. She wished that she didn't have to be a single mom, and that she could meet someone, or rather, somepony, who would be there for her, love her like no other, and be her soulmate.

One night, Wendelle was walking on top of Sundale Mountain among the trees close to the tops of the few buildings that had their tops above ground, when she stopped to look at some Lunar Halo Flowers. She still thought that they were so beautiful, and she picked another one, before placing it behind her left ear. However, just as she was standing up again, Wendelle looked up, and she saw a shooting star pass by!

"Whoa!" Then, remembering the folklore surrounding shooting stars, Wendelle made her wish. "I wish that I could find my soulmate. Somepony who will be there for me to the end; somepony who will eventually be my husband." She then watched the shooting star vanish into the night sky.

Wendelle had no idea that her wish was about to come true, and that in a short time, she would indeed meet the one who would become her soulmate. She didn't know it yet, but she was about to be the happiest mare in ALL of Lunar-Nova!

Author's Note

And, that was Chapter 2.

So now Wendelle is in the colony of Lunar-Nova, she's a Bat-Pony, and she met Moonlight Rose and Red Dusk who were willing to take her in, and let her stay with them. She also learned a lot about Equestria, the Bat-Ponies, and the area around Lunar-Nova. Oh, and Wendelle also learned a bit more about the crystal pendant that she found, and she was able to sell it to better herself and her unborn foal. She's settling into life in Lunar-Nova, but the real question is, what now?

How long will Wendelle end up staying in Lunar-Nova? Will she ever find a house of her own, or will she continue to live with Moonlight and Red? Will she ever find her soulmate like she wants to? And what about Conner Dwight? Is HE Wendelle's soulmate? And what was it that I said in the description about him being onboard the ex-Paul F. Foster, and then almost getting killed before being sent to Equestria? And what could possibly happen next? Well, you know the drill; stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

In the meantime, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 3!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 3: End of an Era

While Wendelle was adjusting to her new life in Equestria, back on Earth, off the coast of California, another saga was unfolding. This is where I come into the story.

Hello, my name is Conner. Conner Dwight. I know that most of you have never heard of me, so I'll just go ahead and talk a little bit about myself. I stand 5'11, weigh 158lbs, have dirty blonde, almost brown hair, blue eyes, am 20 1/2 years old, and I hail from Idaho. I come from a town called Idaho City; a tiny little slip of a mountain town with a whopping population of 485 people as of 2010. Yeah, it's just huge, and there's SO MUCH to see and to that's not related to potatoes, the mountains, or skiing. HA! Right! Anyway, I'm also in the Navy. I joined when I graduated high school in 2012, and after earning my degree in military history, (it was a Bachelor's Degree) I was allowed to enroll in US Navy Officer School, which I graduated with the rank of Ensign.

After I graduated, I was assigned to my first post at the Ventura County Naval Base, located in Port Hueneme, California. This base is the home of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD), a component of the Naval Sea Systems Command, (NAVSEA). Broken down into simple English, these guys develop and test naval missile technology, ship engineering components, missile guidance systems, naval logistics support, and underway replenishment, among other things. It all sounds pretty cool, unless you're not helping out with that, and are instead playing babysitter to an ex-US Navy ship that they're testing stuff on.

Yep, that's what I did. I was assigned to an engineering team (read: janitors and fix-it guys), attached to the ex-Paul F. Foster, Self-Defense Test Ship, (SDTS).

The ship's purpose was to defend herself against air and sea attacks, ranging from missiles, to torpedoes, and even bombs. Sometimes things would be fired in her general direction, and sometimes they would be fired at a weapons barge that she was towing a scant 150 feet behind her! Now of course, due to the EXTREME danger of such an operation, the ship's steering and propulsion controls were largely replaced with computers, thus enabling her to be remotely operated. In fact, she's most likely the largest remote-operated vehicle in the world, and still somewhat armed.

Of course, the ex-Paul F. Foster wasn't always the way that she was today. Once, she was the proud USS Paul F. Foster DD-964, the second of the US Navy's Spruance-Class Destroyers.

She was 563 feet long, had a beam of 55 feet, a draft of 29 feet, was powered by 4 General Electric gas turbines turning 2 propellers, and had a complement of 19 officers, and 315 enlisted men. She was also armed with 2 x 5in guns, 2 phalanx cannons, a number of Harpoon and Sea Sparrow missile launchers, a 61 tube Vertical-Launch System (VLS) for more missiles, and 2 x Mark 32 triple torpedo tubes. This is on top of her AN/LS Q-32 electronic warfare system, and her AN/LS Q-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures, among other things. The Spruance-Class destroyers did their job well from the 1970's, until the late 90's, when the Navy decided that they wanted to start saving $28 million per year in maintenance and upgrade costs, so they started retiring the Spruances in favor of the then brand-new Arleigh Burke-Class destroyers. The last of them were out of service by 2005, and by decade's end, a few were scrapped, while the rest were all blown up as target ships, leaving only 1 survivor. Yes, our now ex-Paul F. Foster was the last of the Spruance-Class Destroyers. She was largely de-militarized, and turned into a Self-Defense Test Ship, a role that she would serve from 2005, all the way until May of 2015, and that's where our story REALLY begins!

Working with the Foster was one of the most boring jobs in the ENTIRE Navy. I was a part of a 12 man (well, 8 guys and 4 women!) engineering team, and all we had to do was keep her floating, evaluate her before she left her moorings for a weapons test, sail onboard her out to a test site, make sure that everything was secure with both the ship, and the weapons barge that she was towing, and then pile into 2 motor launches, and get the hell out of Dodge! None of the guys on the team that I was a part of were on board the Foster during any tests, due to the EXTREME dangers of being on a SDTS during a live-fire weapons test! Once we were safely on the mothership where the scientists and other naval personnel were stationed, we monitored the Foster's condition all throughout the test. Then, once it was all over, we'd get back onto the motor launches, sail back out to the Foster, evaluate her again, do what we had to do, and then sail onboard her back to port, where we'd do yet another set of evaluations, and then clean and repair the ship again. The job was SO boring, and the monotony was enough to drive ANYONE crazy! We'd all signed up to be ship's engineers, and here we were playing babysitter to a former destroyer-turned-SDTS.

"This is SO shitty! Why the hell did we EVER think that working with the Foster was going to be fun?!"

I shrugged. "I wanted to work with her because she's the last Spruance-Class Destroyer in all of existence, and I thought that helping out with the weapon's tests were going to be fun!"

"So did I! Instead, all we do is clean, fix, evaluate, monitor, and sail on the Foster, but even then, we don't control jack-shit!"

I knew what my fellow engineer was referring to. While we were technically "sailing" onboard the Foster, we weren't controlling anything. Everything was being operated remotely from the mothership, and all we had to do was stand there, don't touch anything, don't break anything, don't take pictures of anything, and monitor the ship's condition, as well as the condition of the weapons barge that we were towing. That was literally it until we reached the test site. Then we'd check everything again, and then leave for the mothership until they were done blasting the heck out of the weapons barge, or outright sunk it. Then we'd return to the Foster.

I sighed. "Yeah, but look at it this way guys. We're getting paid to stand there some of the time, not work very hard other times, and we get to see some REALLY cool explosions, as well as other weapons tests when the Foster defends herself. How many other people get to see that on a regular basis?"

"I see what you're trying to say Conner, and I appreciate it, but I signed up to be an engineer, NOT play babysitter to the world's biggest remote-controlled ship! I REALLY wish that something interesting would happen! Something to break the long, dull monotony of our everyday lives! Don't you guys agree?"

"Yeah, I kinda wish that too. However, you should ALWAYS be careful what you wish for. Sometimes what you want, isn't always what you get."

I looked over at the one who had spoken, Captain Robert "Bob" Mullens. He was the one in charge of the rest of us in the team assigned to the Foster, and we all looked up to him as a leader. "Well said Bob. Though I do agree, I wish that we could have a break from our routine, just one. Why does everything always have to be the same?"

The others agreed with me, but little did we know just how impactful our wishing was going to be. The same old monotony may be boring, but all it takes is it not being normal one time for lives to be lost. Oh how I wish that I'd known that sooner!

On May 11th, 2015, the 12 of us were getting the Foster ready to be taken out again. Our mission that day was to tow a decommissioned, and recently re-armored patrol craft 150 feet behind the ship out to the test site, and then monitor the ship during a test of a prototype of the next generation of Harpoon anti-ship missile. We knew that the test was going to be pretty interesting, but little did we suspect how much it was going to impact us. As we were doing our daily evaluations of the ship, getting her ready to go while the scientists and other Navy personnel were loading up onto the mothership, we kept getting interrupted. Flying close to the ship were a number of crows. They kept cawing, landing on the ship, and they wouldn't leave us be.

"Oh for the love of.......CAN SOMEBODY GET THESE F@#KING CROWS OUT OF HERE?!?!?!"

Bob looked up from his clipboard. "I dunno Chief. That's your guys's job."

I groaned a bit. Everyone had a nickname in the military, and mine was "Chief". How did I get this? Well, you know the expression "This ain't it Chief"? I didn't get it for that, but because I kept trying to give orders, even though I was just an Ensign. Bob was in charge, and under him were 4 other lieutenants. The unfortunate nickname stuck, and I couldn't change it.

"Well what else can we do without shooting them Bob?!"

Bob laughed a bit. "If only we weren't in California, or in port. Then we could shoot them, and say that they attacked first, and probably get away with doing so! Just keep them away from the ship's doors and hatches, and we should be ready to be underway soon. How's the checklist coming?"

I looked over my checklist on my clipboard. "Yeah, we should be Bob. We only have a few more things to check, and then we check in with the ones 'holding our leash' on the mothership, and then we tell them to get us moving so that we can get out to the test site."

Once we were done with that by 11:36am, those on the mothership were ready, and once we'd un-moored the ship from the pier she was attached to, we started up the Foster's engines, and once the power was on, and all instruments were functioning as normal, we checked in, and then the ones controlling the ship got the propellers spinning, and the Foster began to move out, towing the armored patrol craft behind her. Once we were underway, we continued to monitor the systems, but all the same, some of the crows were still on the ship when it pulled out. They wouldn't leave, and they wouldn't stop cawing. To some of us, the crows were an omen of bad things to come.

I wasn't one of them, but maybe I should have been. I was just annoyed with them, and was waiting for us to get away from the shore so that we could shoot the crows and be done with it! I was also eagerly awaiting the missile test ahead of us, so with the land, the armored patrol craft, and our mothership behind us, and nothing ahead of us but ocean, we pulled away from port, and out into the open ocean.

By 2:37pm, we finally reached the test site. Once we'd arrived, a few other ships began to set up a perimeter around the test site so that other ships would know to stay away. The Foster was eased into position, and once the engines were shut down, we began to go through our checklists once again, as well as recording some data from the ship's instruments, and relaying the information over to the mothership, in addition to writing it down. Some of us FINALLY got around to shooting the crows that wouldn't leave, and we ended up bagging 5 of them before the rest fled. We then left their corpses on the Foster's main deck to deal with after the test, and we got ready to begin our usual evacuations on the motor launches once we had the go ahead from the mothership. However, this is when things went horribly wrong.

At this same time on the mothership, the destroyer USS Decatur DDG-73, the sailors and weapons technicians were readying the missile for launch. Some saw it as a strange irony that a ship called "Decatur" was now training her weapons on the Foster, when the Foster herself displaced the last STDS, ex-Decatur, which was subsequently sold for scrap. Adding to this humor, someone painted "Decatur's ghostly revenge" on the missile's warhead just before it was loaded into a firing position, and then locked into place. Then, as the weapon technicians began to aim the weapon, our bosses on the Decatur told us on the Foster to begin our evacuation.

"We're on it Sir. Even though you guys are aiming at the patrol craft behind us, we don't want to be here when things go boom!"

"We copy Captain Mullens."

Bob then put down his radio, and after we all got back to the main deck, we all began to climb into the motor launches. Bob and 5 others got into their boat, which they then lowered down into the water, and began to sail back towards the Decatur, while the other 6, including myself, began to climb into our own launch, little knowing that we weren't gonna make it home that day.

At this same time on the Decatur, the missile's targeting system malfunctioned, and instead of targeting the patrol craft, it instead targeted the Foster. Now this shouldn't have been a problem............had there not been an inexplicable power surge caused by an electrical discharge that started up the missile's launching sequence! From this second onward, EVERYTHING happened at once, and in the span of less than 30 seconds.

Once the launch sequence was spotted, someone tried to abort it. At this same time, someone else informed a superior officer, while someone else got on the radio with both Bob, and anyone else on the Foster.

"GET AWAY FROM THE SHIP!!!! IT'S GONNA GET HIT!!!!!"

Bob instantly jerked his head around to look at the Foster, and he saw the rest of us getting into our motor launch. "BOYS GET OUT OF THERE!!!!" He screamed at us.

Seconds after this, the missile fired, and in less than 5 seconds, hit the Foster at approximately the 3/4 mark on the hull, right by the engine room, and where the ship's fuel stores were. Now, the ship did use a new form of biofuel, but unfortunately this fuel was still VERY flammable, and even though there was no ammunition on the ship, there was still a chance of the fuel exploding, which it did. The explosion tore through the engineering spaces, and then up through the various decks of the ship towards the stern. When the full force of the explosion tore through the deck, it buckled the hull upwards, and a geyser of flames was briefly seen, before the ship itself lifted up out of the water for a brief period, before landing hard in the water again. Thick black smoke began to pour from the ship, and there were still visible flames, not to mention water beginning to pour into the ship through the holes, cracks, and gouges in the hull caused by the missile's hit, and then the subsequent explosion of the fuel tanks. Everyone on the ships were watching in dumbfounded shock, but then everyone seemed to remember that there were still 6 guys still on the ship!

And what happened to those 6 guys still on the ship when the explosion happened? Well, we heard the warnings, and while 4 were in the motor launch, they tried to cut the boat loose, but they weren't fast enough. The initial explosion of the missile tore the boat free, but it was the subsequent fuel explosion that did the most damage. Once the deck blew, fragments of shrapnel were blown in all directions; namely up into the air, into the water, and of course, into the 6 unfortunate souls still on the Foster. It was so horrible. The screaming, the scorching flames, the blood; it was indescribable. Then, from deep within the ship itself, there was a HUGE tertiary explosion, (still to this day, no one knows what caused it, since the fuel had already all blown up, and there was no ammunition on the ship) and the Foster was blown in 2 just ahead of the 3/4 mark on the ship (281 feet from the tip of the bow), and a huge, roughly 75 foot chunk of the stern was sheered completely off from the force of the explosion, and this threw anything that remained on the deck, (RIP all 6 of us engineers!) into the water in a geyser of flames, shrapnel, and blood.

When I hit the water, I was in about a cajillion pieces. I couldn't feel anything below my waist, I seemed to only have one arm, not to mention only half of my face. I was then blown under the water, and I knew that I was doomed. In my final moments, I said a prayer to God to save me, and then, I saw a strange black mass surround me. Then, from the Foster above, I heard one final explosion, and then the black mass swallowed me whole. I was gone, and I wasn't going to be back for a LONG time!

Back on the surface, it was pretty clear that all 6 of us engineers still on the Foster were dead. However, to the shock and surprise of those who'd witnessed it, the Foster was gone! Everyone had seen her stern blow up, but then it was as if the ship had simply vanished from existence! The ships used their sonar to check the bottom of the ocean in that area, but aside from some metal debris that had sunk, no traces of the ship were ever found. Eventually, the bodies of 5 out of the 6 engineers were found, and were buried at sea. There was going to be a HUGE investigation because of this, and it was NOT going to be pretty. It was pretty clear that the Foster was gone, and she'd seemingly taken that armored patrol craft that she was attached to with her, as well as the body of one Ensign Conner Dwight, as neither of them were ever found either.

However, what no one knew was that I was still alive, and that myself, the Foster, and the patrol craft were taken away from this world, and blown into the next! It was a terrible loss for the Navy, but yet, it would serve a purpose in the long-run.

I had no idea what happened, or how long I'd been out for. One minute I was bleeding to death from my shrapnel wounds while also drowning, and then the next, I was gone. When I opened my eyes again, my head was still hurting, and my ears were still ringing a bit. My vision was a bit blurry, and I had no idea where I was, or what happened.

"Hmm.........huh.........wha.....?????" I muttered. Once my vision came into focus again, I realized that I was looking up at what appeared to be blue sky, with a few clouds in it. The air was warm, and I could also hear birds chirping. I also noticed that what I was seeing seemed to be a bit wonky, or maybe upside down a bit, and my back was hurting like it had been dragged on the ground, but I wasn't sure why. Not sure that is, until I tried to sit up. When I did, I found it hard to lift my head up. I then realized that I was lying on a bit of a slope, and I was lying on it upside down! I was lying on the slope face up, but my head was lying against a rock close to the bottom of the slope, while my legs were higher than the rest of me!

"Huh....????? How did I end up like this?" I was so confused.

Eventually, I was able to roll over onto my side, and after sliding for a second or 2, I reached the bottom of the slope, and all of my blood was no longer rushing to my head! I then sat up, and began to look at my surroundings. Instead of a beach like what I was expecting, I seemed to have landed at the base of the slope of a small hill. The hill seemed to be largely dirt, and I could see an impact zone maybe 10 feet higher than where I was lying, as well as a long skid-mark leading down to the rock that my head had been leaning up against. I then realized that I'd landed, before sliding down the slope a bit before coming to a stop with my head on that rock! I looked elsewhere, and I saw that the base of the hill was grass, there were a number of trees close by, I could hear the sounds of flowing water, and I could see that the sun was maybe starting to set.

"Huh. Now the question is, am I dead, or if not, then where the heck am I?"

I then began to look down at myself, and it was then that I realized that something was VERY wrong, and it wasn't just my torn to shreds jumpsuit. My body seemed to be misshapen, but yet I wasn't really in any pain.

"This..............this is really weird. What's going on?"

I could see that I was still wearing my blue US Navy utility jumpsuit, but that it looked to have been pretty badly shredded, most likely from the shrapnel. However, I then reached out a hand to touch a damaged spot on the jumpsuit, only to realize that I didn't have hands anymore; I had hooves!

"WHAT?!?!?! WHY DO I HAVE HOOVES?!?!?!"

I had no idea what I was, but after getting up, I stood up, (on all fours; I was seemingly a quadruped now) and moved over to a nearby puddle. In the reflection of that puddle, I saw exactly what I now looked like, and what I'd become. I saw that I now seemed to be some sort of equine-like creature, and that I had slightly thick navy-blue fur, a dirty blonde mane and tail, (slightly lighter than it was before; more blonde than brown) dark blue cat-like eyes, furry equine ears with furry tips, blonde fetlocks covering my hooves, and to my further shock, I also had visible fangs, and even black bat-like wings! I flapped them a few times just to make sure that they were real, and sure enough, they were. On top of this, I could see several scars on the left side of my face and neck, and I was still wearing the remains of my jumpsuit, but it was torn to shreds by the shrapnel, and what was left didn't seem to fit me anymore. Oh, and it was also bloodstained!

"WHAT THE F@#K HAPPENED TO ME?!?!?!?!" I screamed. "I HAVE TO BE F@#KING DEAD!!!!! THERE'S NO WAY THAT THIS CAN BE REAL!!!!!"

Moments after this, I heard a noise to a left.

"Hey! Are you ok over there?"

I turned to my left, and I saw what appeared to be another equine creature. I could see that he was a well built stallion with dark white fur, white fetlocks, an amber colored mane and tail, and also had green eyes. I could also see the same dark-colored bat-like wings that I had, though his were the same color as his fur.

His eyes got VERY wide when he saw me. "Whoa! What in Equestria happened to you?! Were you attacked by a Werehyena?!"

I blinked a few times. "Honestly, I'm pretty sure that I'm dead, and am trapped somewhere between Heaven and Hell! I have no idea where I am, or what's going on! And who are you, if I may ask?"

Now it was his turn to blink a few times. "I......I have so many questions right now. I don't even know where to start!"

I thought about that. "Well, if you answer my questions, then I'll answer yours."

"Ok, that sounds fair enough. You can go first, I guess."

I nodded. "Ok. Well first of all, who are you?"

"My name is Golden Blade."

"Golden Blade, that's a nice name. And where are we right now? And after that, what are we exactly?"

He looked at me strangely. "Wow, you're not from around here, are you? In fact, you're not even from Equus at all."

I shook my head. "No, I'm not."

"Well, you're now on the planet Equus, in the nation of Equestria. We're on top of Sundale Mountain, which is home to Lunar-Nova, a colony of Bat-Ponies."

"Oh. And let me guess, that's what we are? Bat-Ponies?"

Golden nodded. "Yes, that's what we are. We're one of the 5 sub-species of Ponies, alongside Earth-Ponies, Unicorns, Pegasai, and Alicorns. And before we go any further in this conversation, can you please tell me your story? I need to know more about you."

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. Well, my name is Conner Dwight. I'm 20 1/2 years old, and I hail from Idaho City, Idaho, which is a part of the United States, on the planet Earth."

"Earth? Are you a Human-turned-Bat-Pony? And do you know of a place called 'Tennessee'?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I was a Human up until a few hours ago. And Tennessee? Yeah, that's halfway across the country from Idaho, but it's also a part of the US. How do you know about it, and Humans for that matter?"

"Because you're not the first Human to become a Bat-Pony, or to come here from the US, or America. Maybe 2 weeks ago, Wendelle came here from Tennessee."

I was surprised. "Wendell? Who's he?"

"Wendelle was a Human just like you, and she found her way to Equestria, though she got here because of a lightning strike. How did you get here? Is that why you look like a mess?"

I nodded. "Yeah. You might have a hard time swallowing what I'm about to tell you, but it's the absolute truth. I'm an Ensign in the US Navy, and I was stationed at Ventura County Naval Base, located in Port Hueneme, California. This base is the home of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) a component of the Naval Sea Systems Command, (NAVSEA). Broken down into simple English, these guys develop and test naval missile technology, ship engineering components, missile guidance systems, naval logistics support, and underway replenishment, among other things. I was assigned to the Self-Defense Test Ship (SDTS) ex-Paul F. Foster, and that's where things got REALLY interesting..........." I then went on to explain more about my job with the Foster, and I ended with the accidental discharge of the missile. "....And that's what got me. That missile blew the Foster up, blew me into a cajillion pieces, and blew me into the water before I seemingly drowned. I was then surrounded by a black mass of energy, before waking up here. That's why my jumpsuit's all torn up, and why I probably look like a mess."

Golden looked at me in shock and horror. Even though I'd spent my entire career in the Navy at a base, it was pretty clear that I'd been at death's door before I wound up in Equestria.

"I........I don't even know what to say to that Conner. I mean, I can clearly see that you're telling the truth......but I just don't.......I don't know what to say. Are you still hurt anywhere?"

"I honestly can't tell you Golden. I'd probably better take this jumpsuit's remains off and see though." I then began to try and remove the jumpsuit, though without hands, this was difficult, and Golden had to help me. Eventually, the 2 of us were able to get it off, and I began to look myself over with Golden's help.

To my dismay, I saw that although I had all of my limbs, the left side of my body, and part of my right side were covered in dark scars. They were on my chest, left foreleg, barrel, my waist, both of my back legs, and one more really big one across my back. I flapped my wings again, but I didn't feel any pain. I also noticed that on my flanks, I had what appeared to be the image of a gear, a gun, and a wrench, with the one on my left flank being a mirror image of the one on my right flank.

"Hey Golden? What's this on my flank?"

He looked. "Oh, that's your 'Cutie-Mark' Conner. It's what shows your special talent. I guess that since you were an engineer in the US Navy, your Cutie-Mark is a weapon, a wrench, and a gear." He then showed me his own Cutie-Mark, which was of three shooting stars. "Astronomy is my special talent."

"Oh, well that's interesting."

Golden then noticed for the first time that the area around where I landed seemed to be covered in debris. "Hey Conner? What's all that stuff over where you landed? Is any of that important?"

I turned to look, and sure enough, I saw what he was talking about. "Whoa! Yeah, a lot of that looks important!" I walked over to it. I then found my ruined satchel, blown into 3 big pieces with many smaller ones scattered all around. "Aww man! This was my good satchel! NOW what am I gonna put my stuff in?!"

"You could put it all in my saddlebags if you want. They're empty." He then removed a set of saddlebags from his own back that I hadn't noticed previously, and opened them for me.

"Yeah, that works. Thanks Golden."

"You're welcome Conner."

I then put the remains of my satchel in it, as well as the remains of my jumpsuit, my busted pair of utility boots that we found nearby, as well as my damaged radio, a clipboard with the daily orders on it, (it talked about what we were supposed to do with the Foster that day, and it mentioned the weapons test), 2 pencils, a pen, and I also found my wallet and car keys!

"Oh hey! My wallet and car keys survived intact!"

"Um, I know what a wallet is, but what are 'car keys'?"

"Oh, car keys are the keys that are used to start a car, which is the primary mode of long-distance transportation on Earth. Yes, we also have trains, but cars are used to. They run on combustible fuel, and are a bit of a pain, but they're pretty neat too. I had a rather unusual car that was made a long time ago by a company called Packard."

Golden nodded, but he really didn't seem to say anything. I could tell that he was trying to picture a car, but perhaps wasn't succeeding very well.

Eventually, we found the last of the items that seemingly came over with me, and we put them all in his saddlebags.

"Well, that looks like that's about it. I guess that I'd better start heading back to Lunar-Nova. Do you want to come with me?"

I cocked my head a bit. "What's Lunar-Nova?"

"Lunar-Nova is the town where I and other Bat-Ponies live. It's a Bat-Pony colony, and most of it's located in a cave beneath Sundale Mountain!"

I was stunned. "What?! It's located in a cave?!"

"Yeah. It's been around for a VERY long time, and it's home to maybe 1,200 Bat-Ponies. It's not very large, but how big was Idaho City?"

I laughed. "Idaho City is a tiny little slip of a mountain-town at the ass-end of nowhere! As of the 2010 census, which was maybe 5 years ago, the city, (if it can even be CALLED a city since it's barely even a town!) has a whopping population of 485 people!"

"485 people?! That's tiny!"

I agreed. "Yeah, it really is. It wasn't much, but it was home." I then seemed to think about something, but I just shook my head. "So how far away are we from Lunar-Nova?"

"Not very. Maybe a quarter-mile. I was just coming back from a quick walk after work when I heard you scream."

"Sorry about that. I just wasn't used to waking up as a Bat-Pony!"

Golden laughed. "Yeah, I can see that! And do you have anywhere to stay? If not, then you can stay with me if you want."

I nodded. "I don't have anywhere to stay, as my naval base is half a universe away, so I guess I could stay with you; if you don't mind that is."

He shook his head. "No, I don't mind at all. That's why I asked."

I agreed, and he then picked up his saddlebags, and began to lead the way back to Lunar-Nova.

On the way, we talked more about Equestria. I learned more about the area, including the Silver Shine River, and I also learned more about Celestia and Luna, the 2 Diarch Princesses, as well as Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire, and Princess Twilight of Ponyville. Golden also explained more about the Earth-Ponies, Pegasai, Unicorns, and Alicorns, as well as the Bat-Ponies.

"So you mean to tell me that I can fly, hang upside down for hours on end, see in total darkness, and even scree?"

He nodded. "Yeah, that's the gist of it. We're a very unique species. I heard from my parents that we supposedly came from a far-off land called Shadona, but don't quote me on that, as I don't know if that's accurate or not."

I thought about that. "Hmm. You all live in colonies, and you might have come from the land of Shadona? Well, it might not be true, but it certainly serves as a good explanation."

Golden then went on to ask my more about my time in the Navy.

"There's really not too much to tell, aside from the failed weapons test anyway. Most of my job, and the job of the rest of the team that I was with was to keep the Foster in service, and record data from her, and the tests. That's pretty much it. Day and and day out of that, with the only highlights being getting to watch weapons tests. If I'd known what the job was going to entail, I NEVER would have requested being a part of the Port Hueneme Division! Not that I really had a choice though. I was sent there, and I really had no say in the matter."

"At least your job wasn't dangerous, at least, not for the most part. You didn't have to see active combat, and weren't in any real danger, normally anyway. Your family must have been glad for that."

I nodded. "Yeah, they were. My family was nervous about me signing up for the Navy, but they were relieved when I was assigned to the Foster, and wouldn't be seeing any real combat. I can only imagine what happened when they heard about what happened earlier today. Now I'm 'dead', and I have no way to tell them otherwise. It's not a good situation Golden."

"I can imagine. Being taken away from Earth like that, being out of contact with your loved ones, it must have been really hard for you."

I sighed. "Golden, you have no idea."

Not too long after this, we reached an area that had a few trees, was covered in grass, a few flowers, and had a few small buildings on it.

"Um, Golden, if this is Lunar-Nova, how do all of the Bat-Ponies fit in here? I only see a few tiny buildings!"

"We're right above Lunar-Nova actually. These few buildings here are the tops of buildings that stick out above the ground. The rest of the building is underground, but the top 2 stories or so stick out."

I was a bit surprised. "Oh. Why do some buildings stick out?"

Golden shrugged. "I don't know. Some Ponies just wanted it that way."

"Oh, ok. And where's the main city entrance?"

"It's close by. The trail that we're on wraps around Sundale Mountain a bit further, and then we come to the entrance."

I nodded, and kept following Golden. Sure enough, a few minutes later, we came to a large cave entrance. I was surprised when I saw it. A number of Bat-Ponies were entering and leaving the colony, and then Golden and I walked through it. After walking through it, the path then began to slope downwards, and kept going deeper into the mountain. The walls of the cave were lined with both torches and some sort of crystals that provided light, and pretty soon, the path came out at the edge of what looked to be a small town, though all of it was located underground!

I was stunned. "Whoa! So this is Lunar-Nova?"

Golden nodded. "Yep, this is Lunar-Nova. The best Bat-Pony colony of them all!"

I was looking around in awe. I could see stores, restaurants, houses, a park, a large town square, and other businesses. Looking up, I could see some Bat-Ponies flying about, as well as a lot of stalactites, and a few cracks that let in natural sunlight. I could even see a few buildings that had their tops go up through the roof of the massive cave that Lunar-Nova resided within, and I then realized that these were the buildings that I'd seen above ground earlier.

"Are the buildings that go up through the cave ceiling the ones that we saw the tops of earlier?"

Golden nodded. "Yeah, that's them."

We continued to walk, and soon we reached the town. "This is an amazing little town. Who's in charge of it?"

"That would be Mayor Galaxy Cosmos. He's a Bat-Pony with midnight-blue fur with some white patches, as well as a black mane and tail, purple eyes, and his Cutie-Mark is a crescent moon with a white star on the inside. He's a very good mayor, and has been reelected several times now. Everypony here in Lunar-Nova loves him, though he may retire soon."

I was impressed. "Wow, he sounds like a nice stallion. I hope that I can meet him one day."

"You probably will soon. Once word gets around of your arrival, the rest of the Ponies here will probably throw you a 'Welcome to Lunar-Nova' party. They did so before for Wendelle, and they'll most likely do the same for you."

"Yeah, I hope that I can meet Wendell too. It would be nice to meet another Human-turned-Pony. I just hope that he's nice."

"Oh she is. I don't really know her too well, but Wendelle is a very nice Pony."

A minute or so after this, we reached the town square. It was here that I realized that the whole town square was covered by a HUGE glass dome!

"Whoa! What is this dome?"

"This is the Lunar Dome, and it dates back to when Lunar-Nova was first founded. The first residents of the colony built this dome to protect themselves against falling rocks and stalactites while they built the town. The dome was left in place even after construction work ceased, and it's been a prominent feature of Lunar-Nova ever since."

"I can imagine. I've never seen a dome like this. The way that the sun glints off of the glass; awe-inspiring to say the least. If they haven't already, somepony REALLY needs to make a postcard out of this view!"

"They already have Conner. But even so, it's still an amazing view."

"Yeah, it really is."

We then kept walking towards his house.

A few minutes after this, we finally reached Golden's house.

"Here we are. Home sweet home!"

I looked, and sure enough, we were standing outside of a small 2-story house. It was painted light gray, and while it was small, it seemed cozy. After Golden unlocked the door, he walked inside, and I followed him. Once we were both inside, he shut the door again, and I looked around. We were in a small entryway. I could see the living room to the right with a couch, a coffee table, a few chairs, a fireplace, and a strange fur rug. It kinda looked like a bear, but it wasn't.

"Hey Golden, what's that fur rug in your living room?"

"Hmm? Oh, that's a Yowie-fur rug. Yowies are these ape-like creatures with a lot of fur, and a REALLY nasty temper! One minute they're fine, and the next? BAM!!!! Total freakout! They're very dangerous, and thankfully only live in a few places on Equus. Lunar-Nova is thankfully not near any of them!"

"Yeah, I'm glad for that! They kinda sound like a similar creature from Earth's folklore. Those in the nation of Australia have a similar creature, same name and everything."

"Oh, well I guess that they have to deal with Yowies then!"

I nodded. "Yeah. Yowies, and pretty much everything else. EVERYTHING in Australia wants to kill you; I don't know why ANYONE would want to live there!"

Golden's eyes went wide. "Yeah, I have no idea!"

Just past the living room, I saw a medium-sized kitchen, and just past that was a small laundry room. There was a small bathroom just outside of the kitchen, and up a flight of stairs were 3 bedrooms, and another bathroom. One of the bedrooms belonged to Golden, and the other 2 were guest rooms.

Golden walked over to one of the guest rooms. "And this is where you'll be staying." He then opened the door.

I followed him inside, and I saw a bed, a dresser, a small desk, a chair, a night table with a lamp, a few shelves for books, and a few pictures on the wall.

"Wow, this is a really nice room Golden. It reminds me a bit of my old room back at my parents's house in Idaho City. I think that I'm really going to like staying here."

Golden smiled. "I'm glad that you like it Conner." He then began to help me put some of my things away in the dresser.

"Any ideas on where I might be able to get not only my satchel repaired, but also my jumpsuit?"

"Yeah, there's a clothing shop here in town, and close by there's also a store that sells saddlebags, though they also do repairs. I'm pretty sure that they might be able to help you, provided of course that your jumpsuit and bag even CAN be fixed!"

I sighed. "Yeah, that's the big 'if' right there. It was one hell of a nasty explosion."

Golden opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but then he just closed it again. He could tell that I was still in pain from what happened with the Foster, and from losing 5 of my comrades. He just shook his head, and we talked about a few other things for a while.

A few days after this, I presented my destroyed satchel and jumpsuit to the Ponies at the clothing store, and the saddlebag store. I learned that while my jumpsuit could be saved/restored, as well as resized to fit me, my satchel was good for little more than a source of material. I told them to do what they could for the satchel, and they told me that they could made saddlebags out of what was left, and add in more new material. I told them that this could work, and they told me that it would take 2 weeks to get the job done, which was close to the 2 1/2 weeks that it would take to fully restore and resize my jumpsuit.

Also around this time, I had to start looking for employment. I asked Golden if he knew of any job openings, and he told me that I could always work with him, as his company always needed help. I asked him what company that was, and he told me that it was called the "Sundale Mountain Mining Company". I then realized that he was a miner, and that the residents of Lunar-Nova mined Sundale Mountain, as well as the nearby areas.

"What do you guys mine Golden?"

"Copper and zinc mostly. A few thin veins of silver have been found in the past, but not much. Recently though we have found some iron ore, and the veins are pretty big. We might soon shift gears from a copper and zinc mine, to an iron mine."

"And they're on the lookout for new miners?"

"Yep. We'd be working together, and the pay is pretty good, not to mention the amazing healthcare. Are you interested?"

"Well, I do need a job, and one seems to be looking me right in the face, so I guess all that I need to ask is where do I sign up?"

Golden nodded, and he took me to the SMMC's main office, where I applied for a miner's position. To make a long story short I got the job, and now 5 days a week I put on protective coveralls, lit the carbide-powered lamp on my yellow miner's helmet, grabbed my tools, and joined Golden and many other Bat-Ponies down in the mines.

It was hard work, and I wasn't used to holding a pick and shovel with my teeth. I tried to use my hooves, but that was proving to be just as hard. Eventually though, I did get the hang of it, and the others stopped laughing at "Useless Chief", and started calling me just plain old "Chief". It felt a little bit weird to be called by my old Navy nickname again, but I quickly grew used to it. I spent long days in the mines, and I came out tired, dirty, and exhausted, but I was glad to be pulling my weight for the community that had welcomed me with open arms. It felt nice to be giving back to them, and I was really starting to get used to my new life.

Maybe 2 weeks after my arrival in Lunar Nova, once word had gotten around about my arrival in town, another "Welcome to Lunar-Nova" party was thrown in the town square. Mayor Galaxy Cosmos was there, and I got to shake his hoof, and most of the rest of the town was there too. Everypony who was able to was there to welcome me to town, though I kept on the lookout for Wendell. I knew that he had to be there somewhere, and I kept hoping to bump into him.

Eventually, after a lot of fruitless searching, I was standing by a punch bowl when a young Bat-Pony mare with violet fur, a blonde mane with red highlights, as well as a blonde equine tail with red highlights on the tip, violet wings, and blue cat-like eyes. I also noted that her Cutie-Mark was 2 pink hearts, and that she had a dark blue, almost black flower behind one of her ears.

"Hello." I said when she saw me.

"Hello. You must be the new arrival here."

I nodded. "Yep, that's me. Ensign Conner Dwight, US Navy, at your service." I then shook her hoof.

"Nice to meet you Conner. And you're with the Navy? What ship did you serve on?"

"The ex-Paul F. Foster, if that counts. I served at the Ventura County Naval Base, located in Port Hueneme, California. This base is the home of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) a component of the Naval Sea Systems Command, (NAVSEA). Broken down into simple English, these guys develop and test naval missile technology, ship engineering components, missile guidance systems, naval logistics support, and underway replenishment, among other things. It's all pretty cool, unless you're not helping out with that, and are instead playing babysitter to an ex-US Navy ship that they're testing stuff on. I was assigned to an engineering team, (read: janitors and fix-it guys) attached to the ex-Paul F. Foster, Self-Defense Test Ship, (SDTS). It was a REALLY boring job, but someone had to do it."

"Oh. I heard about your ship blowing up after a failed test, so I won't ask you about that, but...........is that where your scars came from?"

I nodded. "Yes. I was blown up, out and under, and then I wound up here. Oh, and I'm looking for the other Human-turned-Pony here in Lunar-Nova. Have you seen a stallion named Wendell? I heard that he's from Trimble, Tennessee, and I really wanted to meet him."

The mare looked at me curiously. "Um......you already did. My name is Wendelle Williams, and although I am from Tennessee, I'm NOT a stallion!"

I looked at her, and I instantly realized my mistake. From the very first time I heard the name "Wendelle", I thought that the name was “Wendell”, and that it belonged to a stallion. NOW I was finally learning otherwise!

"Oh, I'm SO SORRY Miss Wendelle. I didn't know!"

Wendelle smiled. "It's ok Conner. I can see that it was an honest mistake. Oh, and no 'Miss'. Just 'Wendelle' will do."

"Thanks for understanding Wendelle. And can you tell me a little bit about yourself?"

"Sure. Well, my name is Wendelle Williams, and I'm 18 years old. I was going to high school in my hometown of Trimble, Tennessee, population: 650! I was walking home from school one day when I found this unique crystal pendant, and after wishing that I was somewhere else, I was struck by lightning, and I suddenly found myself here on Sundale Mountain. I landed in a grove of Lunar Halo Flowers."

I cocked my head a bit. "Why did you wish that you were somewhere else? And is that what the flower behind your left ear is?"

Wendelle thought fast. "Uh......it's a long story. I don't want to bother you with it. But yes, this is a Lunar Halo Flower. Did you know that they can ONLY be found near Bat-Pony colonies, and that they can even grow underground?"

"What?! They can grow underground?! How is that possible?!"

"I'm still not fully sure, but they're really pretty, aren't they?"

I agreed. "Yes, they certainly are Wendelle. The one that you have behind your ear makes you look so pretty." I then stopped, praying that I hadn't offended her.

Wendelle just blushed a bit. "T-thanks, Conner."

A moment later though, I saw a slightly older Bat-Pony couple walk up to Wendelle. One was a mare with pink-colored fur, and a teal mane and tail, as well as orange cat-like eyes, bat-like wings, and a gold ribbon bow on her flank, and the other was a stallion with light red fur, a fire-yellow mane and tail, amber-colored cat-like eyes, bat-like wings, and a sword and shield mark on his flank.

The mare then spoke. "Oh, there you are Wendelle." She then saw me. "Oh, hello there. You must be Conner Dwight."

I nodded. "In the flesh, Ma'am."

The mare smiled. "So polite. My name is Moonlight Rose, and this is my husband, Red Dusk."

I then shook both of their hooves. "Nice to meet both of you. And how do you know Wendelle?"

"Oh, Red and I were the ones who found her when she first arrived here, and we invited her to live with us."

"Oh. They were the ones who found you Wendelle?"

She nodded. "Yeah, that's right Conner."

"And who found you when you first arrived here?" Red asked me.

"Oh, that would be Golden Blade. He found me about 2 weeks ago on a slope of Sundale Mountain."

Just as I finished saying this, Golden walked up behind me. "Yeah, I did!" He then shook hooves with Moonlight, Red, and Wendelle. "It's so nice to be able to meet all of you, and yes, I found Conner soon after he arrived here."

We all then talked for a little while longer, though eventually Wendelle, Moonlight and Red all had to start heading back home.

"It was nice to meet you Conner. Hopefully I'll be able to see you again sometime. You seem like a great guy."

I smiled. "Yeah, and it was nice to meet you too Wendelle. You're not so bad yourself. And I hope that I can see you again soon too." We both then hugged, (a bit awkwardly, since we were both still so used to hugging the way Humans would, though this got a few giggles out of Wendelle) and after waving one last time, Wendelle walked off with Moonlight and Red.

Once they were gone, Golden turned to me. "Wow, so now you can say that you met the other Human-turned-Pony. And she was so nice too."

I agreed. "Yeah, she really was." I then looked after Wendelle as she left. "She sure was something else."

Golden noticed my facial expression. "What's that look for Conner?"

"Hmm? Oh. Well.......when we were hugging, I somehow.......felt something. I felt........like Wendelle has an important role to play somehow..........like she was special. It's really hard to describe, as I really don't know how to put it into words. I felt......some kind of connection."

Golden looked at me in silence for a few moments. "I heard from Red that he and Moonlight felt something similar when they first met Wendelle. Maybe she is destined for something great."

"Yeah. Maybe she is. Or maybe........just maybe.........we're BOTH destined for something great............together........."

Now Golden looked at me like I was crazy. He didn't say anything, but I could tell what he was thinking. Wendelle and I together? It didn't seem too likely at the time. It made no sense, and I tried to dismiss it as just a feeling that was wrong. However, was it really wrong, or was the feeling right? Only time would tell.

Author's Note

And, that was Chapter 3.

I'm sorry that this took a bit longer than I thought that it was going to to get out, but there were a LOT of unforeseen circumstances, a bit of writer's block, and times where I couldn't write. Nevertheless, here it is now, and I really hope that you enjoyed it!

So now Conner has just made his debut, not to mention his fall into Equestria, and his adjusting to life in Lunar-Nova, to say nothing of his meeting Wendelle. So now Conner has met Wendelle, and he has a feeling about her. Will these feelings pan out? Are he and Wendelle truly destined to be together, or was it just a feeling that was wrong? And what about Wendelle's pregnancy? How will Conner react to that? And what did happen to the ex-Paul F. Foster? Did it blow up, or was it transported over to Equestria too? And if it was, where did it end up? Well, you all know the drill, stay tuned and I'll tell you!

In the meantime, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 4!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 4: Surfing Emotions

While Ponies like Golden and I were spending a lot of our time hard at work in the mines beneath Sundale Mountain, Wendelle was assisting Moonlight with setting up store displays. It was hard work sometimes, but Wendelle grew to like it a lot. Maybe it wasn't her special talent, (whatever her special talent really was) but Moonlight noticed that Wendelle had natural skill with tying ribbons, setting up flowers and other props, and just all around making the displays look good.

Eventually, she finally said something about it. "Wow, you're really good at this Wendelle. Almost as good as me!"

Wendelle smiled. "Thanks Moonlight. Art was one of my favorite classes back in school, and my teachers were always giving me complements on my art skills. I was planning on possibly going to college to earn an arts degree, but.........well........those plans kinda got derailed; both by me getting pregnant, and by my winding up here."

"Well at any rate, you don't need an arts degree for your work to show Wendelle, it's so amazing! And I'm glad that you like helping me, and that you like art like this. Plus, I've seen some of the things that you painted, as well as those little sculptures that you made, and now you can add some of those to the displays that we work on!"

Wendelle thought about that. A little while after her arrival, she'd bought a paint set so that she could keep expressing some of her artistic talent, as well as making little sculptures out of bits and pieces that she found lying around. She loved it, it was a great hobby, and now some of her small paintings and little sculptures were being used in the store displays that she and Moonlight put together.

"Yeah, and it's been a really nice hobby for me too. It helps you, Ponies like to look at them, and it's fun for me. Everypony wins!"

"Yeah." Moonlight then turned back to what she'd been doing.

A little while later though, she turned back to look at Wendelle. Wendelle was resting her hooves on the display that she was working on, but it was pretty clear that her mind was elsewhere. She was staring off into space with a faraway look in her eyes, and she was also blushing a bit, as well as sighing contentedly.

"Are you ok Wendelle?"

"Hmm? Oh......uh....yeah Moonlight, I'm fine. Just......eh, thinking about something."

"What were you thinking about?"

"N-nothing in particular." She then got back to work.

Moonlight smiled to herself. She didn't want to pry too much, but ever since Wendelle had met me, she'd seem to be lost in her own little world whenever she thought about me. Moonlight then decided to see if she could get answers out of Wendelle without being too obvious about it.

"Are you sure that it was nothing? It sure seems like something. But I guess if you say that it was nothing......"

"No, it was something." Wendelle then sighed a bit, before pushing a bit of her blonde mane out of her face. "I was thinking about Conner again. I haven't seen him in a little while, and I was just wondering how he was doing. It's hard, sometimes dangerous work working in those mines."

Moonlight agreed. "Yeah, it is. You worry about him?"

"Yeah, I do. He's a very dear friend of mine, and I worry about him."

"Eh....I don't mean to pry too much, but.....is because you worry for him the ONLY reason that you think about him?"

Wendelle started blushing, but she didn't say anything. Finally though, she did sigh. "No, it's not. I keep thinking about him........because I like him. He's SO different than my God-awful ex Michael, and he actually seems to care about me as a person........eh, Pony rather! He's so kind, caring, hard-working, and he's SO cute!" Wendelle then slammed a hoof over her mouth, and started blushing a lot. She hadn't mean to blurt out that last part!

Moonlight couldn't help but giggle when Wendelle gushed like that. "Tee hee! Young love is such a beautiful thing."

"Yeah...........and I did wish on a shooting star that one day I would fine someone who would always be there for me; someone to be my mate forever, but.............."

"But what? I've seen the way that you look at him Wendelle, and I've even seen him sneak a few looks at you when he thought that you weren't looking. I'm fairly certain that he feels the same way about you."

"Yeah, I know that Moonlight, but........."

"But what?"

Wendelle sighed, before gesturing down to her slightly swollen tummy. "But this. I'm pregnant with my ex's baby, AFTER he dumped me! What kind of a guy, or stallion, would want to be stuck with a soiled dove like me, or to be stuck with the responsibility of raising a child that isn't his? Why would Conner want me when he has SO MANY other mares to choose from? It's a nice thought of us being together, but let's face it Moonlight, it's little more than a pipe dream. No stallion would ever want me. Not after what that f@#king bastard did to me." Wendelle then clenched her hoof a bit in rage when she thought of Michael again.

Moonlight looked up at her again. At first, she didn't know what to say. On the surface, what Wendelle was saying seemed to be the truth. She was soon to be a single mother, and what kind of guy would want to deal with a child not his own? But then again, maybe that's where Wendelle was wrong. Moonlight had seen what kind of a stallion I was, and she was fairly certain that I would still take care of Wendelle no matter what; even if she was carrying someone else's child.

She then walked over to Wendelle, and hugged her gently. "I can see where you're coming from Wendelle, but maybe that's where you're wrong about Conner. What if I told you that I was willing to bet money that he would still stick by your side after you told him about your predicament, and he would raise your child as his own?"

Wendelle looked up at her. "Why would he do that Moonlight?"

"Well, I don't think that it was a fluke that he was spared from death that day in the Pacific Ocean. I think that he was spared, and then sent here to Equestria for a reason. What if that reason was to be in answer to your wish for a stallion to be by your side no matter what?"

"I'd like to think that Moonlight..........but........." She then sighed, closing her eyes. A few moments later, she opened her eyes again. "There's only one way to find out just what kind of a stallion Conner really is. One night soon, we should invite him over for dinner. After we eat, I'll take him aside, and quietly explain my whole situation to him. That should prove once and for all just what kind of a stallion he REALLY is!"

Moonlight was impressed. "Wow, that's a pretty good idea Wendelle. I can help you plan out that dinner if you want."

Wendelle looked up at her. "You will?"

"Of course. You live with Red and I, so I'd already help you there, and I also want to be there when you put Conner to the test, as I too want to see just what kind of a stallion he really is."

Wendelle agreed, and then she and Moonlight began to plan out the dinner, which would be that weekend.

Around this same time, deep beneath Lunar-Nova, it was almost time for lunch for us 1st shift miners. We were hauled back up the shaft in the elevators, and to one of several underground break rooms. Here we would wash up a bit, before setting down our tools, grabbing our lunchboxes, taking them over to one of a number of tables, opening them, heating up anything that needed to be heated in a nearby microwave, getting some water, soda, or coffee, and then sitting down to eat before we had to go back to work for the rest of our shift. 10-12 hours working in a mine is VERY hard work. Golden and I were part of the 1st shift, which meant that we got to work at about 8am, and worked until about 6-8pm before finally going back home! It was VERY hard, long, and tiring work, but somepony had to do it.

On that particular day, Golden and I arrived at the break room, and after cleaning up a bit, we got our lunchboxes, as well as some water and soda, (drinking a lot of water was a MUST for miners!) we sat down at a side table, hung our helmets on the backs of our chairs, opened our lunchboxes, and began to eat.

Once I did though, I noticed a small white envelope. "Huh? What's this?" I pulled the envelope out, and I saw that on the front was my name, with 2 pink hearts below it.

Golden noticed it too. "Who's that from? And how the heck did they get it into your lunchbox all the way down here?!"

"It's probably from Wendelle. She told me that she likes learning how to cook from Moonlight, so sometimes I 'outsource' my lunches from her. Basically, I give her the lunchbox on my way to work, wait a few minutes, and then she gives it back to me with a lunch in it. Sometimes she slips little good luck notes in with the lunch. This must be one of those, though I don't remember her using an envelope before."

Golden blinked a few times. "Oh yeah, duh. I'm with you most of the times you wait those few minutes for your lunch!" Then he heard what I said about little notes. "Ooh. Sounds like somepony has a crush on you!"

I gave him a "Bruh" face. "Really Golden? REALLY? We're just friends, if that. Plus, she doesn't really seem like the kind who wants to date." I then began to open the envelope.

"Why do you think that is Conner? You'd think that at least SOMEPONY would have asked her out by now, but they haven't. At least, I don't know of anypony who has."

I shrugged. "I dunno. It's not really any of my business, but........." I stopped.

"But what?"

"It's not really any of my business, but.........I have this..........weird feeling about Wendelle. I feel like............well........it's this weird mixture of feelings. Ever since I met her at my party, I've had these feelings. On the one hand, I feel like........almost like........there's something special about her; like she's meant for somepony. But yet..........on the other hand.............I feel like there's something that she's not telling me; something that she's hiding. Call it a hunch, but during my time in the Navy, I learned how to read body-language pretty well, and there's a few...........eh..........how do I put this...............I'll just call them 'gray areas'......that she keeps avoiding talking about. One of which is why she wished that she was somewhere else on the day that she arrived here. I don't know why, and I could be TOTALLY wrong about all of this, so could you PLEASE keep this between us?"

Golden shot me a series of really weird looks, but he did nod. "Yeah, of course Conner. This conversation doesn't leave this lunch table."

I knew that Golden was my best friend, and was trustworthy when it came to things like this, so I knew that the conversation wasn't going anywhere other than between us. I then remembered about the note, and I pulled it out of the envelope, and read it.

"What is it Conner?"

"Nothing too much. Wendelle just wanted to know if I could come to dinner with her, Moonlight, and Red on Saturday. It's been a little while since we've last done that."

"So not a dinner date, just dinner with her, and her kinda-sorta guardians?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's the gist of it Golden. It's nothing too fancy, and it's not a love-letter." (That wasn't quite true. I neglected to tell Golden about the line that read, "I have something VERY important that I wanted to talk to you about privately", or how she drew several hearts around her name at the bottom of the letter, but that was for the best!) I then folded the letter back up, and put it away.

After eating for a few minutes longer, an alarm bell began to ring.

We both sighed. "Well, back down the mine with us I guess."

I gathered up my trash. "Yeah, unfortunately so. 'Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go!'" I then put my helmet back on, and lit up the carbide light again.

Golden put his lunchbox back on the shelf he got it from, as did I. "Oh, and I was going to ask you Conner, what does that even mean?" He then grabbed his tools, and lit his light up too.

"Hmm? Oh. It comes from an old cartoon movie from back on Earth. It's called 'Snow White', and that's part of a song sung by 7 Dwarves who work in a gem mine."

"Oh, NOW that makes sense why you always say that!"

We both laughed about this a bit, before leaving the break room, and getting back onto the elevator that carried us back into the mine.

After I got off work that day, I told Wendelle that I really liked her letter, and that I was free for dinner that weekend. She responded by saying "You're welcome", and that I wouldn't need to bring anything. Dinner would be on Saturday night at 7, and we both couldn't wait for it.

Sure enough, once Saturday night rolled around, Golden and I got off work, and after getting home, I went upstairs to shower and clean up for the dinner. Once I was done, I brushed my thick mane and tail, preened my wings, combed my fetlocks, and then looked at the closet in my room. Inside hung my US Navy utility jumpsuit, as well as an extra pair of mining coveralls. My saddlebags were on the floor of the closet, but they, and a few other things, were the only things in the closet, and neither the jumpsuit or coveralls were appropriate for a dinner date, so I didn't wear them.

"My fur is enough, I guess." I still found it odd to only have to get dressed for work, but then again, most Ponies didn't wear clothes at all, so it was normal to be "naked". "I'll get used to it eventually I'm sure." I thought quietly.

Eventually I was ready to leave. Golden wished me luck, and he told me to enjoy myself. I said that I would, and was soon on my way to Red and Moonlight's house. Along the way, I did pick up a small bouquet of flowers. These weren't meant to be for Wendelle, but were in fact for the table.

"I hope that they like them". I thought as I walked. "I'm sure that they will." As I walked, I saw other Bat-Ponies flying. I then looked back at my own wings, and I flapped them. I'd tried to fly in the past, but I hadn't gotten the hang of it yet. I could get off the ground for a few seconds, but then my wings would cramp, and I'd hit the ground again. Golden was teaching me how to fly, but progress was slow, since both of us worked in the mine a lot, and were often totally exhausted after work.

"Well, at any rate, I'll get it eventually." Pretty soon I reached their house.

After walking up to the front door at 7pm, I could hear the sounds of Ponies moving around inside, as well as smell food cooking. I then held the flowers with my wings, and used one of my hooves to knock on the front door. Pretty soon I heard hoofsteps on the floor, and after the door was unlocked, it opened to reveal Wendelle. When I saw her, my eyes widened a bit in surprise. Her blonde mane hung down her shoulders, and her purple fur looked so soft. She looked like she'd just showered, and she looked really pretty in that moment. I then noticed that behind her left ear she had yet another Lunar-Halo Flower, and that just made her look even prettier.

When she saw me, her whole face lit up. "Conner! So glad you could make it!" She then reared up a bit so that she could hug me; a hug that I quickly returned.

"Hey Wendelle. And yeah, I'm glad that I could make it too. Thanks for inviting me to dinner."

Once she was on all fours again, Wendelle smiled. "You're welcome Conner."

I then remembered about the flowers I was holding in my wings. I then grabbed them with my hoof, and held them. "Oh, and before I forget, I brought these for........"

"For me?!" Wendelle then took the flowers, and held them in her own hoof. "They're SO BEAUTIFUL! Thank you Conner! These will be PERFECT for the table!"

I blinked in surprise, but since the flowers were still going to be put on the table, I was ok with it. "Well, I'm glad that you like them Wendelle. And something sure smells good. Is dinner almost ready?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it is. You can come on in Conner." She then stepped back, allowing me to walk inside. Once I was, she then closed and locked the door behind me, before leading the way to the dining room next to the kitchen.

The table was set for 4, and while Wendelle went into the kitchen to get a vase for the flowers, Red began carrying some of the food out to the table. He smiled when he saw me.

"Hello Conner. Nice to see you."

"Nice to see you too Red. I'm glad that you invited me to dinner. It was really nice of you."

"Well, I appreciate the thanks, but it was actually Wendelle's idea. I just helped her and Moonlight set everything up."

"Oh. Well I'll be sure to thank Wendelle when I see her again, not to mention thanking Moonlight for the AMAZING food that I smell cooking!"

"You're welcome Conner." Wendelle said as she reentered the room with the flowers in a vase.

"And if you think that my food SMELLS amazing, just wait until you TASTE IT!" Moonlight called from the kitchen.

"I can't wait!" I called back.

Moonlight giggled, and soon the rest of the food was ready.

Once it was all out on the table, the 4 of us sat down to eat. Moonlight and Red were sitting on one side of the table, while Wendelle and I were sitting on the other. It was a nice arrangement, complemented by the AMAZING food! There was a LOT of amazing things to choose from. There was cooked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, biscuits, some stuffing, and there was going to be pie for desert too! I was still a bit surprised that Ponies ate meat though. I thought at first that it was just the Bat-Ponies who did, but Red told me that other Ponies did too.

"We can all eat meat Conner. Granted, not all of us do, and some frown upon the practice, but eating meat is a common thing in Equestria. Ponies, like Humans, are omnivorous, and we need to eat both plants and meat to survive."

I was still a bit surprised. "Oh, well I guess that that makes sense, but I'm still surprised at it." I then looked to Moonlight. "And I don't know what you put in this food Moonlight, but it's SO DANGEROUS! Dangerously DELICIOUS that is! It's almost a CRIME to eat it!"

Moonlight giggled a bit at my statement, as did Wendelle. "Well, I'm MORE than happy that you like it Conner. Most Ponies that we have invited over to dinner in the past liked my cooking, and once Wendelle tried it, (with the same reaction that you had I might add!) she wanted to learn how to cook like me too!"

I looked over at her. "You did Wendelle?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Moonlight's cooking was so good, I wanted to learn how to cook like her. Granted, I already knew how to cook from learning from my mom, but I wanted to learn more. Moonlight was eager to teach, and I've learned so much from her."

"She's not kidding Conner. You should try one of her omelettes sometime; they're AMAZING! Wendelle's really good at cooking too. She'll make the PERFECT wife for somepony when the time comes!"

"Moonlight!" Wendelle was blushing pretty deeply. I could also feel her tail brush against mine a bit, as she was flicking it a bit nervously.

Moonlight giggled a bit. "Sorry Wendelle."

"It's ok."

I decided to change the subject. "Hey Red? What's it like serving at the garrison here in Lunar-Nova?"

He looked at me. "It's not the most interesting thing ever, but it does have its perks. The pay is good, not to mention the healthcare, family benefits, and being so close to home. I'm in the military full-time, though we're more like a local militia force than the regular army. We could be called up to serve if required, but that hasn't happened in a long time. It's been pretty quiet up here for a long time; a quiet broken only by first Wendelle arriving, and then you arriving a few weeks later Conner."

I thought about that. "Oh. Well, that certainly sounds like a nice career choice Red. I don't know too much about the Army, though I can tell you a LOT about the Navy, since that's where I came from. Well, the US Navy anyway. I probably don't know too much about the Equestrian Navy."

"And what made you decide to join the Navy?" Wendelle asked me.

"Well, I wanted to serve my country, well, OUR country I guess that I should say, and I'd always been fascinated by US Navy ships, so once I had a bachelor's degree, I enrolled in US Navy Officer School, and once I graduated with the rank of Ensign, that's when I was sent across the country to California, where I served out the rest of my career in the Navy to date. It might not have been much, but I got to work with the Foster, and see some pretty cool explosions from time to time."

"And........w-would you ever consider rejoining the Navy?"

I sighed. "Honestly, I can't tell you Wendelle. I've thought about it before, but when I have, the memories of what happened on the Foster come rushing back. All of the scars on me came from that day, and I don't like to remember it. Plus, what good would I be on ships like those here in Equestria? I was an engineer on the Foster, and her systems were all I would know."

"Well..........." Wendelle then stopped. She was going to say something, but when she thought about what I'd said about the incident with the Foster, not to mention seeing my still very visible scars from that day, she stopped. If I didn't want to rejoin the Navy, then I had every right not to. I'd been through enough trauma already, and she was ok with my new career choice.

I seemed to sense her thoughts. "Yeah, I could maybe learn the systems on the Equestrian ships, but I'm not sure if I want to go back. Sometimes I do, but other times I don't. I'll just leave it at that."

Wendelle agreed, and the 4 of us kept eating.

Eventually, once the main meal was over, as well as the equally delicious cherry pie that Wendelle herself had made, it was time to start clearing the table. I started to help Red and Moonlight with this, but Wendelle put her hoof on my shoulder.

"Conner?"

"Yeah Wendelle?"

"There's............there's something that I want to talk to you about. It's what I said that I wanted to talk to you about privately in my letter."

I was surprised. "Oh? Well, once we've cleared the table, then I think that we can talk about it."

Red shook his head. "No, Moonlight and I have this. You don't have to help Conner."

I looked at him in surprise. "Are you sure Red? I'm perfectly ok with helping."

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure Conner."

I reluctantly agreed, and Wendelle led me into the living room next door. Once we were there, I took a seat on a chair, and she sat on the couch close to me. For a while though, she just sat there in silence. She sometimes looked at me, and other times at the floor. It was clear that she was trying to say something, but just didn't seem to be able to find the right words to say. Finally though, she sighed, and then looked back up at me.

"Conner, we've been friends for a little while now, and as I'm sure you know, we seem to be a good match. You're smart, talented, and funny, not to mention cute, and I know that you must think the same about me, but the truth is..........I...........I haven't been completely honest with you."

"Huh? What.......what do you mean Wendelle?"

"It means that I'm not as pure and innocent as you think that I am Conner. The truth is, I'm a soiled dove."

I was about to ask what she meant by that, but she continued before I could. "The truth is, you're not the first guy that I liked. About a year ago, back while I was still in school in Tennessee, there was another guy that I liked. His name was Michael, and I thought that he was the greatest thing ever, but unfortunately, I was wrong. Oh sure, he said that he loved me, and would always be there for me, but he had ulterior motives........"

Wendelle then went on to explain more about how terrible of a person Michael really was, how he was only using her as a cheap lay, and how she even suspected that he was cheating on her behind her back. "I was SO STUPID to have fallen for him. He'd had MULTIPLE girlfriends before me; why would I be anything special to him? But that's not the worst of it Conner, oh no. The worst is still to come. The truth is.........I had sex with him one night at a party. He was pressuring me, and I didn't want to, but he eventually won me over, though he didn't use protection, and nor did he pull out. Then to top it all off, he left me there to find my own way home! Thankfully I did, but my REAL problems were only just beginning.

This past March, I found out that I was pregnant. PREGNANT CONNER!!! I went to Michael, thinking that he would be there for me, but OH NO!!!! He said that it was OVER between us, and he dumped my ass to the curb! That's when I FINALLY realized the full truth about him, and how he really was nothing more than a twisted son of a bitch! I was SO SCARED about telling my family about what happened, but luckily for me, they not only comforted me, but also spat HATRED towards Michael. My big brother Paul went to knock his lights out, but only got to punch him once before school faculty intervened.

1 month later, I was now 1 month pregnant, and was going to be a single mom. I had no friends, no boyfriend, no real life now, but I did still have my family, and they loved me. Unfortunately however, there were 3 who made my life Hell......." She then went on to explain about the 3 Bitches. "Doris, Phyllis, and Lois were the 3 biggest sluts in the ENTIRE school! They got laid by over HALF the guys in 12th grade, including Michael, and they NEVER got pregnant, meanwhile I have sex one time and have my life ruined! WHAT THE F@#K?!?!?"

Here Wendelle went completely off the rails. "AND NOW BECAUSE OF WHAT MICHAEL DID TO ME, I'M LOST FOREVER!!!!! NO ONE wants to be with a soiled dove like me, and now I'm doomed to be a single mom! Sure, I came to Equestria, and now Red and Moonlight take care of me, but I'm STILL pregnant, and I'll have to raise this baby all by myself! You must hate me SO MUCH right now Conner. You were SO nice to me, and all I did was lie to you. I HATE MYSELF FOR THIS!!!!" She then started sobbing uncontrollably.

Meanwhile, I was sitting in my chair, completely frozen in dumbfounded shock. I NEVER even FAINTLY suspected that Wendelle was now almost 2 months pregnant, nor that she had that kind of a backstory. I knew what most guys would do in this situation, but I was NOT most guys. Quietly, I got up, walked over to Wendelle, and after getting on the couch with her, I pulled her into a hug, and let her cry on me.

"Shh.......it's ok Wendelle. I'm here for you. Just let it all go. You can cry on me all you want. I'm not going anywhere. I'm just going to hold and comfort you while you cry."

Wendelle quickly realized that I was hugging her, and instead of being upset, was trying to comfort her. "W-why Conner? Why aren't you u-upset? Or b-better still, w-why haven't you left yet?"

"Because what happened to you was NOT your fault Wendelle. Michael was a predator, and he prayed on girls like you who didn't know any better. Some people call them 'sociopaths' though I just stick with 'predators'. I've run across guys like that before, and I do NOT take kindly to that kind of behavior. I once watched a guy get his lights knocked out in a sports bar after he got caught trying to drug a girl's drink. He TOTALLY deserved it for what he tried to do, and speaking of which, what happened to Michael? Did Paul ever get him for what he did to you?"

Wendelle shook her head. "No, but the Amtrak sure did!" She then explained about the Amtrak collision that sent Michael into a coma. "And even when he wakes up he's STILL facing VERY serious charges. I was going to sue him for child support, but then I wound up here. But I HAVE to know Conner, WHY are you not leaving? Most other guys would!"

I laughed a bit when I heard about the Amtrak. "Heh, he deserved it. And it's because I'm NOT like other guys Wendelle. I was spared from death in the Pacific, and sent to Equestria for a reason. Not long after my arrival, I bumped into you, and our friendship led to tonight. Call me crazy, but what if I was sent here to be with you; to be what Michael never was to you? I had this really weird feeling when we first met Wendelle. I had no idea why, but I felt that you were special. And now that I've heard your story, my mind is made up. I'm NOT leaving you, and you can rest assured, it'll be like I fathered your child, instead of Michael. I'll take care of you Wendelle. You won't have anything to worry about. You won't be a single mom anymore, because I'll be by your side every step of the way."

Wendelle looked up at me with shock in her tear-filled eyes. She could clearly see that I meant every word of what I'd said, and I had every intention of sticking by her side throughout her pregnancy. I then saw her smile, and to my slight shock and surprise, she pulled me a bit closer, and gave me a quick peck on the forehead, followed by another one on the nose! It was only for a second or so, but once she was done, Wendelle went back to hugging me, and I was so shocked that a feather could have knocked me down! Wendelle had actually kissed me!

"You......you have NO IDEA what this means to me Conner. I prayed to the Heavens that I could find a guy who would be there for me, and not care that I was pregnant by somepony else, even going so far as to wish on a shooting star, but then a few weeks later, you come into my life! You promise to take care of me, and help me raise my child, and I can see now that we were made to be together." She then hugged me tightly. "Thank you Conner. I.........I l-love you." She whispered softly.

"I know. I love you too Wendelle. You've been such a great friend to me, and you're such a joy to be around."

She then looked up at me. "And do you............eh..........w-wanna..........f-feel my tummy?"

I was surprised. "You.......you mean I can touch your stomach?"

Wendelle nodded, smiling a bit. "If you're gentle. I want my baby to know who their REAL daddy is!" She then let go of me, and leaned back a bit on the couch.

Her pregnant belly was exposed, and for the first time, I did indeed see that she was in the early stages of pregnancy. Her belly was indeed a little bit rounder than normal, and after reaching out a hoof, Wendelle guided it to her belly, and while still holding it, I began to gently rub her belly. However, when I did so, she was blushing, and let off a few little squeaks.

"You ok Wendelle?"

She nodded. "Y-yeah, I'm fine Conner. Your touch just.........feels SOOO good!" She then looked down at her belly as she held my hoof while I rubbed it. "Hey Little One. Do you feel that hoof on my belly? That's your Daddy, Conner. He loves you just as much as I do, and he'll take care of us like a Daddy should. He loves you, just as much as he loves me." Wendelle then leaned forwards again, and pulled me into a hug. I hugged her back, and we were both gently nuzzling each other. It was such a sweet, tender moment, and neither of us ever wanted it to end.

While this sweet, tender moment was happening in the living room, next door in the kitchen, Moonlight and Red heard every word of what we said while they washed the dishes.

"See? I told you that Conner would pass the test." Moonlight said quietly.

"I was hoping that he would Babe, and I'm glad that he did. Now he can be spared from a VERY painful ass-whooping that was heading his way if he failed!"

Moonlight giggled a bit. "Yes, thankfully! And while Wendelle isn't really our daughter, I've come to think of her as one. She's so much like a daughter to us, and I know that she thinks of us like her parents."

"So have I. And while I know that one day we will have at least a few foals of our own, Wendelle's good practice in the meantime. Thanks to her, now we have at least a general idea of what it'll be like parenting a teenage daughter!"

Moonlight hit her husband playfully. "Red! Don't be so mean. Wendelle is NOT like most teenage daughters! Aside from her not being a Pony really, or her "incident" with Michael, not to mention coming to Equestria, she's not bratty, a drama queen, and she actually has a personality, and a VERY sweet one at that. Her parents certainly raised their daughter well!"

"I agree. Though it's kinda funny to think that very soon, we could have a 'son-in-law' thanks to Conner, not to mention our first 'grandchild'!"

Moonlight giggled a bit. "Yes, yes it is."

Red then thought of something. "Perhaps we could convince the two of them to allow us to be the godparents of Wendelle's child, and their other foals if they have any."

"Yes, that is a nice idea, but remember, Conner 'IS' the father of Wendelle's child. You know how much she, (and now Conner too!) hates Michael; he doesn't even deserve to be ACKNOWLEDGED at the father! Wendelle told us that she was never going to tell her child the truth about their father, and now thanks to Conner, that's going to be SO easy! Conner is, and always has been their father. Why would they ever need to know otherwise?"

"Yeah, you're right Moonlight. They never would need to know otherwise. Conner is their father, and loves them very much. It works perfectly."

Moonlight nodded, and then she kept washing the dishes while Red dried them. Both of them were wondering what the future would hold for Wendelle and I, though they already knew that it was going to be AMAZING!

After the night Wendelle told me the truth, we began to see a lot more of each other. I would often visit her when I wasn't working, and on a few nights she was there waiting at the gates close to the entrance to the mine with other spouses to greet me. Before that night, word bounced around Lunar-Nova that we were a couple, though neither of us confirmed or denied it yet. Sure, we wanted to see each other as something more than a friend, but neither of us were sure how the other would react. After that night though, it was pretty clear that we were marefriend and coltfriend. Heck, even if you hadn't heard that we were a couple yet, whenever we were out together, we often had our tails wrapped together, so that gave it away pretty quickly!

However, even though things seemed to be going ok for us, we'd never been out on any dates yet. Why was this? Well, I wanted to ask Wendelle out, but the same thing kept stopping me each and every time I thought about it.

"I don't get it Conner. You and Wendelle like each other, you're most likely more than just friends now, she told you everything, and you even agreed to not only love her forever, but to also raise her foal as your own. Why can't you just ask her out on a date?"

I sighed as I lifted a shovel full of rubble, before dumping it into the minecart beside me. "Because I CAN'T Golden. I WANT TO, but the same thing keeps stopping me every time."

He gave me a strange look while he used a pick to break up the rubble that I was shoveling. "You came from a family that doesn't believe in dating?"

I shook my head. "No, that's not it. It's just................well..............I can't."

"Seriously Conner, WHY NOT?! What's stopping you from asking the mare who ADMITTED that she loves you out on a date?!"

I didn't answer right away. I kept shoveling.

"Talk to me Conner. I'm your best friend, and I've NEVER steered you wrong before. What's stopping you from asking Wendelle out on a date?!"

I looked up at him, a mixture of pain and anger on my face. "I CAN'T, because of her past!"

Golden stopped short. "Wait.......what? What......what does that mean?"

"Well, you know what happened because of her LAST 'boyfriend', and just how fresh the memories of him still are. I'm afraid that if I ask Wendelle out, she'll be reminded of........HIM......., flip out, and hurt me! THAT'S what's stopping me from asking her out!" (Both Wendelle and I agreed to NEVER say Michael's name ever again. We just called him "Him", or a number of other bad names).

Golden looked over at me. "So it's because of you being afraid of how her last 'coltfriend' treated her that you won't ask her out? You're afraid of bringing up bad memories? That's.........that's actually a fair reason I guess. But can I tell you why you're wrong in thinking that she'll hurt you?"

I nodded. "Sure, I guess. Shoot."

"Well, like I said before, not only has Wendelle admitted that she loves you, but she's said that you're SO MUCH better than 'Him', and that she wants to be with you. If she said that, then I'd take that to be a pretty clear sign that asking her out WON'T cause any harm to you. If anything, it might just make her want you more!"

"I can see what you're saying Golden, but how do you figure on that last part?"

"Well, doesn't every mare want to be desired by somepony? To want to be loved by another in a way that nopony else can? If Wendelle sees that you're trying to woo her, then that means that you're returning her affections, (not that you've not already been doing that!) and that you desire her! I know that she'd want you more then!"

I sighed. "Yeah, you're right Golden. I think that it's finally time that I did talk to Wendelle about this. It's time that I asked her out on a date."

"When do you think that you'll try to do it?"

I shrugged. "Tonight if she's available, and if I can work up enough courage."

Golden and I continued to talk about this for a while longer while we were working. I was going to talk to Wendelle that same night if I was able to, and he wished me the best of luck with whatever was going to come next.

Sure enough, that same night after work, I got all cleaned up, and I went over to Moonlight and Red's house to see if Wendelle was home. Sure enough she was, and I told her that if she was free, there was something that I wanted to talk to her about.

"Sure, I'm free right now Conner. You can come on in, and we can talk in the living room if you want."

I nodded, and she led the way in there. Once we were both seated on the couch, Wendelle turned to me. "So, what did you want to talk to me about Conner?"

I opened my mouth like I was going to say something, but in that exact moment, my courage failed me entirely. My fear of being mauled by Wendelle came rushing back, and I began to start sweating, and I was turning rather pale too.

Wendelle noticed this. "Hey, are you alright Conner? You don't look so good all of a sudden."

"I'm..................fine. I'm..........it's just....................I CAN'T DO THIS!!!!!!!!!"

"Can't............can't do what?"

"I CAN'T!!! You'd maul me for sure if I asked!"

Wendelle looked at me like I was losing my mind. "Um........what now? You're really not making any sense right now Conner. I'd maul you if you asked me what?"

I buried my face into my hooves. "I've wanted to ask you for so long, really I did! But I just couldn't! The fear............fear of what might happen arrested me each and every time I tried! And right now..................oh, it's the worst yet! I want to ask you, but if I did, who knows what would happen! I'M TRAPPED AT AN IMPASSE, AND IT'S KILLING ME!!!!!"

Wendelle blinked a few times. At first, she had no idea what I was trying to say, but then in her head, all of the pieces fell into place. As I was almost ready to start crying, I felt Wendelle gently pull me into a hug.

"Oh Conner, I would NEVER maul you unless you hurt me, and I know that you would never hurt me intentionally! You can tell me anything. I promise that I won't be mad at you, or hurt you. Trust me, you'll feel SO MUCH better if you ask me whatever you want to ask me, and then we can move beyond that 'impasse', and talk about it."

"Will you go out on a date with me?" I suddenly blurted. I then IMMEDIATELY let go of Wendelle, slammed my hooves over my mouth, before turning a VERY deep shade of red, and burying my face in my hooves again.

When I FINALLY asked her my question, and then showed that kind of reaction, Wendelle immediately placed a hoof over her mouth, and she blushed a bit as she looked at me. "Aww, he looks so ADORABLE right now when he's embarrassed!" She thought. "I want to hug him SO BAD!!!"

She then reached forwards, and pulled me into a hug again. "I'd love to go out with you Conner. Does Saturday night at 7pm sound good?"

I immediately froze where I was. If my ears had just heard correctly, Wendelle had just said yes to me asking her out, and she wanted to go out that coming Saturday!

I couldn't believe it. "Wait, you're NOT mad at me for asking you out?"

She looked at me like I was crazy. "I've been waiting for you to ask me out ever since I invited you to dinner that one night Conner! Why would I EVER be mad at you for asking me out?"

"I........um........well............."

"Do you wanna go for a walk and talk about it?"

I nodded slowly. "Sure, if you want to."

"Ok." She then got up off the couch, and after I got up too, we walked out of the living room, through the entryway, and out the front door.

Once we were outside on the streets of Lunar-Nova, Wendelle walked close to me, and like she almost always did, she wrapped her tail around mine, and in response, I wrapped my tail around hers.

"Why did you start wrapping your tail in mine Wendelle?" I asked her.

"Well, because since we're both Ponies, we can't hold hands like Humans can, and we can't really hold hooves while walking, and I'm not sure how we would hold wings, so the best remaining option was for us to wrap our tails together."

"Oh, well I guess that that makes sense."

We walked for a while longer in silence, before we eventually exited Lunar-Nova, climbed up a bit higher on Sundale Mountain, and sat on a grassy knoll on top of the mountain. The sky was clear, the moon was bright, the stars were shimmering, and a gentle breeze was blowing through the trees and grass at times. As we sat there on top of the knoll, both of us were looking up at the night sky, and while our tails were still wrapped together, I gently extended my left wing, and wrapped it around Wendelle. She sighed, and leaned her head against my shoulder.

"Now can you tell me why you were so scared to ask me out Conner?"

I sighed, and then told her all about how I was afraid that if I did ask her out, she would remember Michael, and because of what happened to her before, she would flip out and hurt me.

Once I finished my explanation, aside from shifting a bit, Wendelle didn't really react too much. "Hmm. Well, I can see where you're coming from Conner, and I can honestly say that yes, that is a fair enough reason to be worried. However, you are NOT Him, you're the COMPLETE polar-opposite! I know that you love me for who I truly am, just as I love you for who you really are. I was really starting to wonder why you hadn't asked me out yet, but now I know."

"Yeah, and now that I told you, and we've talked about it, (not to mention you saying yes!) I feel a lot better about it."

"I'll bet that you do." She then leaned close to me. "And just between you and me, you looked SO cute when you asked me out, and then were blushing with your face in your hooves. That was so adorable!"

I growled a bit, and I was blushing slightly, though I didn't say anything. Finally though, I did say something. "Not as cute as that Lunar-Halo Flower that you always wear behind your left ear. That's the cutest thing I've ever seen, short of you of course."

Now it was Wendelle's turn to blush a bit. "Aww, thanks Conner. That was really sweet of you to say."

"I have one if you want it." I held up a Lunar-Halo Flower in my hoof. Wendelle nodded, and I gently placed it behind her left ear. Her ear twitched a bit, and she was still blushing lightly.

As she sat there next to me, I gently reached out my hoof again, and began to stroke the left side of her face. Wendelle cooed a bit, causing us both to blush, but she reached up her hoof, and began to stroke my face with it. Soon, we both knew what we wanted, and we could tell that the other wanted it too. Slowly, gently, we both leaned in, and after rubbing our noses together, Wendelle took the leap of faith, and gently placed her lips onto mine. We were both blushing pretty hard with our eyes closed, and our wings outstretched, not to mention the fact that we were still holding hooves, but we were nevertheless still sharing our first kiss!

Once we finally broke it, leaving behind a small trail of saliva, we both looked at each other. Neither of us could say anything, but we could tell that the other was thinking the same thing. We loved the other so dearly, as they were our soulmate. We also couldn't wait for Saturday night, and once I did finally say something, I asked her if I could pick her up at 7. She said that that would be ok, and after sitting for a little while longer stargazing, I walked Wendelle home, and after saying goodnight, I went home myself. Neither of us could wait for Saturday night, and I knew that it was going to be a BLAST!

Sure enough, once Saturday night rolled around, it was time for me to get ready. I hadn't been working that day, though both Golden and I had been doing some work around the house. However, by about 6, it was time for me to start getting ready.

Golden looked up at the clock in the living room. "Hey Conner, it's almost 6. Shouldn't you start getting ready for your date with Wendelle?"

I looked up at the clock. "Yeah, you're right Golden. I'll go start that right now." I then went upstairs.

Once I was up there, I went to the bathroom, and turned on the water in the shower. Once it was nice and warm, I got in, closed the curtain, and began to shower. Maybe 10 minutes later I was done, and once I was out of the shower, I began to blowdry my thick blonde mane and tail, brushing them all the while to get out all of the knots and tangles. I then brushed my fur once it was dry, before finally taking care of my fetlocks. After this, I did a VERY careful preening of my bat-like wings, before taking the time to brush my teeth one last time, and once I was all clean, I went next door to my room.

Once again I opened my closet to see what I should wear, and once again, I saw my naval jumpsuit, an extra pair of mining coveralls, my saddlebags on the closet's floor, as well as my recently restored US Navy boots, though I couldn't wear them, as they were still sized to fit me as a Human. I looked at a nearby dresser, and I saw a US Navy shirt, and a pair of boxers and socks, but again, Human-sized. (This is what I'd been wearing under my jumpsuit while on the Foster).

I sighed. "Again, nothing to wear but my fur. I'm going on a date, my FIRST DATE, and I'm going on it NAKED!!!"

"Again, nopony cares Conner, because we're ALL naked!"

I turned around, and I saw Golden standing in the doorway. "Oh, hey Golden."

"Hello. And you never seem to have any problems with 'being naked' any other times, though if it makes you feel any better, Wendelle will probably be just as 'naked' as you are!"

I couldn't help but smile a bit. "Yeah, you're probably right Golden! Though a lot of it just has to do with me being a Human in a Pony's body. Humans always wore clothes, and Ponies don't, for the most part anyway. It's just something that I still haven't fully gotten used to yet."

Golden nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that Conner."

I then looked at the clock next to my bed. 6:37pm. "Yep, I'd better get going. It takes a little while to walk over to Wendelle's house, as while I CAN fly a bit, I don't want to hurt myself!"

Golden laughed a bit. "No, no you don't! You'll get the hang of flying soon Conner, I know it."

"Thanks Golden." I then left the house a few minutes later.

As I was walking over to Wendelle's house, I unfurled my wings, and flapped them a bit. While I could get myself off the ground, fly forwards, and even hover for a bit, I couldn't quite figure out how to make a turn without flipping over, or fly backwards. The longest time I'd ever held myself aloft was only a scant 27 seconds. Even though I knew the risks, I did flap my wings, and tried to fly forwards a bit. My plan was to fly for a bit, land, change direction, take flight again, land, change direction, take flight again, and so on, until I reached Wendelle's house. Sort of "wing-hopping" if you will.

"I'll get the hang of it soon, I hope." I thought as I landed to change direction again. "I've GOT to figure out how to make a turn without crashing! Why is that so difficult?!" I didn't know, but I was hoping to FINALLY figure it out soon.

Eventually, after landing one last time, grabbing a Lunar-Halo Flower, and running for a block or so, I finally reached Wendelle's house at 6:58pm. I went up to the door, and I knocked. When the door opened, I was expecting to see Wendelle, though I instead was looking into the face of Moonlight.

She smiled when she saw me. "Oh, hello Conner."

"Hello Moonlight. Is Wendelle around?"

She nodded. "Yeah, she's just finishing getting ready. I'll tell her that you're here Conner." She then looked over her shoulder. "Wendelle, Conner's here."

"Just a minute!" I heard her call from upstairs. A minute or so later, she finally came down from upstairs. When I saw her, all I could do was stare at her.

Her blonde mane was draped over her shoulder, beautifully complemented by her red highlights. Her fur looked so soft and touchable, and her tail looked so fluffy. Like me, she was also "naked", though unlike me, she didn't seem to mind as much.

As soon as she saw me, Wendelle came over and hugged me. "Hey Conner." She said softly. "You look great."

I hugged her back. "Hey Wendelle. And you look really cute like that too."

She blushed a bit. "T-thanks Conner."

"Although it IS missing something."

"What?"

I smiled a bit. "This." I then took my Lunar-Halo Flower, and gently placed it behind her left ear.

"Oh, thanks Conner. And you're right, it IS missing!" She then rubbed her nose against mine for a few moments.

"Aww, you two look so adorable together! Can I take a picture before you go?"

We nodded. "Sure."

We then leaned against each other a bit, and I wrapped my left wing around Wendelle's back.

"So cute." Moonlight said as she snapped the picture. "This reminds me of my first date with Red."

"Yeah, it does." Red then poked his head out of the nearby living room.

I turned to look at him, though my smile quickly faded when I realized that he was holding a spear in his hoof!

He looked at me. "Now remember Conner, this thing moves a LOT faster after 10pm or so, or if Wendelle tells me that anything bad happened on this date!"

Moonlight turned to her husband. "Red! We talked about this! Conner would never even DREAM of hurting Wendelle!"

Red sighed a bit. "Yeah, I know Babe. It's just...........well, you know."

"You're not Wendelle's father, but you kinda feel like you are, and that prompts you to protect her in a fatherly way?" I asked.

"Yeah, pretty much Conner. Anyway, you two have fun on your date, and I'll see you when you get back!"

"We will Red!"

I agreed. "Yeah, we most certainly will!"

We both then said goodbye to Moonlight and Red, and we then went out on our date.

Our plan was to head over to the neighboring town of Brulee, catch a movie there, and then go out for a bite to eat, maybe sit on Sundale mountain and stargaze a bit, and then head home.

As we were walking to Brulee, Wendelle turned to me. "I know that I've dated 'Him' before, but what about you? Have you ever been on any dates, or is this your first?"

I shook my head. "No, this is my first date. Just as you're my first girlfriend.....eh.....marefriend I guess? And God willing, you'll also be my last girlfriend, only fiance, and final wife." I then froze. I hadn't meant to say that last part out loud!

Wendelle only giggled a bit though. "Conner, nothing in the world would make me happier than to grow old with you by my side. Plus, you kinda did 'knock me up', so you kinda have to stay with me now!"

I smiled. Despite her anger over what really happened, Wendelle had no problems joking about me being the one to knock her up instead. It made it easier for her to come to terms with it.

"I wouldn't have it any other way Wendelle." I then moved my tail a bit, and quickly wrapped it around hers. She responded in kind, and we once again had our tails wrapped together as we walked.

By about 7:30, we reached the town of Brulee. The town was about the size of Lunar-Nova, though it was located above ground on the bank of the Silver Shine River, and it was inhabited by more than just Bat-Ponies. As we entered the town, both of our legs were getting sore.

"Man, I REALLY wish that I knew how to fly better. Walking everywhere is such a pain in the flank!"

"Yeah, I agree Wendelle. I can keep myself up, but I can't figure out how to make a turn without crashing!"

"I can barely hold myself up at all. Red and Moonlight are teaching me, but at the same time, I don't fly too much, though this is due to my pregnancy. I don't want to hurt my unborn foal."

"And I wouldn't want you to either. You'll probably get the hang of it once our foal is born."

"I hope so Conner."

"It should only be a matter of time." We then began to walk over towards the local cinema.

Once we reached it, (which looked a lot like the local cinemas in our old hometowns) we quickly began to decide what movie to see. The movie theater had 4 screens; 2 on the ground floor, and 2 upstairs, so 4 movies could be shown at once. Currently playing were 2 kids movies, some (dumb) romance movie, and an action thriller/horror movie about sharks.

To my surprise, Wendelle wanted to see the shark movie, "Danger at Sea-Base Sigma".

"Really? You're into those kinds of movies?"

"Only the action ones. Movies like 'Jaws', 'The Shallows', and there were 2 upcoming ones that I wanted to see, but won't; at least, not for a while. One was called '47 Meters Down', and the other was called 'The Meg'. The first one is going to be about 2 sisters trapped in a shark cage 47 meters below the ocean's surface, and the second is going to be about a Megaladon Shark, and a team of scientists trying to kill it."

"Oh. Those both sound interesting. When did they come out?"

"Around 2017 I think, so about another 2 years."

I nodded, and after I bought our tickets, as well as some popcorn and sodas, we found our seats, (the theater wasn't too full) we waited for the movie to start. To my surprise, it was actually a lot better than I thought that it was going to be. The movie was set in and around a deep-sea research base in the South Luna Ocean called Sea-Base Sigma. It was dedicated to seeking out and documenting rarely seen and undiscovered creatures that lived in the ocean. However, one day a hurricane trapped the mixed crew of divers and scientists, as well as a group of tourists inside Sea-Base Sigma, where they were then stalked by what appeared to be a giant shark, which turned out to actually be SEVERAL giant sharks! The scientists and divers had to work together to protect themselves and the tourists, fend off the sharks, and keep them from damaging the base. There were other deep-sea creatures too, (such as a giant squid, whales, and other lesser sharks) the acting was very well done, most of the special effects were Practical Special Effects, there were a few plot-twists that nopony saw coming, and the ending, while good, left it wide open for a sequel.

"Wow, that was AMAZING!"

"No kidding Conner! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. And can you believe those plot-twists?"

"No. I NEVER saw those coming. My favorite was that scene where it was shown that the base commander was NOT a bad guy. The whole movie they led us to believe he was, and then BAMMO!!!! He's actually been helping everypony the whole time!"

"I didn't see that coming either. I actually really hope that they make a sequel to this movie. They most likely will, and I think that we should try to see it if we're able."

"Yeah, I think that we should too."

We then went over to grab a bite to eat.

We ended up eating at the small burger joint there in Brulee. It was a hopping little place, and to my surprise, the food was fantastic. Yes, the burgers were 100% beef, but then again, Ponies did eat meat at times, so that was to be expected. I ordered a double cheeseburger with pickles and no onions, Wendelle ordered a double cheeseburger too, though she only wanted ketchup on hers. We also both ordered fries, lemonade to drink, and we also both got chocolate shakes for desert.

"This brings back so many memories of home. There was a local restaurant in Trimble, Mike's Kitchen, that had food just like this. It didn't look like much on the outside, but inside it was themed like the backwoods of Tennessee, and the food was PHENOMENAL!"

"Wow, that does sound good. Back in Idaho City, there was a diner called Little Idaho, and they had it all; from burgers, to seafood, to a huge variety of breakfast items, all cooked to order, and at such a reasonable price. EVERYONE in town loved Little Idaho, and it was a hit with those passing through on their way to somewhere. In my opinion, the best thing there was the Miner's Breakfast. 2 Belgian waffles, or a short stack of pancakes, 3 eggs cooked to order, sausage, ham, hashbrowns, and a biscuit, or 2 pieces of toast. All that for only 8 bucks!"

Wendelle looked at me. "Whoa. All that food for only 8 bucks?! That's a killer deal!"

I laughed a bit. "Yeah, it really is! My family ate there sometimes when I was growing up, and I would always stop in on my way back to California, and when I was coming back from California. And yes, I ate there one last time before my most recent, (and final to date) deployment with the Foster." I was unsure of what to say after that.

"Wow, that.........that must have been...........really nice, but yet really sad now that you think about it. I'll bet that you really want to eat there again, just as I want to eat at Mike's Kitchen again."

I nodded, though I didn't say anything. We looked at each other, and it was pretty clear that we were both thinking the same thing. We wanted to return home to see our families again one day. We weren't sure how it was going to happen, but we had every intention of making it happen. And even if we couldn't make it back home, we were going to let them know that we were ok; somehow.

After we were done eating at maybe 10pm or so, we began to make our trek back to Sundale Mountain. On the way there, I showed Wendelle my "jump-flying" skills, and she showed me how she hovered for a little bit. It was a little bit more practice for both of us, and I almost made a complete turn without hitting the ground.

Eventually, we both found ourselves sitting on top of the same spot where we'd talked about why I was so scared about asking her out on a date a few days prior. We were lying back on the grass, looking up at the night sky. There were so many stars to be seen, not to mention the many constellations, and the Moon.

"So beautiful. It's just like the sky back home, but yet so different at the same time."

"Yeah, it really is Wendelle. My friend Golden told me all about it. His special talent is astronomy, and on some nights we're out here with his telescope, and he's telling me all about the constellations, the Moon, and what the constellations mean. I've really learned a lot from listening to him."

She looked over at me. "Wow, that's pretty amazing Conner. Golden seems like such a nice stallion. I'm glad that you're friends with him."

"Me too Wendelle. He was the one who found me, and we've been friends ever since."

"I'm glad. Thanks to my working with Moonlight, I've gotten to know other Bat-Ponies who're friends with her, and some of them have girls close to my age that I'm friends with. I have more friends here than I ever did back home. It's nice to finally be appreciated as a person by those other than your family."

"I can imagine. I didn't have too many friends until I joined the Navy, though this was because there weren't really all that many kids in Idaho City. It was kind of a bummer growing up there because of that. Thankfully this changed when I joined the Navy, and I got to know guys like Bob Mullens, and the 10 others in the crew that I worked with on the Foster."

We continued to talk about this, as well as other things for a little while longer. Eventually though, we did have to head home, and after sharing a tender kiss, we began to walk back to Lunar-Nova.

"Tonight was really fun Conner. You should ask me out again sometime!"

I laughed a bit. "Yeah, after what happened tonight, I most certainly will! I don't know why I was so scared to ask you out before!"

Yeah, me neither Conner!"

We continued walking back, completely unaware of what we'd been so close to. Far below the top of Sundale Mountain, on the bank of the Silver Shine River, hidden under a grove of trees, something was sitting. It was somewhat sunk into the bank and the river, but it was still there. It had been sitting there ever since May 11th, the same day I'd arrived in Equestria. However, while I'd been found, it had yet to be discovered. It was a shattered and broken mess, not to mention hidden under a grove of trees, and partially sunk into the river, but it was still there, silently waiting for someone to find it. And one day soon, it finally would be found. What was this "something", and what would happen when it was found? Only time will tell........

Author's Note

And, that was Chapter 4.

I'm SO SORRY that this took so long to get out, but I've been EXTREMELY busy with my job, and I was having a number of technical issues as well. But nevertheless, I persevered, and despite it taking a LOT longer than I thought that it was going to, I finally finished Chapter 4! I REALLY hope that you all enjoyed this one, as while it was pretty long, it was definitely worth the read!

So what did you all think of it? Now Conner and Wendelle are a committed couple, and Conner has agreed to raise Wendelle's child as his own. He also got over his fear of dating, and asked Wendelle out on their first date. But now the question is, what's going to happen next? How many more dates will Conner ask Wendelle on before he considers proposing to her? When will Wendelle find out the gender of her unborn foal? When are she and Conner going to get married? Will there ever be a sequel to "Danger at Sea-Base Sigma"? And what was that "something" hidden on the riverbank close to Sundale Mountain? Could it be the SDTS ex-Paul F. Foster? Or is it something else? And if it is the Foster, what's going to happen to it? Well, you all know the drill, stay tuned and I'll tell you!

In the meantime, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 5!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 5: Salvage and Memories

One Friday Night, after going for one of our walks, Wendelle and I headed back to the house that I shared with Golden. He was out with some of his other friends at a bar, but Wendelle and I were sitting on the rug in front of the fireplace in the living room. We were talking a bit, and Wendelle lay on her side next to me, leaning her head against my shoulder.

"I'm so glad that we can hang out like this Conner". She whispered softly. "Especially on nights like this."

I wrapped a wing around my marefriend, holding her close to me. "So am I Wendelle. It's really nice to be able to spend time with you, especially after a hard day of work in the mine." I then looked at her tummy in the firelight. "Can.....can I feel your belly again Wendelle?"

She nodded, shifting a bit. "Sure Conner." She then rolled over, giving me easy access to her belly. I then turned a bit, and gently began to rub her belly. As usual, Wendelle was making some cute little squeaks as I did so.

"Enjoying yourself Squeaky?" I asked, smirking a bit.

"Hey! I told you to stop calling me that!" Wendelle hit me playfully. She was blushing, and it was clear that she didn't mean it. "I may make those squeaks, but that's ONLY because you make me make them!"

"I'm just rubbing your belly, NOT the one getting wet from it!"

Wendelle glared at me, but she was still blushing. "P-piss off......" She said quietly. She didn't swear, so her saying that was the closest thing to it.

I just held my "TsunderBat" close to me. "Yeah, I love you too Wendelle."

Wendelle looked up at me. "Ugh, WHY can't I stay mad at you Conner? It's not fair!"

I looked at her. "Maybe because you love me, and your anger is just the pregnancy talking, not you?"

She sighed. "Maybe, but if you think that the pregnancy is talking now, just you wait! You ain't seen NOTHIN' yet! Just wait until the baby starts kicking, and I hit the 3rd trimester!"

I shuddered. I knew what she was referring to. My Dad told me about when my Mom was pregnant with me, and just how bad it was really going to get. Hell hath no fury like a pregnant woman, and I was soon going to experience that first hand!
I tried to push these thoughts out of my head for the time being, and I thought of something else.

"Hey Wendelle?"

"Yeah?"

"I was going to ask you. Are there any more Bat-Pony colonies other than Lunar-Nova? Surely there'd have to be, right?"

Wendelle shifted for a bit. Finally though, she nodded. "Yeah, there are. There's plenty more out there besides Lunar Nova. I can think of 3 special ones off the top of my head that Red and Moonlight told me about. They're called Alacolta, Vallenteen, and Deseret."

"Oh, and what's special about them?"

"Well, starting with Alacolta, it's the largest of all the Bat-Pony colonies. Red said that 450,000 Bat-Ponies live there!"

I was stunned. "450,000 Bat-Ponies?! That's insane! That's even bigger than towns in the Midwest like Kansas City; it only has 375,000! Where's it located?"

Eh, it's located South of here somewhere. Red told me, but I'm not quite sure where it is."

"Oh. And what about the other 2?"

"I'll start with Vallenteen. Vallenteen is a colony to the Southeast of Lunar-Nova, maybe 100 miles to the West of a city called Baltimare. Vallenteen is a large mining and manufacturing city known for its many iron and coal mines, and for its factories that make a lot of rails for the railroad, as well as locomotive, freight car, and coach parts. It's also surrounded by hills and forests, and when I first heard about it, I immediately thought of West Virginia."

I nodded. "Yeah, I can see why you would have thought that. It sounds a lot like West Virginia to me too. Vallenteen sounds like a nice place. I'd like to see it someday if I can. And what about Deseret?"

"Yeah, I'll have to see it one day too. And Deseret is the smallest Bat-Pony colony. It's located in the Badlands way to the South, which is basically in a desert. It only has a population of maybe 500 or so, so closer to towns like what we were used to growing up."

"Yeah, but in the desert? And it's only special because it's small?"

Wendelle shook her head. "Oh no, that's only one of 2 reasons why it's so special. Sure, it's tiny, and in the desert, but the Bat-Ponies who live there of course live underground, but they live in an underground cave. This cave is home to a VERY large lake called Desert Lake. And when I say 'big', I mean this thing is 2 miles wide!"

I was stunned. "A 2 mile wide underground lake?! Are you sure that's right?"

"That's what I asked Moonlight when she told me about Deseret, and she confirmed that yes, Desert Lake is indeed 2 miles wide. Or maybe it was 2 miles long. It was either 2 miles wide, or 2 miles long, I can't remember which. But that lake is used not only for fishing for cave fish, but also for agriculture. Despite it being a desert on the surface, underground it's a true oasis. They have fields of crops, ranging from wheat, corn, barley, and oats, to even more garden plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, potatoes, watermelons, pumpkins, strawberries, mangoes, and even fruit trees such as apples, lemons, limes, apples, and pears!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but then again, why would Wendelle be lying to me?

"Well, now I'll DEFINITELY have to put that on a list of places to visit one day!"

"Yeah, me too. An underground city in the desert that has a 2 mile long or wide lake close to it? Yeah, I'd like to see that too!"

Wendelle and I talked about this for a little while longer as we sat by the fireplace. What we didn't know at the time though was that in less than 24 hours, the quiet life in Lunar-Nova was about to change because of one event; the discovery of something that had been hidden ever since its arrival to Equus on the same day as mine.

The next day, which was Saturday, word was suddenly spreading around Lunar-Nova and Brulee like wildfire that a strange thing had been discovered. According to a Bat-Pony named Day Hawk and his 3 friends who found it, they said that they'd stumbled across it accidentally while out on a fishing trip.

"We were out on the Silver Shine River at the base of Sundale Mountain on our boat, fishing, drinking soda, laughing, and having a grand old time when all of a sudden, once we reached a bend in the river maybe a half-mile from Lunar-Nova, hidden among the few trees and heavy plant growth along the bank on that bend, we saw a strange sight. It looked like some kind of wrecked ship, but it was unlike anything we'd ever seen before. Curious, we all went over to the bank for a closer look.

When we arrived, we saw the vessel hidden among the plant-life, and what we found was truly startling. This ship seemed to be made entirely out of metal, and it was unlike any ship we'd ever seen before. If I had to guess, I'd say that this ship was perhaps 500 feet long, and almost as tall as an 8 story building! 'e964' was written in white on the bow of the ship, and it was leaning to starboard maybe 20 degrees, as well as being somewhat sunk into both the sandy bank, and the Silver Shine River. However, while we were still in awe of the ship, my buddy Owl made a pretty dark discovery."

Owl then took over the story. "As I looked at the ship through the trees, something seemed to be wrong with the stern. I pushed some of the plant growth aside, and what I found was truly shocking. At maybe the 3/4 mark on the ship, (somewhere between 250-300 feet from the bow) the ship had been blown in 2! There was metal debris scattered literally everywhere, and there were clear signs of fire damage. Almost nothing about the stern was even remotely recognizable, aside from a 20-something foot chunk of the tip of the ship's stern (sitting almost vertical in the sand and water), one of the ship's rudders (I could see where on the stern chunk the ship had 2 rudders, but one was missing), both of her propellers, and one of the propeller shafts (all torn free of the ship). I don't know what happened to that ship, but it was clearly something catastrophic. I ain't seen nothin' like that ship before, and it was pretty clear that it wasn't Equestrian-made, and I don't think that it was blown up at that bend either; I think it blew up somewhere else, and somehow wound up there.

And weirder still was the tiny second vessel that we hadn't noticed before, but found once we looked between the wrecked ship, and the other side of the bank. Hidden between the ship and the plants on the other side close to the grassy slope leading away from the river, we found a second, smaller vessel; partially floating, though stuck between the bank and the first ship. This other one looked to be some kind of warship, as it had visible guns on the deck, though it was maybe half the size of the larger ship, had the numbers '01' on it's bow, and the name 'Cyclone' was visible on the sides of the ship's stern in black letters. It was connected to the shattered stern of the first ship by 2 cables, and it seems that the first ship was towing the smaller one for some purpose. After this second discovery, we all got back on our boat, and came straight here to tell our story. We don't know what these ships are, where they came from, or who owns them, but we had to spread the word!"

Everypony was going crazy over these discoveries. What ships were these? Where did they come from? Who owned them? How did they end up on that river bank? What happened to blow the first ship in 2? What was going to be done about this discovery? These questions and so many more were racing through the minds of those who heard the report of the 4 Bat-Ponies who found the ships, and everypony wanted answers.

In light of these reports, Golden and I decided to go and see what was going on. Many Ponies were starting to leave Lunar-Nova to get as close to that bend in the Silver Shine River as they could, so as to be able to see what was going on for themselves.

"What do you think that we're gonna find out there Golden?" I asked him as we made our way out to the outside of Sundale Mountain.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Could be something, or it could be a whole lot of nothing. Who knows."

"Yeah. I hope that there's better reports that a few local fishermen who might be making this whole thing up. I hope we get better confirmation soon."

"Me too Conner."

As we kept walking, I had a strange feeling. It was hard to describe, but it felt like I was walking closer and closer to my destiny somehow. I felt like I knew what we were going to find out there, but yet I couldn't quite put my finger on what that was.

Along the way, Wendelle and Moonlight also joined us.

"Hey Golden. Hi Conner!"

I hugged her once she was close enough. "Hey Wendelle. I guess that you and Moonlight are coming to see what's going on for yourselves?"

She nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. With how big of a deal this is turning out to be, it was impossible to stay away."

I then looked over at Moonlight. "Hey, where's Red? Is he still on duty with the Guards?"

"Yeah, though just before Wendelle and I decided to go and see what was going on, I got word from him that a force from the garrison was being mobilized, and was being sent to secure the area around those 2 vessels, and the debris all around them."

Golden's eyes widened a bit. "Wait, so those reports aren't false? There really are 2 vessels out there?"

Moonlight nodded. "Yes, the reports are true. A few guards went to investigate, and they soon reported back that 2 vessels really were right where those fishermen said that they'd be, and once the commander of the garrison, Major Cloud, heard the report from the guards, he immediately organized a force from the garrison to head out there and secure the area. That's the last thing I heard from Red before he and the others who were sent out reached the Silver Shine River. Hopefully I'll be able to get an update from him once we get there."

I was surprised. If troops from the garrison in Lunar-Nova were being sent out to secure the area, then this was a serious matter. Maybe it was just for the safety of those who came to see what was going on, or maybe it was because these 2 vessels were still unknown, and no one knew who they belonged to, why they were there, what they were, how they came to be there, or what caused the damage to the larger vessel. None of us knew, but we were hoping to find out soon.

A few minutes later, the 4 of us reached the entrance to Lunar-Nova, and after going beyond it, we followed the crowd down Sundale Mountain, and we were soon close to the Silver Shine River. Or rather, we got as close as we could. It was hard to get close due to the crowds from not only Lunar-Nova, but also Brulee, and because soldiers from both towns were also guarding a barricaded perimeter around the site, and weren't letting anypony through.

"Everypony please stay back!" Red Dusk and a few other officers shouted over the noise crowd. "We don't know what we're dealing with here, and this could be serious, so for your own safety, PLEASE stay behind the barricades!"

I looked around, but it was almost impossible to see anything over the crowds of Ponies. However, it was then that Red saw Moonlight, Wendelle, Golden and I.

"Conner!"

I looked over at him. "Yeah Red?"

"You were in the Navy right? You might be able to tell us a bit more about these ships. You can come on up!"

I nodded, and then made my way through the crowd as gently as possible. Once I reached the barricade, I was allowed through, though Golden, Wendelle and Moonlight had to stay behind the barricade. However, now that they were right at the barricade itself, it was really easy for them to see past the guards standing behind it. Maybe 6 feet beyond the guards was the edge of the riverbank, and somewhere below that, on a sandbar and surrounded by vegetation, were the 2 vessels in question.

As I stood on the riverbank, I looked at the 2 vessels down below me. I was looking at them from slightly above, and at the stern, but even from where I was standing, I could see the sheer amount of devastation done to the larger of the 2 ships.

"No doubt about it Red, the larger one clearly blew up. Possibly a magazine explosion, or maybe it was a fuel explosion that touched off a magazine explosion."

"And what kind of a ship is it?"

I shrugged. "Hard to tell. Judging by its size though, it seems to be a frigate, though it could be a destroyer of some kind. Hard to tell because of the damage though." As I was looking at the larger ship though, I had this very eerie feeling that I had seen it before, but I just couldn't place where. It looked familiar to me somehow, but I couldn't figure out why. However, I then looked to where the vessel's stern was, and I saw the chunk of stern that was standing vertical. It looked like there was something written on it in black letters, but it was hard to make out, as there were a number of burn spots on it. However, as I looked closer, one word at the end suddenly became clear. I read it, and my entire face went dead white.

"Foster".

"No.........no! I-it.....IT CAN'T BE!!!!"

"What? What's wrong Conner?"

"That ship!" I pointed to it. "It's the ex-USS Paul F Foster! THIS IS THE SHIP THAT ALMOST KILLED ME!!!!!!!!"

When I yelled like that, Red immediately turned to look back at the damaged wreck. "Wait. This is the Foster?! How is that possible?! You said that it blew up!"

"It obviously did! But how did it wind up here?!"

"Well, you arrived here during that same explosion, and you said that you were swallowed by a black mass. Maybe that mass also swallowed the Foster, and brought it here."

I was trying to get a better grip on myself, but when I looked back at the damaged Foster, all I could hear were the screams of my dying comrades, the sounds of the explosion, and of the ship tearing itself apart as it sank. I then sank to the ground, and started sobbing uncontrollably. As I lay there though, I suddenly felt something grab me, and pull me tightly against itself.

"Shh, it's ok Conner. I'm here for you. I'm right here."

I glanced over, and I saw that Wendelle was hugging me. I guessed that the soldiers let her through to comfort me, as I was having a PTSD episode; basically the modern equivalent of a Vietnam Flashback. I hugged Wendelle tightly, and I was trying to get a better grip on myself.

Back at the barricade, Red was telling Golden and Moonlight what had happened.

"So the larger vessel down there is the Foster; the same ship that Conner served on?!"

"Yes, that's right Golden. Somehow, someway, that ship came here too, though it's just as damaged now as it was back on Earth." He then leaned in close to them. "And I didn't tell Conner this, but when we first got here to secure the area, we could see bloodstains on the larger, undamaged part of the ship, close to the blast-zone. That's when I knew that there'd probably been fatalities on this ship, but I had no idea what had happened until Conner said something. Now I know why. Those could very well be HIS bloodstains, or bloodstains from the 5 others who were still with him on the Foster who died that day."

Moonlight looked like she wanted to throw up. "Dear Celestia. No wonder he had a Shell-Shock breakdown. He was the only survivor of the 6 still on the Foster when it blew up. 6 had already escaped, but the remaining 6 weren't so lucky. Conner survived, but the other 5 didn't." She then looked over at Wendelle and I. "I hope that he's going to be ok".

"Me too Hun."

"And me too." Golden agreed.

Around this same time, I finally was able to calm down again. I then gently touched Wendelle's face with my hoof, before pulling her in for a kiss. "I love you Wendelle. So, so much. You don't know how much it means to me to have you comfort me like this."

She blushed a bit. "Eh, you're welcome Conner. You did the same for me when I told you about my predicament, and now that we're a couple, it's our job to comfort each other when we need it."

"Yeah." I then looked over at Red. "Hey Red?"

"Yeah Conner?"

"Where's that other little vessel that I heard was attached to the wrecked stern of the Foster by cables?"

"If you're ok, I'll show you." He then began to walk towards us.

I then stood up again, and I told Wendelle to wait there.

"Ok, but PLEASE be careful Conner!"

I hugged her again. "I will Babe. This should just take a few minutes."

She nodded, and then I left with Red to see the other vessel.

"It was hard to see at first. This one looked to be a warship too, but like the Foster was stripped down. It was in one piece, though showing its age. The numbers "01" were on its bows, and the name "Cyclone" at the stern. Does that mean anything to you?"

I nodded. "Yeah. The ex-USS Cyclone PC-1. She was the first in her class of coastal-defense ships. They weren't the biggest, toughest, or prettiest ships ever, nor did they have big weapons, but if you were a pirate or smuggler operating close to the US, or territories under US protection, and one of these ships was chasing you, you were screwed!"

Just after I said this, Red and I reached a good vantage point where we could see the Cyclone. Like Red said, it was sitting upright, though it was trapped between the Foster and the riverbank. I could also still see cables on the ship's bow that still attached her to the stern of the Foster.

"Yep, that's the Cyclone alright. I'm surprised that she was brought over here too, but then again, she was attached to the Foster, so maybe that's why."

"And how big is she?"

I thought for a second. "Well, the Cyclone-Class coastal defense ships (CDS) were 175 feet long, had a beam of 25 feet, a draft of 7.5 feet, and were capable of 35 knots, or 40mph. The Cyclone was in service with the US Navy from 1993-2000, when she was transferred to the US Coast Guard. She remained with the US Coast Guard from 2000-2004, when she was sold to the Philippine Navy (a foreign nation), and she remained with them from 2004-2012. And then they had an accident with her."

"An accident?"

"Yeah. I never heard the full details, but supposedly the ship was chasing down some pirates, and one of them launched an RPG at her, and the ship was severely damaged."

"RPG?"

"Rocket-propelled grenade. Quite powerful weapons, often used against vehicles."

"Oh. And what happened after that?"

"Well, the Filipinos tried to fix the Cyclone, but her service days were over. She was sold back to the US as scrap, and some thought that she was going to be repaired and recommissioned, but alas, this was not the case. Instead, the powers that be decided that it would be cheaper to build a new ship rather than repair the Cyclone, so she was going to be sunk as a target. The Navy then patched her up again, gave her some equipment, and she too was assigned to the Port Hueneme Division. Then one day, the Foster was to take her out to where she would be sunk by a missile fired from another ship. Sure, the ship would try to defend herself, but would most likely fail. I think you can guess how that test went."

"Yeah, I can guess." We then continued to look at the ships for a little while longer, before heading back towards the barricade.

Eventually, those gathered there were told that the 2 ships were decommissioned warships, and that they too had been brought over from Earth on the same day I had. The larger of the 2 ships was a destroyer that had been blown in half by a fuel explosion, and the other was a coastal patrol craft that the destroyer had been towing. The ships were there, and they were abandoned, but now the question was who owned them, and what was going to be done with them.

Major Cloud, the commanding officer of the garrison at Lunar-Nova, sent a message to Canterlot. It was addressed to both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and unknown to me, I was mentioned in that letter, as were the 2 ships.

"The future of the Equestrian Navy could be right here." The Major thought to himself as the message was sent on its way. "If this plan could work, then we would be years ahead of our competition, and then stay ahead for a long time to come!" He then awaited a reply to his message.

Over the next few days, I had to take time off work. The trauma of seeing the Foster again, not to mention the horrible memories associated with it, were making it impossible for me to function normally. At night in my nightmares I kept reliving May 10th all over again, over and over. The pain, the screams, the explosion, being blown into the water in a bloody mess, and then almost drowning. My PTSD had only been a slight issue before this, but now that I was facing my nightmare again, it was all coming back to me. However, there was one saving grace during this time. Wendelle let me stay with her at Red and Moonlight's house for a few days to help me recover. At night, she would lay next to me in bed, and help me cope with the nightmares and flashbacks.

"I don't know what I'd do without you Wendelle". I said softly. "If you weren't here to help me through this, I don't know what I'd do."

She rolled over a bit to face me, before gently kissing me on the nose. "I know Conner, that's why I'm doing it. You need me during this time, and as your marefriend, wife-to-be really, it's my job to support you, and help you through this. You did the same to me, and have been by my side since the night I told you about my pregnancy, so it's my pleasure to return the favor."

I then looked at her 3-month pregnant belly as she lay there next to me. "And how have you been holding up with it?"

Wendelle sighed. "Well, it's not been easy. I feel sick a lot in the mornings, I have to pee, you've seen some of the weird crap I suddenly want to eat, and you know that I have to rush to the bathroom to puke in the mornings, but the worst is still coming. My foal...........our foal, hasn't even begun to kick yet. When that happens..........yeesh!" She then lay her head back on the pillows a bit, and sighed. "F@#k me....." She muttered with a foreleg over her face.

I cocked my head ever so much. Up until recently I'd never heard Wednelle swear, and even then, most of it seemed to be her mind subconsciously reacting to her pregnancy. I'd ask her why she just said "shit", or dropped an F-bomb, but she'd look at me and say that I was crazy; she hadn't said anything.

I then looked at her belly again, and then back at her. "Can I?"

Wendelle looked at me. "Sure. As long as you're gentle. It helps me relax, and when I'm relaxed, our foal seems to be relaxed too. Just ignore the squeaks!"

I smirked. "Why, are you gonna make them again as soon as I touch you?"

"S-shut up!"

I just laughed a bit, before leaning close to Wendelle, and gently nuzzling her belly. Sure enough, not long after I did so, I began to hear a series of small squeaks. I smiled, though said nothing. I then reached out a hoof, and gently began to rub Wendelle's stomach.

"Hey Little One. How are things in there for you? Your Mom's wishing that you would come out soon, but you still have another 5 months in there, don't you?" I then leaned my head against her belly, and used my sensitive ears to see if I could hear any movement from inside her womb.

"Anything?" She asked, gently holding my hoof with one of her own.

I shrugged. "I can't tell. It's hard to hear movement sometimes, especially if you're not sure what exactly you're listening for." I then shifted a bit. However, as I did so, Wendelle suddenly groaned a bit.

"Ow!"

I looked up at her. "What?"

"You hit me in the stomach!"

I gave her a weird look. "Um, no I didn't. 3 of my hooves are in front of me on the bed, and you're holding number 4. One of my wings is under me, and the other is on the wrong side. And my head wasn't on you either. Are you sure that you didn't bump yourself, and your hormones made you think that it was me?"

"No, I didn't hit myself! And why's this always gotta be about hormones?!"

I got up and faced her. "Because they dictate how your mind works, and since you're pregnant, they're all out of whack right now."

Wendelle glared at me. "You take that back!"

Before I could say anything else though, Wendelle groaned again. "Something just hit me again!"

"Wasn't me. I'm sitting almost a foot away from you."

"Well it wasn't me!"

I then froze. I was going to say something, but Wendelle beat me to it. "Wait. If it wasn't you, and it wasn't me, and we're the only 2 Ponies here, then that means..........." She raised her right wing a bit more, and looked at her swollen belly.

"Wait. Was that......?"

"Yes! Our little foal just gave their first kicks!"

I was stunned. I knew that our foal would start kicking soon, but I didn't think that it would happen now.

"Wow. I don't.........I don't even know what to say right now."

"Me neither." Wendelle then lay back down on the bed, and gently began to rub her belly. She felt more kicks from our foal, and she groaned a bit.

I then lay down next to her, and gently pulled her close to me. Wendelle sighed contentedly, before snuggling close to me, and laying her head on my shoulder.

"I love you Conner. You're exactly as I pictured a significant other, right down to how they're supposed to act. You're here for me during my pregnancy, and I'm eternally grateful for that."

I leaned down and kissed Wendelle's forehead a bit. "I know, and I love you too Wendelle. I never had a significant other before you, and from the moment I saw you, I knew that there was something special about you. I'm glad that I'm with you, and that our child will grow up with both parents in the home."

"Me too." Wendelle then kissed me gently, before snuggling close to me again, and gently drifting off to sleep. I then sighed contentedly, and soon followed suit. As I did though, I wondered about the future. What was going to happen to the Foster and the Cyclone? Were they going to be pulled off the riverbank? And if so, what was going to happen to them? I had no idea, but I knew that something was going to be done with them soon.

A few days after Major Cloud sent his letter to Canterlot, he received a reply from Princess Celestia. The Princess was very interested in this new development, and she did agree that this could be a huge leap forwards for the Equestrian Navy, however, there were a few problems that needed to be addressed. Chief among them was ownership of the 2 vessels. Yes, they were now in Equestrian territory, but they belonged to another sovereign nation. Yes, the ships were decommissioned, but they were still considered warships on active duty, and while they had been "lost" in a sense, Celestia didn't want any trouble should the United States Navy come looking for the vessels.

This is where I came into the picture, much to my surprise. One day I was summoned from Lunar-Nova, and after taking the train from Brulee, I arrived in Canterlot City, under escort from Major Cloud, and a number of other Bat-Pony guards. I was taken to a meeting room inside of Canterlot Castle, and it was in that room where I finally got to meet Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria. I couldn't believe it. Here I was, a 20 1/2 year old US Navy ensign, meeting the Princess who ruled all of Equestria! And not only that, but I had been summoned by her directly, as she wished to speak with me personally about the Foster and the Cyclone.

As soon as I saw her, I bowed a bit out of respect. "Princess Celestia, it's an honor to meet you."

She smiled, before bidding me to rise. "The honor is mine My Dear. Now then, what should I call you?"

"You can just call me 'Conner', Princess. That's my name. Ensign Conner Dwight, US Navy."

"Conner. Such a nice name." She then moved over to the table in the room, and sat down, bidding the rest of us to take our seats too.

Once we did, the Princess continued. "Now then, I'm sure that you were told why I summoned you here, correct?"

I nodded. "Yes Princess. You summoned me because I knew more about the Foster and the Cyclone than anypony else in Equestria. You wish to add them to the Equestrian Navy, but need somepony who has worked with them before, and would have expertise with such a thing."

"That's most of it Conner, though there is one other thing, and that is legal ownership. I know that both ships were, and probably still are the property of the United States Navy, even though they are now in our territory. What is their current status, at least as of the time that you worked with them?"

I thought for a moment. "Well Princess, the Foster, once the Spruance-Class Destroyer USS Paul F. Foster DD-964 was fully decommissioned, and turned into a Self-Defense Test Ship (SDTS), and was used to test new weapons, defend against new weapons, and record data on all of the tests. The Cyclone, formerly the Coastal Defense Ship (CDS) USS Cyclone PC-1, was also fully decommissioned, though her fate was to be sunk as a target. The test where she was to be sunk was the same test that went disastrously wrong, and saw the Foster explode, 5 US Navy sailors dead, and a 6th critically wounded, and then displaced to another world, seemingly followed by the shattered Foster, and the still-intact Cyclone. Though if you're asking if the Navy still owns them, then the answer is yes, but they're considered expendable assets, especially the Cyclone, since she was literally about to be sunk as a target. The Foster on the other hand was also considered expendable, though a bit more valuable than the Cyclone is."

Celestia had to think about that. Since the Cyclone was literally about to be sunk as a target, then it seemed that the US Navy had surrendered her ownership to the sea, and that now the Equestrians had the green light to take the ship, fully refurbish it, and return it to naval service. However, the Foster was a different matter. She was considered less of an expendable asset, but was still being used by the US Navy to test new weapons. However, on the other hoof, the ship was currently shattered, and lying in pieces on a riverbank. It could not perform its primary function, and would need to be removed. Finally she spoke.

"Well, if this is the case Conner, then the Cyclone can and will be removed from that river bank, and towed to a naval shipyard where she can be fully refurbished, and then returned to service. And as for the Foster, where she currently sits, the ship, and her components are considered a hazard to navigation on the Silver Shine River, not to mention a possible environmental hazard as well. The ship and her components must be removed from that river bank, but as for their fate after that, therein lies the question."

"The question of whether or not the ship can be not only repaired, but also returned to her original Spruance-configuration?"

She nodded. "Yes, that is correct Conner. And from the evaluations of the ship that have been performed so far, it appears that the largest part of the ship, from the bow to almost amidships, can be salvaged, however the rest of the amidships, everything in it, and most of the stern of the ship are little more than scrap. Perhaps some of their components can be salvaged, but most of them will have to be scrapped. So it can be done, but the question is, how should it be done?"

"Which part Princess? The salvage of the ship, or her restoration?"

"The restoration. What we would need would be blueprints of the ship, as well as schematics of the technology. Do you know where we might find them?"

I had to really think about that, but I nodded slowly. "Yes, as I matter of fact I do Princess. Deep within the Foster is a bank of computers, and data storage units. These computers are located in the former Combat Information Center (CIC), which was in the part of the Foster that's still intact, so there is a fair chance that they survived. On these computers is not only all of the data from the various weapons tests, but also the blueprints for both the Foster and the Cyclone, the schematics for all of their weapons and machinery, and how to care for and maintain them. I'm not fully sure why the ship's computers still had all of this data on them, but I think that it might have had something to do with some battle scenarios that we would operate with during some weapons tests. We'd feed this information into the ship's computers, and have them calculate how the battle would play out."

"So assuming that these computers can be accessed, and the data on them retrieved, then we would know how to fully repair both ships, and return them to service?"

"Yes, but that's only assuming that the computers can be accessed, and their data retrieved. The computers will have to have not been hit by water, fire, or debris from the explosion, and will have to be powered up again. However, if this can be done, then yes, you will have all of the information that will be needed to bring both ships back to full operational status."

I spent the better part of the next 2 hours talking with the Princess and Major Cloud on further details on the Foster and the Cyclone, as well as their possible salvage. After examining a number of aerial photographs, plans for the salvage operation were fully finalized, and word was sent out to the Northern Star Marine Salvage Company that the Equestrian Navy was going to have need of their services in a few day's time.

3 days after this, the area around the Foster and the Cyclone were again cleared, and fenced off. This time however, several tugboats, large barges and floating cranes were at the spot in the Silver Shine River where the 2 ships were located. The plan was to first fully assess everything, and then the Cyclone would be boarded first, and fully evaluated. Once evaluated, and any damage to the hull patched up, and any water pumped out, a space would then be cleared for the Cyclone to be pulled out into the river, and then she would be secured to a tug.

I was there assisting with the salvage operation, as I knew more about these ships than anypony else. A few of my bosses at the mine protested this, however, once it was revealed that I had been personally asked to help with this project by none other than Princess Celestia herself, they quieted down, though I was reminded that my pay with them would be docked until I returned. I was ok with this, as I was being compensated by the Equestrian Navy for my assistance.

Sure enough, about an hour after the operation began, the Cyclone was boarded for the first time. Unlike the Foster, she was almost fully intact, though most of her weapons and military hardware were missing, and the ship was painted a neutral gray. The ship was moving a bit back and forth with the currents of the river flowing over the sandbank where she and the Foster were, though she was stuck between the Foster and the riverbank, not to mention the fact that some sand would have to be dredged out from underneath her so that she could be pulled out. I was standing on the deck of the Cyclone, marveling at the ship while she was being first evaluated, and then the sand around her was dredged out.

"It's amazing how well the Cyclone survived." One of the salvage Ponies told me. "I thought for sure that she would have been as badly damaged as the Foster."

I looked at who had spoken. "Well, the Cyclone was being towed almost 150 feet behind the Foster when the disaster happened, and a lot of the debris from the explosion went either up into the air, or out towards the sides of the ship; very little was blown back towards the Cyclone. After the explosion though, it's anypony's guess as to how she wound up in her current position between the Foster and the riverbank."

"Yeah."

While it didn't take too long to figure out that the Cyclone was still seaworthy, it was another ballgame altogether to get the sand below her dredged out, and then pull the ship off from the sandbank, and out from between the Foster and the riverbank. It took almost 2 hours to finish dredging the sand and river mud away, and then another 30 minutes to cut the cable that connected the Cyclone to the Foster, connect a few more cables from the ship to 2 of the tugs, and then another 5 minutes to pull the Cyclone free. Once she was finally pulled free, the Cyclone was pulled out into the middle of the Silver Shine River, where for the first time, the guards around the perimeter of the work site, newsponies, and even just average Ponies got to see what the ex-USS Cyclone PC-1 in the full light of day.

"Wow. So that's the smaller of the 2 warships?"

"I think so. Gosh. She looks like she would be quite the powerful vessel for patrolling rivers, and the Equestrian coastline. I wonder how long it will take for them to return her to service."

"I'm not sure. It could take a while, especially considering how this ship as she is right now is decommissioned. She'll have to be given back all of her old military hardware, which will most likely have to be remade from scratch, as we don't have very much of what the Cyclone needs in our current Navy inventory!"

I was glad that Ponies were taking such an interest in the Cyclone, and even more glad that she was finally free from where she was stuck! I stood on the ship's upper deck as the tugs maneuvered her down the Silver Shine River.

"Where's the ship being taken again?" I asked one of the salvage Ponies.

"She's being taken to Pier 3 at the North Shore Naval Base. It's located just past where the Silver Shine River terminates into the Celestial Sea, just south of the city of Manehattan."

"Where she'll be fully evaluated by naval architects, engineers, and other naval personnel, and plans for her being returned to service will be drawn up." I finished.

The salvage Pony, Gray Metal, nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Can't say for sure, since I'm just working with the salvage end of this, and am in no way an expert on the Equestrian Navy, but I guess that that sounds right."

At about 8pm that evening, just as the sun was going down, the 2 tugs and the Cyclone reached the mouth of the Silver Shine River, and after passing it, we were in the Celestial Sea, or rather, Manehattan Bay, which was where the naval base was located. I was surprised when I saw it for the first time. It was a bit larger than I thought that it was going to be, and since the sun was going down, all the floodlights were turning on. From the deck of the Cyclone, I could see that there were at least 4 dry docks, 6 large piers, and a large number of cranes, warehouses, and supplies and parts being moved back and forth. It reminded me of pictures that I'd seen of the Philadelphia Naval Yard around the time of "Great White Fleet" in the early 1900's. I could see a mixture of warships and supply ships, and if I had to guess, I'd say that the Ponies had reached beyond the days of the US Civil War in terms of naval technology, but yet were not quite to the Dreadnought-Era. This most likely meant that they were in the dawn of the Pre-Dreadnought-Era. From where I was, I could see frigates, early model destroyers, armored cruisers, and even 2 battleships that resembled the US Indiana-Class Battleships, maybe 40 ships in total. Some were moored to the piers, 2 were in dry dock, and 3 others were either pulling into the naval base, or leaving with the aide of tugs.

I was impressed. "Wow. This is quite the naval base that you guys have here."

"Is it anything like what the base you served at was like Conner?" Gray Metal asked me.

I shook my head. "No, it's cooler than that! Port Hueneme was more of a laboratory than a naval base, and there really weren't any ships stationed there that weren't being experimented on like the Foster, or blown up like what was going to happen with the Cyclone. This here is a REAL naval base to be proud of!"

"Yeah, it really is, isn't it?"

Pretty soon, the Cyclone was nosed up to Pier 3, where she was secured with ropes, and then disconnected from the 2 tugs. The plan was for all of us to spend the night there at the naval base, before we went back down the Silver Shine River in the morning, and then focus our efforts on the real prize, the Foster. And oh boy was that going to be the challenge of the year!

By 10:30am the next day, we arrived back at the wreck of the Foster. Once we arrived, we knew that we would have to explore the interior of the Foster, as well as examine the exterior, so as to even see if the largest part of the ship that still existed, (a section that spanned from the tip of the bow, to a point approx. 280 feet back) could be moved. If so, it would have to be lifted out of the water with cranes, and possibly even Unicorn Magic, and then placed on at least 2 barges put together, and then moved down the river to the naval base. However, this was the easy part. The rest of the ship (248 feet), save for the back 20 feet of the end of the stern, was literally in pieces, and the debris was scattered all over the place; on the sand bar, on the river bank, beyond the river bank, and most likely on the bottom of the river too. This would involve us removing the largest pieces that we could find with cranes and Magic, and then using a crane with a big magnet attached to the end to dredge the Silver Shine River for missing parts. This alone could take up to, or possibly beyond another week, as the salvage company had to make absolutely certain that the river was safe for navigation again.

For me, it felt so surreal to be standing on the deck of the Foster again. I knew that this ship had been destroyed, but yet here was the front 280 feet of the ship, still semi-intact. The missile had hit the ship on the starboard side at the 3/4 mark, and I was standing at the railing on the port side, close to where the explosion that had torn the ship in 2 happened. I could still see dried, crusted blood on the deck and part of the ship's superstructure, and in that moment, I was back on the Foster the day she blew up. I heard the explosion, as well as the screams of the dying as shrapnel blew them apart, I smelled the smoke, high-explosives, blood and burning flesh, felt the heat of the flames, and I heard the splashes of debris and body parts hitting the water. I was so absorbed in my PTSD-flashback that I failed to notice somepony tapping me on the shoulder.

"Conner? Conner. Are you ok?"

I jumped a bit as my mind leapt back to the present, and I turned to see who was tapping me. To my slight surprise, I saw that it was Red.

"Oh, hey Red. I didn't know that you were still here."

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm still here, and will be until the salvage operation concludes." He then paused a bit. "But......are you ok Conner? You looked like you were having a flashback."

I sighed. "And you'd be right. I saw and experienced everything that happened on that day, from the moment of the explosion, until I was swallowed up by the sea. It was all right in front of me, as vivid as this conversation is right now. And do you know what makes it worse?"

Red was sick to his stomach about what I was telling him, but he still answered. "What?"

I pointed down. "This is the exact same spot where I was trying to get into that motor launch before I became a shrapnel pincushion, and was then blown into the water. How can I not be absorbed by the memories?"

Red was wholly blown away. He had no idea of what to say, as his mind was still reeling. He'd been a soldier for a number of years, but had never really seen any combat. I'd only been in the navy for a brief time, and I was already scarred for life by having my ship blown out from under me. He didn't know how to react, though he did rest a hoof on my shoulder.

"I don't truly know the pain that you're feeling right now Conner, but I don't have a hard time imagining it. I know that this must have hurt for you in ways that defy description, but I'm here for you if you need me."

I looked at him, and smiled a bit. "T-thanks Red. That really means a lot to me; from one sailor to a soldier."

We both then stood at that railing for a while longer, and while Red listened, I finally tried to come to real terms with what had happened, and I tried to put those bad memories to rest as best I could.

Over the course of the next few hours, the intact section of the Foster was examined. Surprisingly, aside from the area where the explosion happened, the rest of this part of the ship seemed to still be in fairly good condition. The hull was still pretty well intact, as was the deck, and the superstructure. However, this was just the outside of the vessel; what was the inside going to look like? Once several generators had been set up, various lights and cords were attached to it, and with some Ponies being provided with very powerful flashlights attached to helmets, I began to lead the way into the bowels of the Foster's hulk.

Our primary mission, aside from assessing the ship from the inside, was to get to the former CIC (Combat Information Center), and see if those computers and data storage units could still be salvaged, as they were vital for the futures of both the Foster, and the Cyclone. The interior of the ship wasn't entirely dark. Sunlight filtered in through some small gaps and holes caused by either the explosion, the fire, or perhaps even when the ship was transported here, and landed on the sandbar. However, the interior of the ship was pretty bare, and someone pointed this out.

"Why is it so bare in here? There's nothing here but metal, wires, a few ladders, chairs, and other electronics."

I looked at who had spoken. "That's because once the Foster was decommissioned, the entire ship was largely gutted. Almost all military hardware, save for her radar, sonar, and a few other systems were removed, as was pretty much everything else that wasn't nailed down, and even things that were! The gallery, crew quarters, laundry room, bridge, most of the engineering spaces, the hangar, weapons areas, and other such spaces were pretty much wholly gutted, and were either left alone, or were filled with other electronics systems for the Foster's new role as a Self-Defense Test-Ship. Even the engines were altered to burn a new type of biofuel, and were given special controls so that the ship could be controlled remotely. This whole ship was essentially the world's largest (and deadliest!) remote-control boat! Sure, it needed 12 engineers to crew her, but all we did was monitor everything and record data. We didn't really have to do anything!"

When I said that, those who weren't familiar with me talking about what the Foster was after her decommissioning were astonished. The whole ship was remote-controlled, didn't require any crew aside from the 12 engineers, but even then, they were only there for monitoring the ship, and recording data. No one knew what to say, aside from a naval Pony who seemingly noticed that I never mentioned the ship having a boiler room.

"This ship doesn't have a boiler room. Her 4 General Electric turbine engines were powered by gas; essentially fuel oil. By the time that the Foster entered service in the early 70's, the US Navy was starting to phase out ships with boilers in favor of the ones with gas turbines, as they were less manpower-intensive, and the maintenance costs were lower. Heck, by the time I joined the Navy a few years ago, ships with boilers were long-gone. Gas turbine engines were the way forwards, though here in Equestria, steam boilers are still the staple, and the Foster and the Cyclone will probably be the only gas turbine-driven ships, at least for a long time."

The others were still pretty surprised, and they continued to ask me questions about the Foster, her mechanics, and her weapons for a while longer, which I answered as best I could.

Eventually, we were able to reach the Combat Information Center (CIC), which was where the computers and data storage units that contained all of the information that we wanted were. The door to the CIC was closed, and the tiny porthole window at the top was all fogged up, so we couldn't tell exactly what was inside. However, I did know that we were possibly only a few feet above the water level in the river, and that the CIC was close to where the ship had been blown in 2, so there was a very real chance that nothing in there was going to be salvageable. However, despite these misgivings, we were able to get the door open, though when we did, we looked inside in shock.

While half of the room was seemingly intact, the back half of the room was showing signs of fire damage, and the furthest wall was fractured in numerous places, and sunlight was filtering in freely from the hallway beyond it. We looked down towards the base of the fractured wall, though we didn't see any water. A Pony was sent outside to check, and we were able to determine that the CIC was about 20 feet away from the blast zone, and maybe 4 feet above the water level.

"Ok, so there's no worry about any water damage, but now the real question is, how much can we salvage that wasn't damaged by fire?"

I was looking around the room. Where there had once been rows of monitors, radar screens, weapons stations, radios, computers, and various other electronics, most of these had been gutted out, and replaced with various other computers, and data storage units. Most of these were in the middle of the room, though some were against the walls, and yes, some were even on the back walls, and these did show some signs of damage.

"Well, I can tell you guys right now that the ones in the middle of the room, as well as the ones against the other walls will most likely be salvageable, though the ones against the back wall might not be."

"And how do you think that we should get them out of here Conner?"

I thought for a second. "Well, if you ask me, the easiest way might be to simply cut out that back wall, and then just move the units out through there. The hallway only goes back 20 feet, and then we have a wide-open space to get them out of."

This seemed like a pretty fair plan, and after having some of the Unicorns get over by the back of the main section of the Foster where the blast happened, some metal-cutting saws were fetched, and the back wall was fully cut through. Then, once the computers and data storage units had been unplugged and unbolted from the floor and walls, they were picked up, placed on rollers used to move furniture, rolled down the hallway behind the CIC, and once they were close to the huge gap at the back, the Unicorns picked them up with their Magic, moved them out of the ship, and brought them over to a spot above the river bank, where they were then placed on several carts. Then, once all of the units were removed, as well as all of the cables that connected them to each other, and kept them supplied them with power, the carts were then taken to Brulee, where they were unloaded at the train station there, placed into a special boxcar, secured, and then the train pulled out bound for Manehattan. Once there, more carts were waiting, and once the units and the cords were unloaded, they were taken directly to the North Shore Naval Base, where the Ponies there would attempt to power the devices back on once the salvage operation was complete, and see what could be retrieved from them.

After the data units had been secured at the naval base, then came the REAL challenge; dredging out the main section of the Foster, and then trying to move it onto 2 of the barges, before finally securing it for the trip down the river to the naval base. However, even though this task did seem quite daunting, we had good reason to hope. The main section of the ship was still largely sound, and would be easy to move in one piece with the aide of Unicorn Magic once the sand and river mud close to it had been dredged away. However, this did leave the task of securing it to the barges, and then keeping the whole thing stable as it was moved down the river. Those on the salvage team knew that it was going to require extra floats, as well as at least 4-6 outriggers to keep the barges stable.

The dredging began without delay, as we really wanted to get the main part of the ship out of there before dark. We didn't mind if we had to take the ship down the river in the dark (indeed, this was preferred, as there was very little, if any traffic on the river at night) but we didn't want to have to pull the ship out in the dark. Yes we had floodlights, but it was also easier to make mistakes. We only had about 4 hours of daylight left at this point, so it was going to be close.

With only 2 hours of daylight left, the dredging was complete, and once the dredgers had been moved away, several floating cranes were moved into position. While this was happening, special cables with cradles on them were being passed underneath the Foster's hull, before being hooked together, and the whole "net" of cradles was then attached to one of the 4 cranes. After the attachments were all secure, most of the Unicorns on the salvage team were positioned either on the river bank, or on the small deck spaces on the floating cranes, and they used their Magic to also grab hold of the cradles as well, and once the cranes began to lift the Foster, they would start lifting too.

"How much longer until we're ready?" one of the foremen asked the crane operators.

"Just as soon as we all sound off." One of them replied. "I'm ready."

The other 3 operators quickly sounded off as well.

"And what about you Unicorns? Are you ready?"

"Affirmative!"

"Ok, good. Now then, we're almost out of daylight here Ponies, so let's get this beast off the sandbar, and onto the barges before the sun finishes setting!"

Everypony agreed to this, and then slowly, carefully, the crane operators began to reel in the cables on the cranes. Pretty soon, the cables, and the cradles that they were attached to pulled taught, and once they did, the Unicorns began the task of lifting as well.

I was watching this entire operation from the deck of one of the tugboats. It was so painful to watch, as I was fully expecting something bad to happen, but yet I was unable to look away.

"Please. PLEASE!" I silently begged. "Don't let anything bad happen!"

"Are you ok Conner?"

I looked over at Gray Metal, who was standing next to me. "Yeah........yeah, I'm fine Gray. Just.........a bit nervous."

He looked at the cranes as well. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Whenever we first try to lift something during these operations, it's always tense. Something could slip, a cable could break, or what we're trying to lift ends up being too heavy for the cranes. Though this time, since we also have the aide of the Unicorns, even with the immense weight of this section of the ship being lifted, I think that we'll be just fine."

"I really hope so Gray. That thing's already killed 5 people, and it almost killed me too. Let's hope that the Foster's body-count ends there."

Gray looked at me for a brief moment. He clearly saw all of the scars from where I'd been gravely injured the day I arrived on Equus, and considering how serious they were, he could tell that it was no small miracle that I was even still alive. He didn't say anything, and soon turned his attention back to the salvage operation. The minutes crept by, but eventually, the hulk that was the bow-section of the Foster was soon lifted slowly into the air.

"It's off the sandbar!" One of the crane operators reported. "Just a little bit higher, and then we'll start moving it back towards the barges."

"Roger that." The foreman, Cold Cut, replied.

Pretty soon, the Foster was a good 10 feet or so off the sandbar, and once the cranes stopped lifting, the Unicorns helped hold the ship steady while tugs moved in to help the 4 cranes begin to move slowly backwards. It took a while, but with only an hour left of daylight, the cranes reached the middle of the river.

"We're in position Sir. Send in the barges!"

"Roger that." Cold Cut then contacted the 2 tugs that were responsible for moving the barges, including the one that Gray Metal and I were on. "Barge tugs, you're all clear to move the barges in. Bring them in slowly, and move them underneath the ship."

"Acknowledged. We're coming in gently." The tugs then began to move the barges in.

It took another 10 minutes to get the barges in place, and at Cold Cut's command, the cranes and the Unicorns then began to gently lower the Foster onto the connected barges. Soon, the ship was sitting on the long, rectangular wooden pallets that were placed on the flat bottom of the barge to help the Foster remain level and stable for her journey. Once she was, the cables and the cradles from the cranes were removed, and work began on securing the Foster for her journey. This was complete just as the sun set, and Princess Luna's moon began to rise into the sky.

"Good work everypony!" Cold Cut commended. "You all did a fine job! You got the ship off the sandbar, and onto the barges in good time, and now she's all secured for her trip to the naval base. We'll move her there tonight, and then come back here tomorrow morning, and begin to salvage whatever else we can of the rest of the ship."

Once everypony there had finished congratulating each other, 2 other tugs moved into position next to the barges, and more floats, as well as 6 outriggers were used to keep the barges stable for the trip down the river. It was almost 11pm when we finally arrived at the North Shore Naval Base. Once we'd arrived, we were directed over to Drydock No.2, which I learned was where the Foster would remain until she was either fully rebuilt, or the decision was made to scrap her if the repairs would prove to be impossible.

The drydock was flooded when we arrived, and to my surprise, the barges pulled in with the Foster, before coming to a stop. I was about to ask why this was being done, as the barges would be trapped with the ship once the drydock was drained, but then I noticed the large crane attached to the square metal frame that covered the entire drydock, and the area around it. I then realized that this crane, which was MUCH bigger and stronger than the 4 small mobile salvage cranes, would lift the Foster off the barges, which would then be removed, and then the drydock would be drained, before the ship would be set on the wooden supports at the bottom of the drydock. Sure enough, this was exactly what happened. By Midnight, the Foster's bow section was sitting securely on the wooden supports at the bottom of Drydock No.2, ready to be worked on.

I was relieved when the job was done, and the Foster's bow had been secured within the drydock. Now this only left one final hurtle to overcome; finding as many parts of the rest of the Foster that we could; parts that covered 248 feet of the ship, all of which were little more than scrap metal thanks to the explosion, as well as a semi-intact 20ft. section of the stern. I already knew that it was going to take up to a week, if not more, but it had to be done for the sake of not only rebuilding the Foster if possible, but to also make the Silver Shine River safe for navigation, fishing, boating, and swimming once again.

I was right. The process was quite tedious indeed. Our first objective was to remove the large 20-something foot of the stern, the end of which still read "Foster" in black letters. The "Paul F." at the beginning was still in there, but it was blackened by the fire, and would have to be repainted when the time came.

"Who was this ship named after anyway?" Gray Metal asked me as the piece of stern was being moved to a barge for transport.

I thought for a second. "It was named for Vice-Admiral Paul F. Foster of the US Navy. He served in the Navy from 1911-1929, and then he returned to serve again during WW2 from 1941-1946. He was also a recipient of the Medal of Honor, which is the highest honor in the US Military for his actions during the US Occupation of Vera Cruz in 1914........" I then went on to explain more about that, as well as a bit more about WW1, and WW2.

When I finished, Gray Metal was shocked, appalled, and intrigued. "Wow. I had no idea that Humans could conduct warfare like that. But aside from that, it sounds like Vice-Admiral Foster was a great man, and he deserved to have this ship named after him. If he were still alive today though, I know that he'd be saddened to see the ship named for him in such a state."

I agreed. "Yeah, he probably would be. Which is why it's a good thing that we're going to do our very BEST to put the ship back together, reconfigure her into her old Spruance-Class configuration, and then return her to service!"

"Yeah. So let's get back to our rousing game of 'Hunt the Scrap Metal!"

I laughed, but I did agree with him. We talked about the Foster, and the man that she was named for a bit longer while we worked.

As work progressed, more and more pieces of the Foster were pulled from the riverbed, the river bank, and the areas around them. We managed to find both of the ship's rudders, both propellers, both propeller shafts, and we even found 2 of the ship's 4 turbines largely intact! It was amazing to see them again fully in the light of day once they were hauled out of the river.

"Well, that's 2 turbines found, but where are the other ones?" I wondered.

We eventually found them a bit further down the river, though they were in about 30 pieces. We started to pull out the 3 largest pieces of the turbines, but then we realized something. These 3 pieces of the turbines had been lying vertical in the river, but at a spot only about 6 feet below the surface. Time and time again cranes, barges, tugs, and dredgers had been right on top of the turbines’s 3 largest pieces, which had a number of jagged metal pieces protruding from them! We then realized that if the bottoms of any of our salvage vessels had come into contact with those jagged metal pieces, they could have had their hulls punctured, and that by itself was bad enough, but if that had happened while the vessel was helping move the large section of the Foster? It would have been absolutely catastrophic!

"Whoa. You guys REALLY dodged a bullet with those turbines!" Red told me after I told him about the discovery.

"Yeah, no kidding Red! But at any rate, all 4 of them are now out of the river, both the 2 almost intact ones, and all 30 pieces of the other 2 turbines, and they can now be shipped to the naval base. We're starting to get close to the end now with this. All 4 turbines, both propellers, both propeller shafts, both rudders, and most of the ship's engineering components, fuel tanks, aft smokestack, rear mast, electronic equipment, and most other things that we've been able to identify have been salvaged, which leaves us with the tedious task of dredging the river with giant magnets attached to the barge cranes to snag anything that we've missed so far, which probably will end up being a large amount."

"But once it's all done, then the pieces can be sent to the naval base, where they'll either be cleaned up and put on the ship, or scrapped to become material to make new parts."

"Yeah, that's the gist of it Red. It won't be too much longer now until this area can finally go back to normal."

Work continued for the rest of that week, and on into the next week. We were finding so many bits and pieces of the ship, though it was hard to identify anything, as most of it was blown up, burnt, smashed, twisted, or mangled. However, if it was red metal, than it most likely came from the ship's hull. If it was gray, then it was part of the superstructure. Pipes were easy enough to identify, as were support trusses, and other metalwork, but some things were well and truly beyond recognition.

Once the magnets had brought up a large amount of junk, the crane that the magnet was attached to would swing the magnet over a wating barge, and then the magnet would be turned off, and all the metal that had been collected would fall into the barge. Once the barge was full, it would then be towed down the river to the naval base, where the metal would then be sorted, and the salvageable would be separated from the scrap, and while the salvageable parts were taken to a warehouse for further sorting, the scrap was taken to another sorting area where it would be sorted further, and then be sent to be melted down so that it could be used again in the Foster's reconstruction. On and on this went until finally, nearly 2 1/2 weeks after the operations began, Mayor Galaxy Cosmos of Lunar-Nova announced over the radio that the salvage operations were finally complete!

"Yes, you've heard right mares and gentlecolts. After 2 1/2 weeks of hard work and dedication, the patrol boat Cyclone, and the wreckage of the ex-USS Paul F. Foster have FINALLY been fully removed from the Silver Shine River, as well as the surrounding areas! I would like to extend my hoof to the Northern Star Marine Salvage Company, as well as all of the hardworking mares and stallions who made this whole operation possible, including our very own former US Navy Ensign Conner Dwight! Thanks to all of their efforts, both ships and all of their pieces were moved to the North Shore Naval Base near Manehattan, where upon further study, both ships will be fully rebuilt, and then returned to service with the Equestrian Navy! Thank you Conner Dwight, and thank you to everypony else from the Equestrian Navy, and the Northern Star Marine Salvage Company who made all of this possible, and one day soon, we will see both ships in action once again!"

I smiled when I heard the Mayor's speech, but I also frowned. Yes, both ships had been salvaged, including the wreckage of the Foster, and they were indeed at the naval base, but whether or not they could be successfully rebuilt and returned to naval service was still in question.

"We won't know for sure whether they can or not until the engineers at the naval base can figure out how to successfully power up those computers and data storage units that were recovered from the Foster. They were found to be still intact, but yet the base's power generators are inadequate for the task of powering them back up. A more advanced solution will have to be discovered."

"And when will that be Conner?" Wendelle asked me.

I sighed. "Soon, I hope. I heard that they're trying to figure out how to make a set of generators more powerful with certain power-spells, but I haven't heard if they've been successful or not. Hopefully I'll find out soon though."

"Yeah, me too Conner."

A while after this, in late July, Wendelle and I were heading to the maternity center in Lunar-Nova for her regular maternity checkup. Today was a VERY special day for both of us, as today was finally the day that Wendelle and I would learn the gender of our foal!

"Are you excited Babe?" I asked her as we walked.

She nodded. "Yes, more than you can imagine Conner. I've been waiting for this day for a VERY long time, and now it's finally here! I can't WAIT to see the gender of our foal. I was kinda hoping for a filly, but what were you hoping for Conner?"

I thought for a second. "Well, I'm fine either way, but I was hoping for a colt. I always wanted a son to be able to pass on my legacy to, not to mention him possibly wanting to follow in my footsteps one day too."

Wendelle agreed. "Yeah, that would be nice. I'd be fine with a colt too, and who knows. This foal of ours could be the first of several, so maybe there's more chances of both of us getting what we want."

"Yeah, maybe." We both kept walking.

Eventually, we both arrived at the Lunar-Nova Maternity Health and Wellness Center, the best place in either Lunar-Nova or Brulee for expectant mothers. The maternity doctors there were the best, and they even had space for mares to give birth to their foals at, be it in a hospital setting, or a more natural garden setting. Moonlight had been the one to suggest this place to Wendelle, and was with her on her first few trips for her maternity checkups. Now though, I started going with her, and would continue to do so whenever possible until our foal was born.

Once we were inside, Wendelle checked in at the front desk, and then we both sat in the waiting area. Around us were several other mares, some with their mates, a few with their other foals, and all in various stages of pregnancy.

Wendelle had to keep a hoof over her mouth to keep from *Sceeing* when she saw the Bat-Pony foals. "They are SO ADORABLE!" She finally gushed. "Is THAT what I'm going to have soon?"

One of the mares, perhaps a few years older than Wendelle, and a mother with 2 foals playing near her looked at her, smiling. "First time mother?"

Wendelle nodded. "Yeah. How did you know?" She added with a giggle.

The other mare laughed too. "That's almost always the same reaction from first-time Bat-Pony mothers. They want to know how something like this can be so cute and adorable that it almost makes your head explode! Oh, and I'm Night Lily by the way." She held out her hoof.

"Wendelle. And this is my coltfriend, Conner. And this is our first." She pointed to her growing belly.

I waved at Night Lily. "Hello. Nice to meet you."

She nodded. "Nice to meet you too Conner and Wendelle." She then pointed to her 2 foals. "And those are my 2 daughters, Melody and White Moon, and this is my son Cosmo." She pointed to her own pregnant belly. "He'll be out in another 2 months or so."

Wendelle blushed a bit. "They're so cute! Their little wings, little furry ears, and tiny fangs. They must be perfect!"

Night Lily agreed. "Oh they are. And just think, one of these, or possibly 2, is/are growing inside of you right now. Soon you'll have them to love and care for."

"Yeah, I know. Though I'm just having one foal this time around. However, today is the day that Conner and I will finally find out if they're a colt or a filly, though judging by the kicking, I'm pretty sure that it might be a colt!"

"I don't know Wendelle. Melody and White Moon kicked me harder than Cosmo has, so you never know."

The 2 mares kept talking for a while longer, but eventually Night Lily was called back for her own appointment.

"I'll talk to you later Wendelle. Maybe we can have lunch sometime."

"Yeah. I know that my 'Mom' Moonlight would love to meet you, as would a few of her other friends." The two then exchanged contact info.

After Night Lily went back with her 2 foals, Wendelle sat back down, and soon became lost in her own little world. She daydreamed about her own foal, and how much joy they were going to bring her and I once they were born. I thought that it was cute when Wendelle daydreamed like that, though I hadn't said anything yet. I was going to, but decided to wait a little bit longer before doing so.

Sometime after this, it was finally Wendelle's turn. When she went back, she was ushered into an exam room. After waiting a few more minutes, she and I were joined by her maternity doctor, Dr. Heartsong.

"Good afternoon Wendelle. Hello Conner."

"Hello Doctor."

"What she said."

Both mares smiled, then Heartsong looked over her notes. "Now then, let's get down to it, shall we?"

Wendelle nodded, before climbing up on the exam table, while I sat on a stool nearby. After putting on a pair of gloves, Heartsong began to look Wendelle over. She used her stethoscope to check first her heart and breathing rates, before then checking the foal's heart and breathing rates, and then gently feeling Wendelle's stomach to make sure that everything was sound.

"How are we doing Doc?" Wendelle asked.

"Well, I can say with certainty that you're doing fine Wendelle, and your foal is developing nicely. And overall, how has the pregnancy been for you?" (While she never said it, Heartsong always took extra care when it came to mares who were teen mothers. They were so young, and not all of them were ready to be mothers yet, and their young age could sometimes cause complications. So far though, Wendelle didn't seem to be having any issues, but then again, she was almost 19; just barely a teen mother).

Wendelle sighed. "Well, some days have certainly been better than others. I'm throwing up a lot, I have a headache sometimes, my ankles feel like rubber, my belly is getting all swollen, my breasts/teats are starting to get bigger, I'm gaining weight, it's sometimes hard to sleep at night, the kicking is too much sometimes, I'm sometimes VERY moody, and I get weird cravings. This is all normal, right?"

Heartsong couldn't help but crack a smile. "More normal than I would care to admit, and I would know, as I've had 4 kids myself!"

"Well, that's both a relief, and not a relief at the same time. I'm relieved that it's normal, but at the same time, I'm NOT relieved that that's what's normal!"

"I can certainly relate to that Wendelle!"

We all laughed a bit, but then Wendelle asked an important question. "And now that I'm 3 months along, and today's the day that Conner and I can finally see the gender of our foal, can we get to the ultrasound now?"

Heartsong nodded. "Of course. Just give me a sec to get the machine ready, and then we can proceed."

"Ok. Well I can't wait!"

"Neither can I", I added.

Heartsong then began to prep the ultrasound machine.

Once it was all ready, Wendelle leaned back on the exam table, and Heartsong began to rub that special gel onto her belly. Wendelle shivered a bit, as it was cold for a few moments, but then Heartsong began to move the wand end of the ultrasound over her belly, and after gently holding her hoof, both Wendelle and I then looked eagerly at the screen on the ultrasound machine so that we could see what gender our foal was.

Soon, the blurry, grayish-black outline of part of a foal appeared on the screen. After looking closer, Wendelle and I could make out the head, body, tiny legs, and even a little bud where a wing would one day be.

Wendelle blushed when she saw it. "D'aww. It's so cute!"

I agreed. "Yeah, you're right Babe. It's so amazing to see new life like that, and an unborn foal at 3 months? Few words can describe it."

Heartsong agreed with us. "Yeah. There's nothing more beautiful than an unborn foal, except of course for a newborn Bat-Pony foal! And I'm trying to see the foal's gender, but since they're laying on their back, and not moving too much at the moment, it's hard to tell."

Before either Wendelle or I could say anything though, Heartsong suddenly spoke up. "Wait, the foal just moved.......and I can see their gender!"

"You can?"

"What is it?" Wendelle asked with a hint of nervousness.

"Before I tell you, what were you hoping for Wendelle?"

"Well, I was hoping for a filly, and Conner was hoping for a colt. I'm fine with it either way though."

Heartsong took a deep breath. "Well then, let me be the first to tell you, that you both are now the soon-to-be parents..........of a beautiful colt!"

When Wendelle and I heard that, we both froze for a second. We'd been waiting for this moment for a long time, and now that it was upon us, neither of us knew how to react.

"A.........colt?" Wendelle asked.

"Yes." Heartsong answered.

After a few moments of silence longer, Wendelle finally spoke again. "Well......that was....a bit unexpected, but certainly not unwelcome." She then looked down at her swollen belly, and began to rub it gently. "H-hey Little One". She said softly. "So it seems that you're a colt. This is what your Daddy wanted, and I'm fine with it as well. Even if you were a filly, your Daddy and I would still love you just as much. I'm so happy that we finally know what gender you are."

In response to this, Wendelle received a few small kicks from her unborn foal.

"Yes, I know. I love you too Little One." Wendelle then realized that I hadn't said anything at all since learning that our child was a colt. She then looked at me, and saw that I seemed to be in a mild state of shock. "Are you ok Conner?"

I snapped out of it, and looked up at her. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine Babe. Just.........a bit overwhelmed, is all. I don't know what to say. I mean.......I'm not about to cry or anything, b-but........it's just so.........We're having a colt!"

Wendelle smirked a bit. "You said that you're not about to cry, however, according to your eyes welling up with tears, the lie-detector determined that that's a lie!"

I wiped my eyes before giving her a look. "Sure, whatever you say there Maury."

Wendelle giggled a bit. I then took the opportunity to also gently rub Wendelle's belly, as well as lean my head against it. "Hey there Little Guy. As your Mommy may have told you, you're a colt! We're both VERY eager to see you, even though you have another 6 months or so before you're born. Both of us love you very much, and you mean so much to us."

Wendelle blushed a bit, before reaching down, and gently running her hoof through my mane.

"You two are so adorable together. You're going to make great parents when the time comes."

I looked over at Heartsong. "You really think so?"

She nodded. "Oh yes. A devoted couple like you, even though you're both so young, I see you making great parents."

Wendelle sighed. "I really hope so Heartsong." She then had Heartsong take a picture of us while I was leaning my head on her belly, and she was gently rubbing my mane.

later that night, Wendelle and I were once again sitting on the rug in front of the fireplace in mine and Golden's house. Golden was there too, but was kind enough to give us our space, though he did drop a few slightly-snarky hints for us to "get a room". I was sitting there, and Wendelle was leaning against me.

"I still can't believe that we're going to be parents to a colt Conner! This is so exciting!"

I smiled, but then sighed. "Yeah, but at the same time, I'm sad."

Wendelle gave me a confused look. "Huh? Why would you be sad Conner?"

"Because I have no way of letting my parents know. They don't know that I'm still alive, where I am, what I am now, anything about you, or that we're having a foal. That's why I'm sad."

Wendelle then fully understood what I was saying. "Yeah.............you're right Conner. I'm in the same boat. I don't have any way to tell my parents, or my brother Paul about any of those same things."

"There's GOT to be a way to tell them Babe. There just HAS to be! I don't know what unfortunately, but there has to be a way that we can let our families know that we're ok, and about our current statuses. Maybe not anytime soon, but I sincerely hope that we can find a way to at the very least, let our families know that we're ok."

Wendelle wrapped a wing and a hoof around me, pulling me close to her. "Me too Conner. I really hope so too."

I then held her close too. "In the meantime though, we'll just keep doing what we're doing; you working with Moonlight, and me mining, and working on helping those at the naval base with the Foster and the Cyclone, and hopefully this will all work out."

"Yeah, not to mention preparing for our upcoming foal." Wendelle then looked over at me, and gently took my hoof with her own.

I saw what she was doing. "What?"

She sighed. "Well, the sooner you and I are tied together in marriage, the sooner it'll be a little bit easier for both of us. I don't want our son born out of wedlock, and I don't think that you do either."

I shook my head. "No, I don't. I want us married too Babe, though I have a few things that I need to get squared away first."

"I understand Conner." She then snuggled close to me again, and we both looked at the fireplace, dreaming of our future, and this time, what life with an infant son would be like.

Author's Note

And.............that was Chapter 5.

I'm SO SORRY that this took 6 months to get to all of you. Aside from being too tired to write after work, I had to deal with writing block, overbearing parents who kept taking my laptop/internet away for 1-2 weeks at a time, me being very discouraged, and not wanting to write because of what was happening, burnout, and a bit of writer's block. However, in spite of ALL of these problems, my good friend Terry the Human was by my side every step of the way, and slowly but surely, over the course of these last 6 months, Chapter 5 began to slowly take shape, until finally, it was DONE!!!! FINISHED!!!!! FINALLY ABLE TO BE READ!!!!!

And with all that being said, I REALLY hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. From Conner learning about the existence of the Foster and the Cyclone in Equestria, to the ships's salvage, to he and Wendelle learning that they're going to have a colt. I sunk so much into this chapter, and I hope that it was worth the wait. However, that leaves a number of questions. Can the Foster be fully restored, and returned to service? Will those computers and data storage units be accessed, and the data on them used in the ships's reconstruction? When will Conner propose to Wendelle? When will their wedding be? Will the Foster ever see combat if she's returned to service? Well, you all know the drill, stay tuned and I'll tell you!

In the meantime though, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 6!

ScarFox out for now!

(And don't worry, I'll be doing my darnedest to ensure that Chapter 6 does NOT take another 6 months to finish, as will my good friend Terry the Human. We'll get it out as fast as we can, but it still might take a while. Thank you once again for bearing with me during this lengthy waiting period!)