Once we'd all made it back down inside the Texas, we quickly made our way to the Ward Room. Because of the amount of people and Ponies eating there for our VIP dinner, other Texas crew had taken the liberty of putting a few tables together to form one long table, enough to seat all of us comfortably. The tables were covered in white tablecloths, and were set properly with all of the necessary plates, glasses, and silverware. A few candles were also added to the table for ambiance, and once we were all in the Ward Room, the Texas Officers helped to seat all of the women/mares, and then we all took our own seats. Captain Bob and Rear-Admiral Sky Seas sat at the ends of the table, Captain Hammer sat at Sky Seas's right, I sat at Captain Bob's right, CE Dalton sat at Captain Bob's left, and the rest of the officers and Ponies and Spike were free to seat wherever they chose. To my surprise, Princess Luna chose to sit next to me, though at the time, I figured that she'd picked her seat first, since she and the other Mares had been seated first, and the rest of us followed, and then I just happened to sit next to her, since I was seated at Captain Bob's right side, since I was the XO, but I wasn't complaining.

Once we were all seated, stewards soon entered the Ward Room, and began to fill up everyone's glasses with ice, and water, lemonade, tea, or iced tea, depending on what they wanted, however, there wasn't any wine offered. Princess Celestia asked about this, and Captain Bob sighed.

"I apologize if any of you wanted wine, as I'm afraid that we don't have any onboard. Many years ago, the US Navy passed very strict rules about how all US Navy ships must remain 'dry', ie, free of any alcohol at all times, and these rules still remain in place to this day, despite other Navies having relaxed the rules to some degree. The only times those onboard ships ever got to have alcohol was on shore. Even when the Texas was fully restored, there wasn't any alcohol onboard her. Granted, some alcohol was brought onboard by the crew, but this was Texas whiskey we were saving for celebrating our reaching Galveston, and is far too strong for this occasion I'm afraid."

Princess Celestia nodded slowly. "Oh, I see. Well, no matter, I think we'll all still very much enjoy ourselves."

Captain Bob still tried to apologize, but Princess Celestia assured him that it was fine, as she didn't drink very much wine anyway, and her Sister agreed with her. Rarity looked like she was maybe about to say something, but then seemingly thought better of it, and decided not to.

Just then though, Del stepped into the Ward Room, and behind him a number of Texas crewmen, acting as stewards came in, carrying platters and trays of food, all of which were covered with silver lids. However, the smells of the food were wafting from underneath, and were causing our mouths to water.

"Mmm, something smells really good!" Spike said from the middle of the table.

"Yeah, no kidding, Spike!" Rainbow Dash agreed, followed closely by everyone and everypony else.

Moments later, the stewards all set the trays down on the table, and one after the other, they all lifted the lids. The Ponies's eyes lit up in surprise and delight when they saw all of the food. There were trays of salads, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, various cheeses, fresh bread, butter for said bread, rolls, various types of fruit, macaroni and cheese, and for those of us who ate meat, there was also ham, and fried chicken. However, one tray still remained covered by a steward.

"What's under there?" Spike asked.

I smiled. "Ah, that would be a Texas delicacy. I present to you, the famous Texas potato skins!"

The steward then lifted the tray's lid, and the Ponies were greeted by the sight of potatoes that had been cut in half, and then mostly hollowed out, with the potato parts removed then being mashed while the rest were being deep-fried, and then the mashed parts put back in, with cheese, green onions, sour cream, and for some of them, bacon.

"And if these weren't already good enough, Del also added a secret ingredient, known only to a handful of Texas cooks and chefs."

"And what secret ingredient is that, Ensign David?" Twilight asked.

I smirked a bit. "Well, if I told you, then it wouldn't be a 'secret ingredient', now would it, Twilight?"

Twilight frowned a bit, but soon saw the humor in it, and started to laugh a bit. Pretty soon, everyone and everypony was digging in, and while the Ponies had tasted many of the foods set out on the tables before, the flavors were more exotic to them, as the foods themselves, and the methods and equipment used to cook them came from another world. All of them were amazed by how good the food tasted, and they couldn't get enough of the Texas potato skins, and I noticed that Princess Luna even ate one that had bacon on it.

"I know my stomach's going to kill me for this later, but I'd like to know what it tastes like." She told me when I asked her why she ate one with bacon.

"Well, to each their own, Love......my Dear.....ah f@#k....shit!" I then slammed a hand over my mouth before I embarrassed myself any further.

Luckily for me, only Luna, Captain Bob, Dalton, and another Texas officer overheard my outburst, which I'd said at a low volume. All of them looked at me, and they could clearly see I was embarrassed beyond belief, both for slipping up, and swearing, which I'd unintentionally done in my panic.

"I'm so, SO sorry, Princess Luna!" I said quickly. "I don't know how that happened."

She looked at me with pity. "It's ok, David. We all make mistakes."

"Down in Texas, we're used to saying things like that, but around here, that could be misinterpreted, which is why I tried to bail from them.....and only made things worse. I'm sorry."

Luna reassured me that it was ok, though next to her, Celestia had also heard my slip-up, and chuckled to herself. She couldn't see my face, but she could tell that I was deeply embarrassed, but she had a feeling that what I said about "Love", and "My Dear" may have been a bit of a white lie. She'd heard the other Texas crewmen talk in their Southern drawl, very similar to Applejack and her Family, but they hadn't really used those terms. She'd heard a few "Dearie's" and "Sunshine's", but not what I'd said. Granted, maybe she just hadn't heard them yet, but she had a feeling that I'd used those as terms of endearment towards her Sister, unintentionally, and then tried to bail from them, only to make the situation worse.

"Hmm, so perhaps he reacts the same way to embarrassment as my Sister does." Celestia thought, remembering when Luna and I first met, and how she'd unintentionally talked about watching me, rather than my career. "Now the shoe was on the other foot, and it's still funny, and cute at the same time."

Celestia then made a mental note to send a letter to Princess Cadence after dinner regarding the matter.

As the dinner progressed, Captain Bob then asked Princess Celestia a very serious question.

"Princess Celestia?"

"Yes, Captain Hogan?"

"I need to know something. Is there a way that you can send us, and our ship back to Earth? As we've told you, during that violent storm, an event occurred that completely ripped us, the Texas, the 3 tugboats, and their crews away from Earth, and deposited us here on Equus. Our disappearances on Earth have no doubt by now caused quite a stir, and all of us have families wating for us, and some of us even have spouses and kids back home, and now we're here, far away from them. Is there any way for you to send us home, or even help us send messages home telling everyone that we're ok?"

Princess Celestia sighed. "This may be very hard for you to hear, Captain Hogan, but in all honesty......I do not know. In the entire history of Equestria, something like this has never happened before. We've never had any creatures arrive here from another world, and as such, we currently have no means of sending you home."

All of the Texas officers at the table were crestfallen. We had no means of contacting our families, and they probably thought that we were dead after the storm. I knew that Captain Bob had a wife, and several grown kids, I had my Parents, and my siblings Jill and Marcus, and everyone else on the Texas had their families too.

"However!" Celestia continued, seeing how upset we were, "This doesn't mean that we're not going to try to help you. You all were sent here somehow, and we may not have a solution to send you back home yet, but we're definitely going to try and help get you, the Texas, and the tugboats and their crews back to Earth where you belong, or at the very least, help you get messages to your Families to let them know that you're alright."

"Yes, that's right!" Twilight broke in. "It may take some time though, but myself, the Girls, Spike, the Princesses, and others will be getting to work on the problem right away to try and come up with a good solution for it. We'll give it our all, because I know how hard it is to be separated from your Family." She finished, thinking of the many times where she didn't get to see her Brother Shining Armor for months at a time, both when he was a Royal Guard, and when he and Cadence ruled the Crystal Empire.

"In the meantime though, all of you will be well cared for here in Equestria, my Sister Celestia and I will see to that."

"Yes, and you'll all also be honorary members of the Equestrian Navy, and will be treated as such." Rear-Admiral Sky Seas added.

"And in return for this, I take it that you'll be wanting our help to deal with this 'Black Baron' fellow?" I asked, both intrigued, and concerned.

"Well.....if it comes to that, then yes, your battleship would be an incredibly powerful asset to us." Princess Luna replied.

"And who exactly is the 'Black Baron'?" I asked. "I take it that he's some kind of an enemy of Equestria?"

"Not just Equestria, but other nations as well."

While some of the officers were still talking with Twilight, and the other Mane 6 about getting home to Earth, Princess Luna then began to tell the rest of us about the Black Baron.

"The need for Equestria to have a powerful navy started about a decade ago. It was the dawn of a new era in Equestrian naval technology, with steam engines and propellers toppling the sails and paddle wheels of yesteryear, just as welded steel ships were sweeping away the wooden, and even armored wooden ships of the past, and breech-loading rifles, and other similar naval guns were replacing the muzzle-loading cannons on capital ships.

The Equestrian Navy needed better and more powerful ships to ward off pirate attacks on Equestrian ships, as well as better protecting the Equestrian East Coast, though this need later evolved as a necessity to match the might of the Griffon Navy, which was Equestria's rival at the time. An uneasy peace eventually turned into an alliance between Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom, though the two nations still consider themselves rivals on some levels."

"Oh, and I take it that after Equestria modernized their Navy, the pirate attacks dropped, and with the alliance between Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom, the pirate attacks dropped even further?"

Luna nodded. "Yes, that is correct, Captain Hogan. Other nations, such as the Saddle Arabians, and the Minotaur Kingdom also contributed to these anti-piracy efforts, and for quite a while, the seas were quite safe from threats that weren't nature-related, but alas, it was not to last."

"Enter this 'Black Baron' everyone keeps talking about?" I asked.

"Yes, correct again, Ensign David. Enter the Black Baron."

"And who is he exactly?" Captain Bob asked. "We keep hearing his name, but no one will talk about him, save for the fact that he's a threat to Equestria, and you thought that we were affiliated with him when we first arrived here."

Luna then looked around at everyone and every pony seated at the table, including her sister Celestia, who nodded gravely.

"If our new friends are to help us in exchange for us helping them get home, then they need to know the full extent of what we're facing, and the full story of the loathsome mastermind behind it all."

Luna grimaced a bit, steeling herself up for this conversation, before she finally began.

"Around 6 or 7 years ago, there was a powerful Griffon noble named Gustav Darkclaw. He was very rich, and he was one of the leading powerhouses in driving the Griffons to modernize their military, from their army, to their navy, to their zeppelin and airship force. He funded a lot of these efforts himself, and made a lot of money making and selling weapons."

"Ah, so he was a 'Daddy Warbucks'." I said, chuckling softly. "America has no shortage of them, as they, and their companies, have fueled America's Military Industrial Complex since the time of the First World War, if not before. Many of them became quite rich from manufacturing and selling weapons and ammunition, and it would seem like the Griffons were gobbling up his weapons as fast as he could make them."

"Oh, indeed they were, Ensign Gardner. In fact, this was the reason why Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom's military rivalry began, and why we had to quickly modernize our Navy; it was because of Darkclaw's push for the Griffons to do so, and we risked them pulling ahead of us in technology, but then an ugly truth came out. As it turns out, our 'esteemed' Gustav Darkclaw, now a Baron at this point, having inherited the title from his family, wasn't quite as squeaky clean with his intentions as it appeared. As it turns out, the real reason he was pushing to modernize the Griffons's military so much was because he was planning on overthrowing the Griffon king, King Gruff, and then pushing the Griffons into an age of war and conquest. Naturally, King Gruff was outraged when he learned of Darkclaw's treachery, and he was immediately arrested."

When the Texas officers heard this, our eyes went quite wide. We were thinking that perhaps Darkclaw went mad, or maybe tried to fund a war secretly from the sidelines, but none of us thought that he was plotting a coup de tat.

"And what happened to him afterwards?" Dalton asked. "I mean, he's still alive, and apparently quite a threat, so what happened with him?"

Luna sighed. "While details are a bit sparse from the Griffons regarding this matter, it seems that while some were pushing for Darkclaw to be executed for his treachery, in the end, it was decided to banish him from the Griffon Kingdom forever, and seize all of his assets, which is ultimately what happened. He was sent away in disgrace onboard a small boat, and threatened with death if he ever returned. All he had were the clothes on his back, a small toolkit, and whatever was on that small boat, which couldn't have been much at all. After this, tensions between the Equestrians and the Griffons cooled down, and this was where the alliance with them was formed. And for a while, we all thought that it was the end of it, but we were wrong.

In the following few years, our disgraced Darkclaw, now calling himself 'The Black Baron' (on account of his fur and feathers being all black), had apparently found an island, or island chain with some form of infrastructure on it, and begun to build a base of operations on it. He would be joined in this endeavor by various other pirates, criminals, marauders, and scum of all kinds, and from many races, including Ponies, Griffons, Minotaurs, Saddle Arabians, Hippogriffs, Dragons, and possibly even Changelings, but we're not sure. As time went on, his forces grew, he gained more ships and airships through raids, or desertions, and he declared himself to be a warlord, and began to unleash his forces against the nations of Equus.

Because of this, our forces had to remain vigilant, and it was the reason why we installed shore batteries along all of our coastal cities; to protect against ship-to-shore invasion, and why we began to put the brand-new radar, just invented by one of our Equestrian scientists and his team, to work scanning the Equestrian coastline for any threats. And this was also why when you first arrived here, with a warship that we'd never seen before, running in the fog without communicating with anyone, and heading straight towards Fillydelphia, we assumed that you were either the Black Baron, or associated with him, and took the actions that we did against you. Though now I imagine that you can understand why we did so."

"Yes, we most certainly can, Princess Luna. Though I would imagine that the rest of Equus were quite angry with the Griffons for not executing the Black Baron when they had the chance to."

"Oh yes, they most certainly were, Captain Hogan, and the Griffons themselves were angry enough about it that they led the charge to find the Black Baron's base of operations, but so far that search has been unsuccessful."

"And how much about the Black Baron's forces is known? And of his base of operations?"

Luna sighed. "Very little, I'm afraid, Captain Hogan. It's estimated that the Black Baron has under his command, a force of around 12,000 creatures of various races, around 100 ships of various sizes, types, and from various nationalities, a fleet of around 40 airships, and this is all based on what we would assume would be an island chain, located somewhere in the Celestial Sea, as this would be the only way that he would have enough space to support enough infrastructure to keep an operation of this size going. It's also believed that the Black Baron's forces have drilled oil wells, and have refined the oil into fuel to power their vessels and airships, but this is unconfirmed. However, reports do indicate that the Black Baron does have facilities to repair damaged ships, as well as build new ones, which confirms that he has at least one drydock, and shipbuilding facilities. But beyond this, very little about his forces, or their base is known."

"How are they able to hide so well?" I asked. "With an operation this size, and so many nations actively hunting them for several years now, you'd think that they would have been discovered by now."

"We believe that Unicorns among their ranks have used their Magic to create an illusion around their base, hiding it from view."

I looked over at Twilight. "Is that even possible?"

She nodded. "Yes, but doing so is extremely difficult. It would require multiple Unicorns to perform the spell, as well as a number of special Magic Runes, and it would require constant maintenance as well. So while not impossible, it would be very difficult to perform. But yet, it would seem that the Black Baron's underlings have indeed done it, or something similar to have hidden themselves so well up until now."

I sat back in my chair, still reeling a bit in shock. "So we've got a rogue Griffon Baron-turned-warlord, with a force of pirates, marauders, etc, as well as a force of ships and airships, with the required infrastructure to support them all, located on an island chain somewhere in the Celestial Sea, hidden away by illusion Magic, from which they can launch attacks on other ships, and judging by how Equestria has coastal guns and radar, I assume raids on coastal cities and towns too?"

"Yes, that's correct, Ensign David. And while the Equestrians, Dragons, and Minotaurs haven't yet experienced this, the Saddle Arabians, Hippogriffs, and those on the Griffish Isles have. And what makes it very concerning in the case of the Griffish Isles is that those islands have a small population, with only a small defense army, and a small coastal defense fleet. The Black Baron has threatened to invade, and conquer the Islands in the past, as well as threaten the Gateway Bridge."

"What's the 'Gateway Bridge'?" Captain Bob asked.

One of the Ponies in the Princesses's entourage then handed Princess Luna a map of Equus, which she then unfolded, and laid out on the table. She then pointed out Equestria, the Griffon Kingdom, and other key nations, as well as the Celestial Sea, and then she pointed to the Griffish Isles, and a large bridge above them

"This is the Gateway Bridge. It was constructed some years ago when the Equestrians achieved an alliance with the Griffon Kingdom, and has been used to link the two nations together via railroad, and more recently, the rail line terminates at the Dragon Lands. But if the Black Baron were to follow through on his threats against the Griffish Isles, then he would have a new base to launch more extensive attacks against Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom, not to mention destroying a vital transportation route passing over the Gateway Bridge, causing much disruption."

"And in light of these threats, have those of the Griffish Isles bolstered their defenses, and have defenses been made for the bridge itself?"

"Yes, they have to some extent, Captain Hogan. Granted, the Griffish Isles are an independent territory, but they have created their own defenses, and we have our military patrol the area near the Equestrian side of the bridge, while the Griffons do the same on their side."

Captain Bob shook his head. "All this fear, and global tension that evil bastard's caused. As you said, he needs to be hunted down, and while I know that we would be willing to help you, there's a few problems."

"And what are those, Captain Hogan?" Princess Celestia asked.

Captain Bob then laid them out. "Well, all of them pertain to the Texas herself. There's nowhere for her to be able to be docked properly without taking up at least 2 docks, and this same problem applies to dry-docks; I don't think you have one that the Texas could use if she was damaged. Also, I don't think you Ponies manufacture the ammunition her weapons use, though it does seem like you do manufacture many of the other spare parts she requires. But beyond this, she'll need fuel oil, which only some of your vessels run on, and above all, as you've seen for yourself, and Ensign Gardner and myself have confirmed, we don't have enough crew to man the ship. There's 200 of us, barely enough for a skeleton crew; in wartime, the Texas had a crew of 1,815 officers and men, and if we're going to war, we will need a full wartime compliment of trained crew."

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna looked at each other, and then over at Captain Hammer, and Rear-Admiral Sky Seas. All of them knew that what Captain Bob had said was the truth, but were there ways to overcome these problems?

The Rear-Admiral spoke up. "Well, we could always expand our Naval Yard to give the Texas a proper dock, which was going to be done anyway because of her joining our fleet, same with a similarly-sized dock built in the naval bases in Manehattan and Baltimare. As for a dry-dock, we could build another one here for the Texas, though up in Manehattan, and Baltimare, they do have larger dry-docks, as these were made to accommodate two cruiser-sized ships at once, which put together would be larger than the Texas, meaning that these dry-docks could accommodate her in length, beam, and draft. As for the fuel oil, more and more ships are being converted from coal to oil, so we have a large reserve of fuel oil, so that won't be an issue, and as for your ammunition, if we could study it, and see the specs, I know our munitions factories could make them, as they're very close to the ammunition our capital ships use. As for the crew, it would seem like we would indeed have to train more crew to man the ship, which would be doable, if you're willing to serve alongside Ponies."

Now it was Captain Bob's turn to look at myself, Chief Engineer Dalton, and the other Texas Crew present, and we all nodded our heads. Captain Bob then spoke up.

"Yes, that seems like it will work out splendidly, Rear-Admiral. We're fully ready and willing to help you deal with the Black Baron, in return for you helping us return home, and you giving us the ability to fully bring the Texas back to the fighting standard she was in during WW2."

"That's good to hear, Captain Hogan."

For the rest of the dinner, we continued to talk about how this would work out, only pausing to enjoy desert, which was composed of the baked goods that Pinkie Pie had helped make earlier, which all of us found to be delightful. Plans continued to be drawn up, and by the time night had fallen, it looked like things were going to be on track for getting the Texas ready to fight. Plans for a new dock and dry-dock in the Naval yard specially for the Texas were drawn up, specs on all of the Texas's ammunition were being delivered to the Equestrian Navy's munitions works, and plans were being made for the next day to have the Texas be put to sea for a training cruise, both to show off her capabilities to the Ponies, and to start training her new Pony crew. It was going to be a very busy day, and after the plates, glasses, and other cutlery had been cleared away, it was getting close to bedtime.

The Rear-Admiral and Captain Hammer were returning to the their quarters at Naval Yard, while the Princesses, the Mane 6, and Spike were heading to their VIP quarters at the Naval Yard as well. They said goodnight to us, and we said goodnight to them, though just before she left, Princess Luna spent a little bit more time with me.

"I'm glad that we got to spend so much time together today. You're such a good officer, Ensign David. A perfect fit for being the Texas's XO."

I smiled a bit. "I'm glad too, Princess Luna. Until today, I never thought that I would ever get to meet a Princess, but then I met you. And I'm very glad I did so too."

Luna then held both of my hands gently in hers for a few moments, then she said goodnight, before disembarking the Texas via the gangplank, and once she was off of it, being the last Pony to leave the Texas, the gangplank was then lowered and locked down to prevent any unauthorized access to the ship, and after some more time had passed, most of the ship's crew were returning to their quarters, though those who had rested earlier were now awake, as they had night duty.

I then went back down to the XO's quarters, where after taking a shower, I pulled on a white T-shirt and a pair of boxers, hung up my uniform to wear tomorrow, and after writing down some thoughts in a notebook, I then went to sleep at about 12:30am.

Sometime later, I suddenly found myself walking along a sandy beach. The sun was shining, a few clouds were in the sky, it was a bit hot, the wind was blowing in from off the ocean, some seagulls were flying overhead, and to my left I saw some palm trees, though I couldn't see what was beyond them. Looking down at myself, I saw that I was barefoot, and wearing my swimsuit, and I began to look around, wondering where I was, as this beach was unfamiliar. Just then though, I heard a voice calling my name. I looked around, but didn't see anyone at first. However, after a few moments, I spotted someone walking down the beach towards me. I couldn't tell who it was at first, but as they got closer, I saw that it was Princess Luna.

I waved to her, and she smiled and waved back to me, and began to walk closer, but as she did so, I began to think that there was something....off about her appearance. I couldn't quite put my finger on it at first, but then once she walked fully into view, it suddenly hit me; she wasn't wearing a swimsuit; she was completely naked! Her large breasts bobbed as she walked, and I saw that she had some dark blue pubic hair that was the same color as her mane. She smiled seductively as she walked up to me, a light blush on her cheeks.

"Hello, My Love. I was hoping I'd find you here." She said with a giggle.

I then looked down at myself, and to my surprise, I was now completely naked as well, and my member was starting to get hard. Luna then pulled me into a naked hug, and as her warm blue fur was pressed against my skin, and her large, furry breasts were pressed into my chest, she began to kiss me deeply.

Suddenly though, I woke with a start. I sat up, and looked around me, fully expecting to still be on that nude beach(?) with Princess Luna, but I saw that I was instead still inside my quarters on the Texas, and the time was now about 4am.

"Well that was......I honestly have no words to describe that, save for 'what the f@#k even was that'?" I'd literally just met Princess Luna earlier that day, and already I was having dreams about us being naked on the beach, hugging, kissing, and possibly even about to have sex? It made no sense to me.

I then laid back down, and went back to sleep again, hoping for either a normal dream, or no dreams at all. Either was fine.

Early the next morning, Princess Luna found herself unable to sleep. Normally she would be asleep by the time Celestia was getting ready to raise the sun, but this morning, she'd been unable to sleep. Perhaps it was her eagerness to get to see the Texas in action later that day, maybe it was anxiety about the war, maybe it was getting to see me again.....or maybe it was the weird dream she'd had the previous night. While normally Luna was in full control of the Dream Realm, on occasion she would have dreams of her own that she couldn't control, and this was one of those dreams. She dreamed that she was on a beach somewhere, I was there too, and both of us were naked, and starting to get intimate with each other before the dream suddenly ended. Luna felt that I woke up from the dream as well, and while it wasn't too uncommon for multiple Ponies to have the same dream, there was something different about this one.

Shaking these thoughts from her mind, Luna showered, brushed her teeth, got dressed, and got some coffee. The time was only about 6am, and since she had some time before breakfast, Princess Luna decided to go on a flight around the Naval yard. She took flight from her quarters, and flew through the air. The sun was just beginning to be raised, and a handful of Ponies were moving around the Naval yard, and on the various ships, either on their way to somewhere, or doing their assigned duties. It was the same out on the Texas, and Princess Luna landed there a short time later, her hooves touching down on the Admiral's Flag Bridge.

There wasn't anyone up there at the moment, but looking down at the deck of the ship towards the bow, she could see a few sailors who were moving about. Some were standing on the main deck, seemingly on Watch Duty, while others were sweeping the deck with brooms, and others came along behind them with mops and scrubbing brooms to wash the deck. Luna watched for a few moments, before to her surprise, she saw me among the sailors. I was scrubbing the deck near the 2nd Turret with a scrubbing-broom, and I was wearing my white sailor's hat, as well as a pair of black shorts, and my US Navy dog-tags, but aside from these, I was both shirtless, and barefoot. Luna blushed a bit as she saw my state of undress, though then she noticed that the others cleaning the deck with me weren't dressed (or undressed) much differently. However, no matter how hard she tried to force herself, Luna was unable to look away from me while I was working.

"By the Moon, he really takes good care of himself." She muttered to herself. "Those muscles, he must really work out a lot to have muscles like those. And that....tattoo..." She then noticed that I had a tattoo of a black wolf's head on the back of my right shoulder. "That wolf tattoo looks so amazing on him."

Eventually, Luna decided to leave, as it was soon going to be time for breakfast to be served for her, her Sister, and the rest of the Mane 6 and Spike, and she wanted to be there for that, however, just as she was turning away from the railing of the Admiral's Flag Bridge, Luna was startled to see her Sister standing right behind her.

"Enjoying the view, Dear Sister?" She asked, smiling a bit.

"Oh.....Celestia. I....I didn't know that you were here. And yes....yes I was. Both your sunrise, and the ocean."

"Oh really, the sunrise and the ocean, huh? Are you sure, Luna Dear? Because it looked to me like the only thing you were staring at was Ensign Gardner." Celestia said with a smirk.

"W-what?? No, of course I wasn't looking at him! D-don't be silly, Sister!" Luna retorted, trying to hide her blush.

"Oh Sister, it's so easy to see when you're lying. Plus, I was here the whole time, and saw everything. I was just coming from an early morning meeting with Captain Hogan, and I saw you land up here. I came up here to say good morning, and what did I see? My Dear Little Sister, drooling over a certain Texas sailor like he was a tasty snack!"

"CELESTIA!!!" Luna snapped, both with a bit of anger, and a ton of embarrassment. "D-don't talk about him like that!"

"Why not? Are you afraid to admit that you have a crush on him? Even after that dream you had about him?"

Luna went as pale as the moon. "W-wh-what?! How....how did you....???"

"Oh, I have my ways, Sister Dear. You didn't think that you were the only one who had access to the Dream World, did you? You've been working so hard there night after night, so I decided to give you a very pleasant dream. Oh, and I might have 'accidentally' given Ensign Gardner the same dream too."

Now Luna was outraged. "Why you little pervert!!!! I'm gonna.....!!!"

Celestia then teleported herself away, giggling like a schoolfilly.

"COME BACK HERE!!!!!" Luna yelled, chasing after her Sister.

Down on the Texas's deck, I looked up when I heard yelling, but after looking around, I didn't see anyone, or anypony. I did have a feeling that I was being watched, but I wasn't sure where from, despite looking around.

"Hmm. Must have just been my imagination." I muttered as I got back to scrubbing.

A short time later, most of the Texas's crew were eating breakfast in the ships messes, and were discussing what was going to take place later that afternoon. The crew of the Texas were going to offload samples of the ship's ammunition stores of her Oerlikon cannons, Bofors AA guns, 3in, 5in, and 14in guns to be sent to be examined, and then mass-produced by the Equestrian Naval Armaments companies, then the ship was going to be refueled, before embarking a little over 1,400 new Equestrian Sailors, give them a basic tour of the ship, show them to their duty stations, and then get the Texas out of the Fillydelphia Naval Yard, and out to sea for sea trials, and then the next day, Texas would be put through her paces in front on the Princesses, Element Bearers, and other Equestrian Naval officials, and then she would continue on a training cruise with her new crew. So many of us were excited for this, because at some point during the exercises, we were going to get to fire Texas's main 14in guns, hopefully even in a full-broadside.

"I've heard the stories, and seen the clips of film of it, but to actually experience it in person? It'll be amazing!"

I agreed. "Yeah, it will be, Ted."

"Though I wonder what they'll have us shoot at. I would assume that they'll have some kind of targets for us to shoot at."

"I think I overheard Captain Bob say that the Equestrians have a small island somewhere off the coast that they shoot at to train gun crews for shore-bombardment, and they have various towed-targets for ship-to-ship gunnery training. But I'm sure they'll tell us soon."

"Yeah, you're right David."

As we finished eating, calls rang out throughout the ship for the crews to report to the ship's magazines to help offload the ammunition that we were giving to the Equestrians. Soon, various crates of ammunition for the Oerlikon cannons, and 40mm AA guns were being brought up onto the main deck, before being carried down the gangplank to waiting wagons below, meanwhile, hoists inside of the ship were being used to move the 3in, 5in, and 14 in shells from their magazines, and over to the elevators, which brought them up to the upper decks, where they were then placed onto pallets, secured properly, and then picked up by an Equestrian crane, and lowered safely down onto the dock to be loaded onto another wagon. While this was happening, I was helping to secure a load of powder bags for the main 14in guns, which were also being offloaded.

"Careful everyone. One wrong move, and we'll be history. All it takes is one small spark, and them KABOOM!!!!"

"Yeah, we understand that perfectly well, Sir."

"I know, but it never hurts to remind everyone."

Eventually, the last of the powder bags were offloaded, and the wagons were soon on their way under Naval personnel escort to the ammunition factories to be studied, and then replicated. Then, by about 10am, large hoses were brought over to the Texas, and hoisted aboard, before being attached to hoses on the Texas, which fed directly into her main fuel tanks. Soon, many gallons of fuel oil (which we tested first to ensure that it was the same type of fuel oil that the Texas's boilers burned, and it was a close match) were being pumped in. From the time that we first started moving, until we pulled into Fillydelphia, Texas had used up about 2/3 of her fuel supply, and since she was about to embark on a training cruise, her fuel tanks needed to be full.

"I'm just glad that the Equestrians have such a large supply of fuel oil for the ships that need it." I was telling Captain Bob as we watched the refueling take place from the bridge.

"Yes, I agree, Ensign Gardner. However, with more and more of their ships being converted to burn oil instead of coal, and the Equestrians drilling more oil wells, and building more oil rigs, as well as refineries to take the raw oil, and turn it into fuel oil, it makes sense that they would have a large reserve of fuel."

"Yeah, but where is it stored? I haven't seen any big fuel tanks anywhere."

Captain Bob thought for a moment. "Hmm, that's a great question, Ensign Gardner. I asked Princess Celestia this same question during my meeting with her this morning, and she said that the fuel tanks are all underground, protected by special bunkers, so as to make them much less of a target."

"Huh. That's....that's actually pretty smart of them. Granted, you'd need a lot of underground space to do that, but it's still pretty smart."

"Indeed. If I recall correctly, there were some underground fuel storage facilities that the US used during WW2, but I don't remember too much more about them."

Captain Bob and I continued to talk about this for a while longer while the Texas was finishing up being refueled.

As the refueling of the Texas was wrapping up, in an alley near the Fillydelphia Naval Yard, Snapshot was waiting impatiently. She was looking at her watch, and tapping one of her hooves.

"Come on you f@#ker! Where are you?!" She growled in frustration. "I don't have all day here!"

Finally, there came a loud flutter of wings, and a male Griffon landed nearby, and walked into the alley to meet her. He was tall, had brown fur, dirty-white head feathers, and blue eyes. He was also dressed in dirty overalls, a stained blue shirt, and a work cap, and was smoking a cigarette. To most, he was just another face in the crowd, most likely a mechanic, but unknown to them, he was Garran, an agent of the Black Baron. Not a spy like Snapshot was, he was a courier. His job was to get to the Black Baron's spies whenever they requested a pickup, get the information that they had, and smuggle it safely back to the Black Baron's secret base on Blackshore Island.

Once he was out of sight in the alley, Snapshot turned to him, and was giving him a glare of death. "You're late!" She growled angrily.

Garran sighed. "Yeah, and I apologize for that. I just got a bit delayed, and......"

"'AND' NOTHING!!!!" Snapshot interrupted. "When you said you'd meet me early, I was worried, as I had a very narrow window to sneak away and get the information to you before anypony realized that I was gone, but I moved things around, and got here on time, but not only are you LATE, but you're also so late that when I get back, Ponies are gonna start asking where I was! I work in the Photography Lab at the Naval Yard; we don't just up and vanish for hours at a time! If I get caught, this is ENTIRELY on you, you Feather-Brained F@#khead!!!"

"Yes, I KNOW!!!" Garran yelled back, as loud as he dared. "I KNOW how high the stakes here are, and I'm sorry for being late. But when you get stopped for a 'random inspection' at the Fillydelphia Port, there's nothing you can do about it except smile, and agree to whatever those Port Authority jerkoffs are saying, and don't do anything to arouse suspicion."

Snapshot's face softened a bit. "Oh, I see. Well, in any case, you're here now, and I have the package." She then reached down into a nearby crate, and pulled out a brown cardboard box, about the size of a microwave, and handed it to Garran. "This is everything I was able to find out about the ship, as well as as many photos of it as I could take. I also included a few audio tapes of my notes about the ship, including comparing it to other warships in the Equestrian Navy, Griffon Navy, and the Black Baron's Fleet. And I also have confirmation of the exact number of the ship's crew, which brings me to both good news and bad news."

"And that would be?"

Snapshot sighed. "The good news is, the ship is indeed horribly undermanned. It's supposed to have 1,815 crewmen onboard, and right now it has only 200. This is great news for us......but then we have the bad news. The Equestrian Navy wishes to evaluate the Texas's performance (which I'll also be monitoring btw), and have it serve in their fleet, and they're allocating many sailors for this task, which will give the Texas a full crew very shortly."

Garran sighed. "Great, just great. So we had a window to strike, and we blew it."

"It's not so simple, Garran. There never really was a window for us to do anything. The Ponies were all over the ship from the moment it arrived, and trying to do anything here in the Naval Yard would have been suicidal."

"You had a shot to kill not just one, but BOTH of the Diarch Princesses, AND the 6 Elements of Harmony, and you just sat by and watched."

Snapshot looked at Garran like he'd lost his mind. "Ok, I'm going to be doing my damndest to remain calm right now. First of all, I'm a spy, NOT an assassin! And secondly, and most importantly, remember what I said earlier about how doing anything here in the Naval Yard would be suicidal? That applies to everything you just said. And followup point to that, do you have any idea what kind of security the Princesses have?! Yes, this was an unofficial visit, but they had their Elite Guard Corps with them! I would have been spotted before I even got close to them, never mind the Elements, and even if I had, and by some miracle killed all 8 of them, do you have any idea what kind of trouble that would cause? Every. Single. Nation on Equus would never rest until every last square inch of the entire PLANET had been searched for us, and if they find us, and invade all at once? We don't stand a snowball's chance in Tartarus of even lasting 5 minutes." She finished ominously.

Garran turned pale. Sure, he hated the Princesses as much as most Griffons did, but even he wasn't stupid enough to think that killing them was a good idea once he actually thought it through.

"Yeah, you're right. You're right. Bad idea. So what can we do, anything?"

"Well, that's why you're here at all, Garran. You came here to pick up all the information I've gotten on the Texas, and her crew, and take it back to the Black Baron so that it can be analyzed, and I'll keep you updated from here. And I can make no guarantees, but I'll see what I can do about getting onboard the ship. Who knows, maybe they'll need a photographer to document their journey, or maybe the Texas even has its own photography darkroom, and they'll need somepony to develop their pictures."

"Yeah, good thinking, Agent Watcher. See what you can do about that, and I'll get out of here, and leave you to it. If anything else happens, report it immediately."

"Yeah, I'll do that, Garran. Just as the other spies here will do the same."

Garran nodded, before taking off with the package Snapshot had given him, and flying off back towards the Port of Fillydelphia, leaving her alone once again. Snapshot then sighed, and as fast as she could, made her way back to her post at the photography lab in the Naval Yard. When she arrived, she tried to make herself look busy, though to her relief, no one seemed to notice that she'd been missing for an extended period of time. However, a few minutes later, one of her bosses approached her.

"Seaman Snapshot?"

"Yes, Sir?" She asked, worried that she was about to get chewed out, or worse, for being missing.

"I'm here to inform you that you're being transferred to the USS Texas as part of her Equestrian Navy crew."

Snapshot couldn't believe her ears. She was being transferred to the USS Texas as part of her crew? Had she heard correctly?

"Did you just say that I'm being transferred to the USS Texas as part of her Equestrian Navy crew, Sir?" She asked for clarity.

"Yes, you heard me right, Seaman."

"May I ask why, Sir?" She asked, still reeling from the news.

"Well, since you're one of the finest photography specialists here at the Naval Yard, the higher-ups wanted you to lead the Texas's photography department for the foreseeable future."

"Oh, I see. Well, thank you, Sir. This is such a great honor for me."

Her boss smiled. "I know it is, Seaman. Now then, you need to hurry up and gather your belongings, and all of your photography equipment, as you, and the others who'll be serving under you in the Texas's photography department, as well as the rest of the Equestrian sailors who'll be a part of the Texas's crew are just beginning to start to embark on the ship, and you don't want to be late."

Snapshot saluted. "Right away, Sir! This is a high honor for me, and I'll be sure to make you proud!"

"I know you will, Seaman." He then turned and walked away.

Once he was gone, Snapshot lowered her hand, and smirked. "A great honor, and a great opportunity. As part of the Texas's crew, I should have all the access I need to scout the ship, photograph its interior, and hopefully get the information back to Blackshore Island. Then the Black Baron's strategists can figure out how to either knock this ship out of action, or better still, use it for our own purposes." She thought to herself.

She then began to laugh to herself as she packed up all of her things, and joined the other photography specialists who were making their way out to the Texas.

Author's Note

And, that was Chapter 7

So now more has been revealed about the Black Baron, including who his is, and his past, as well as where he and his forces are hiding out. And it also seems that the relationship between David and Luna is heating up a bit, something that's definitely not lost on Celestia, who seems to very much enjoy teasing her little sister about her crush. And the Texas is now an official part of the Equestrian Navy, and is receiving a large contingent of Ponies to supplement her Human crew, and prepare for her upcoming sea-trials. So what's going to happen now? Will the Equestrian sailors be able to adapt to their new roles as the Texas's crew? Will the Texas be able to perform to satisfaction during her sea trials? Or will she far exceed her expectations? How will David and Luna's relationship progress? And what about Snapshot? Now that she's a part of the Texas's crew too, what nefarious things will she get up to? And is she the only Black Baron spy onboard the Texas, or are there more? And when will the Black Baron himself make an appearance? And what could possibly happen next? Well, you all know the drill, stay tuned and I'll tell you!

In the meantime though, as always, Comments, Questions, Feedback, as well as spreading the word about this story are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 8!

ScarFox out for now!