Stormriders: Dead Seas

Chapters

Glossary
Prologue: Red Sky In Morning...
Chapter 1: Sailors give warning
Chapter 2: Sea State
Chapter 3: The Tailhook Club
Chapter 4: Squall
Chapter 5: The Shoals
Chapter 6: Riptide
Intermission: A Letter to the Princess

Glossary

Welcome to Stormriders: Dead Seas, sequel to Stormriders: Luna's Own. As you can guess this is a military styled fic so a lot of military terminology as well as my own fanon terms will get thrown about a bit, just to make sure nopony gets too confused I've provided this glossary of all the terminology I'll be using in the fic! If I add a new term it'll be added here! Some of this, like the wall of text below is all mental world building for me, so don't worry about reading it if you don't want to, if it's important I'll establish it in the text.

368th Night Fighter Wing: I use Wing in the British/United States Navy term in which the "Wing" is an administrative formation over two or more squadrons and their support staff. A usual EADF Wing is comprised of at least three squadrons for a total of thirty two aircraft. Internal orginization can set these squadrons up with individual designations or callsigns or they can just follow the wing callsign. The 368th is comprised of two squadrons the 98th Night Fighter Squadron (Selene squadron) and the 99th (Stardust squadron) The Wing CO and XO each lead a squadron in combat, but their planes and their wingmen do not not count towards the squadron totals of twelve each. So the wing has a total of twenty eight aircraft. Also under the command of the Wing is the maintenance support unit, and the 13th Company, 5th Royal Marine battalion which comprises of three platoons of infantry and a heavy weapons platoon, it also has a small unit of Marine Scout Snipers to provide special overwatch details for the Princess.

Original Glossary: (for the new naval terms, see below!)
ADFB: Aerospace Defense Force Base, designates an airbase under the control of the EADF
AWACS : Airborne Warning and Control System - An aircraft that provides command and control to a battlespace utilizing power radar systems, also works as an eye in the sky pinpointing threats and really new tactical information to squadron commanders. The E-321 Skyeye is the EADF's AWACS aircraft and it's design is such that even earth ponies and unicorns can cre on it.
Boot: A new or junior pony in a military organization so called originally because they are fresh out of basic training or "boot camp" and they're so new their boots aren't broken in yet.
Bearing: An extension of discipline, keeping one's bearing means not showing emotion in any form of formal/military setting, this can range from public events or formations like the graduation, or getting your ass chewed.
CAP: Combat Airspace Patrol - Regular aerial patrol of an area like a no fly zone, secure airspace, etc.
Colonel: the sixth rank of officer in the equestrian armed forces, and a rank below general. These senior officers are usually found commanding large units and medium sized bases.
CSAR: Combat Search and Rescue, a specialized type of SAR unit that focuses on recovering pilots and personnel in active combat zones or behind enemy lines.
EADF: Equestrian Aerospace Defense Force - the aerial branch of the Equestrian military
F/A-29 Thunderhoof: The EADF's primary multi-role fighter and the workhorse (pardon the expression everypony) of the fleet.
Flight Officer (FO): The most junior rank of officer in the pilot corps, equivalent to 2nd Lieutenant in the ground forces.
Fox calls: A fighter pilot radio call to designate firing of aerial weapons to friendly forces. Fox 1 is a semi-active radar guided missile, fox 2 is a heat seeker, fox 3 is a active radar guided missile, fox 4 is guns and in this universe fox 5 is a special weapon such as a lighting discharge.
Captain (Capt): the third rank of officer in the Equestrian Armed Forces, usually found as an XO or other form of unit sub-commander in the EADF and as a Company commander in the army and Marines. Additionally this is the rank for O-6 in the navy, equivalent of a full bird Colonel. Usually referred to in the third person as The Captain, or the Skipper.
Major (Maj): The fourth rank of officer in the Equestrian Armed Forces, usually found in command of a wing in the EADF or a battalion in the army and Royal Marines.
Master Sergeant (MSgt): Also known as "Tops" these Senior Non-commissioned Officers are placed in places of great trust and responsibility supervising and training numerous ponies, their wrath is legendary and to be avoided at all costs. They hold the eighth position in the enlisted rank structure, the second highest possible as an enlisted pony.
Northern Command: abbreviated to "NorCom" this is the North Sector Military Command of Equestria.
No Fly Zone: (from wikipedia) A no-fly zone (or no-flight zone) is a territory over an area which aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in a military context, somewhat like a demilitarized zone in the sky, and usually prohibit military aircraft of a belligerent nation from operating in the region.
Royal Marines: Equestria's Royal Marines aka the ERMC (Equestrian Royal Marine Corps) have an illustrious history as a recon, commando and special security detail and are renowned for having brutal initial training requirements well in excess of the Royal Guard, by long tradition, the 13th Company, 5th Marine Battalion (13/5) has served as the personal bodyguard of Princess Luna during her travels apart from Princess Celestia and as the security element for the 368th. Successive Company Commanders refused to allow the detail to slip despite offers by multiple Battalion Commanders to return the Company to it's original unit. Equestrian Royal Marines also have a reputation for being extremely prideful and bullheaded.
SAR: Search and Rescue, Teams of ponies trained to seek lost or injured personnel. Usually in the form of helicopters with specially trained flight medics.
Senior Airpony: A junior enlisted member of the EADF this is the third rank an enlisted pony can reach.
Sergeant/Staff Sergeant: Non-commissioned Officers at positions 5 and 6 respectively, these ponies are the leaders on the lines taking and executing orders from Senior NCOs and Officers and directly managing the junior enlisted personnel.

Naval Glossary:
Boat: A submarine's a boat, anything else is a ship and their all "she"
Ball, the: A visual guidance system to help a fighter land on a carrier by indicating height and position relative to the deck
Conn: the conn of any vessel is where you steer her from.
Trap: Landing an aircraft on a carrier

Addition Equestrian Military Rank structure: EADF and Royal Marines, I got a comment on DA that was to the effect of wanting the nuts and bolts of this type of thing. So I wrote it up just in case any one wants to reference it.

Equestrian Armed Forces Rank structure:
Enlisted:
EADF/Royal Marines/Royal Navy/paygrade
Airpony Recruit/Private/Sailor Recruit/E-1
Airpony/Private First Class/Sailor Apprentice/E-2
Senior Airpony/Lance Corporal/Able Sailor/E-3
Technical Corporal/Corporal/Petty Officer Third Class/E-4
Sergeant/Sergeant/Petty Officer Second Class/E-5
Staff Sergeant/Staff Sergeant/Petty Officer First Class/E-6
Wind Sergeant/Gunnery Sergeant/Chief Petty Officer/E-7
Master Sergeant/Master Sergeant/Senior Chief Petty Officer/E-8
Chief Master Sergeant/Sergeant Major/Master Chief Petty Officer/E-9

Officer:
EADF/Royal Marines/Navy/Paygrade
Flight Officer*/2nd Lieutenant/Ensign/O-1
Senior Flight Officer/1st Lieutenant/Lieutenant/O-2
Captain/Captain/Senior Lieutenant/O-3
Major/Major/Lieutenant Commander/O-4
Lieutenant Colonel/Lieutenant Colonel/Commander/O-5
Colonel/Colonel/Captain/O-6

General Grades:
EADF/Royal Marines/Navy/Paygrade
Brigadier General/Brigadier General/Rear Admiral (lower)/G-1
Major General/Major General/Rear Admiral (upper)/G-2
Lieutenant General/Lieutenant General/Vice Admiral/G-3
General/General/Admiral/G-4
General of the Aerospace Defense Force/Commandant of the Royal Marine Corps/Admiral of the Fleet/G-5 (only one pony holds this rank at any time)

Prologue: Red Sky In Morning...

Merarian Territorial Waters
2300 hours
Equestrian Cruiser TMS Courser

"Steady as she goes ensign, we'll have you helm qualified in no time"

"Thank you sir, it's a pleasure to have such a respected officer training me"

"Think nothing of it lad it's...."

"Bridge this is lookout one! Contrail in the water! Possible torpedo to port!"

"Petty officer! Wake the Captain, all hands to battle stations, sound general quarters!"

"Aye sir!"

In a heart beat the proud cruiser's alarms ring and pounding hooves rush to action stations. The bridge on the other hoof is tense and silent, the lookout occasionally calling bearings on the torpedo.

"She's heading aft!"

"Helm hard turn starboard we'll see if we can't have her miss us"

"Aye sir hard starboard!"

"Tell CIC to get the ASW choppers up and hunting, I want that submarine found and sunk now!"

"Torpedo's course has changed! She's going to hit us amidships!"

"Oh Celestia's hooves... Brace for impact!"

"ALL HANDS BRA-"

*BOOM*

The detonation was deafening as the ship-killer torpedo caught the big cruiser amidships blasting a massive hole in her above and below the water line.

"Damage control crews on site, water tight doors are sealing!"

"Very well, have the helos launched?"

"Sir, CIC reports seahawk 1 and seahawk 2 are airborne and pinging."

A ball of fire blossoms just off the ships port bow and a the CIWS mounts begin engaging unseen missiles now streaking in from the dark night sky.

"Sir! CIC reports that seahawk 1 was just taken down and there are incoming missiles!"

"I can see that petty officer, has Fleet HQ been informed?"

"Yes sir messages have been sent on all frequencies"

"Very well I-"

"Incoming torpedoes! Spread of five!"

"Oh bucking hell, sound abandon ship, all hands over the port rails!"

It's over in minutes, explosions hammering the massive cruiser, her spine finally snapping under the pressure of the torpedoes hammering in to her. The surviving members of the ship's crew, deployed as many boats and rafts as they could and many of the ponies leaping into the sea, trusting the warm tropical waters and the assistance of their shipmates to the capsizing hunk of steel they once called home.

Below the waves

"My lord, the squadron commander is reporting success."

"Excellent, order the school commander to break to fins and to perform an aerial and aquatic search of the area, no survivors."

"As you wish my lord, transmitting orders now."

TMS Shield Survivors

"Captain! Aircraft sighted!"

The Captain had barely made the bridge of his vessel by the time the order for all hands to abandon ship had come, the attack had been incredibly swift, and extremely well coordinated. The old seadog felt the most abject sense of failure, his lack of foresight had cost his ponies their lives, as well as sinking his ship. Hopefully this was good news however and he turned in the direction of the shout, the bright lights of an aircraft racing across the water, as it's silhouette passed before the burning wreckage of the Shield his eyes widened with confusion then fear, the aircraft looked nothing like any Equestrian fighter, it resembled a manta ray almost, light swimming across curves that appeared more hydrodynamic then aerodynamic. The Captain's heart sank and he pulled the injured colt in his lap a little tighter to himself and gently shut his eyes.

"Rest easy son, it'll all be over soon."

The scream of the strange craft's engines rose in his ears and the dying began, missiles, bullets and other munitions lanced out from the craft, cutting ponies in two and destroying life boats. In a single pass the remaining ship's company was reduced by half. The flyer was joined by a second aircraft for it's next run and when they were done, not a single living soul remained in a patch of ocean now stained red with blood under the moonlight.

"Mission complete, returning to base"

Deep in an Underwater Cavern

The messenger bowed lowly and delivered the golden message tube to the stallion before him, he was dismissed with a quick gesture and a sharp look, and the messenger fled the room, desperate to be away from his lord when the message was finally read, ill tides are not a message one wishes to bring. The stallion settled back into his chair and peruses the scroll quickly and sighs.

"This will change everything...."

Chapter 1: Sailors give warning

Celestia's Chambers
Canterlot Castle
Song 1

"And Naval Intelligence is certain that the ship was destroyed by hostile forces?"

"Celly, we have two destroyers, a cruiser, and a sub on site now. Dive teams have been all over what parts of the wreckage they could get to and what bodies they could recover.... Celly.... many of them were murdered in the water by aircraft grade cannons and missiles."

Celestia slumped on to the floor next to her desk, all the energy leaving her body as if she were a puppet who's strings had just been cut.

"Solar light, little sister.... why must the outside world be so cruel to our little ponies? Why must so many desire war and blood shed when all we wish is peace and harmony? It's starting again, little sister... starting again and all the power a goddess holds cannot stop it."

Luna nuzzled her sister gently, her own heart feeling the sharp tinge of pain at the deaths that had occurred a few nights before, but her mind was more detached, more logical then her more emotive big sister. So Luna continued to think aloud.

"A coordinated attack, an ambush... somepony planned this very carefully with air and sea assets. The location and timing couldn't be worse diplomatically speaking either. The Coral Shoals? Right as I'm about to go there on a diplomatic mission to the sea pony clans? Hmmm... something is definitely going on sister dearest."

"Perhaps it's a message from the Meraria rejecting our offer of goodwill and friendship?"

"No... This is not their style... at least from what I understand. The clans place a very high price on honor and tradition, a sneak attack like that-no they'd formally throw us out. Then they'd formally declare war on us if we violated their waters again, then they'd hit us. At least as far as I know."

"Mayhaps your studies were not complete, dearest sister? We have not truly had contact with the Mer outside of scattered and isolated incidents since we defeated Discord the first time and Equestria became limited at it's present magical borders."

"Perhaps... Celly, I think I'm still going to go on the delegation."

"But, Luna!"

"No buts, big sister! I'm going, but I'm taking a squadron of the 368th, two platoons of Marines, and a bucking carrier with me!"

Celestia giggled a little.

"Going straight to gun boat diplomacy, little sister? In the style of Prime Minister Teddy Roosenblood perhaps?"

Luna laughed along with her sister, the long dead warhorse of a prime minster had been a legend in his day for his tough and heavily armed method of international negotiation.

"I'm not about to reform the Rough Riders if that's what you mean, I'm just not walking into waters that have proven hostile without a proper escort. They might not be able to kill an immortal goddess but I truly do not feel like getting injured or captured. Besides... a little ‘intense’ negotiation might be required to properly communicate just how upset we are over this incident..."

Celestia sighed deeply; her sister had always been strong willed. Though Luna was less extroverted then she was, Luna's will had been dormant for the first few months after her return. She'd been cowed by the fear, loneliness and pain of her long confinement in the moon, but as time passed the same old Luna was quickly resurfacing. Although, Celestia thought with a smile, she knew for a fact her little sister still didn't let her dear old Abacus out of her hooves when she was sleeping.

"Very well little sister, I'll give you a free rein to handle this situation as you see fit within reason. However, there is one condition..."

Luna's face fell. She'd been working hard at taking up the royal mantle since her return, and she'd figured that her handling of the defense of the nation during the NGK Border incident last year, as well as the delicate negotiations with the horde master of the dragons last month, had proved she needed no restrictions or babying to her older sibling.

"...I'm sending Twilight Sparkle with you. You know what I have planned for my faithful student one day Luna, and it's about time she got her hooves wet in some of the more serious business around here."

Luna worked hard to conceal the huge grin from her face. She had loved spending time with Twilight ever since they had discovered their mutual appreciation for reading and astronomy... and gotten over the whole Nightmare Moon incident, of course.

"Very well, Celly... if you insist I suppose I can drag Twilight Sparkle along."

Celestia laughed and pulled her sister into a tight hug.

"You little brat, you started planning fun things to do with Twilight after work hours as soon as I told you she was coming."

"Guilty as charged, big sister."

The two goddesses collapsed into a rolling pile of laughter and tickling, neither sister trying to "win" just letting a moment of play wash over the world. Outside the palace, the sun shone brighter, flowers that hadn't bloomed yet opened their petals, and the world smiled with the monarchs as best it could. The princesses ignored the chill of sadness that permeated it all, just as each princess concealed the true depth of their emotions for the sake of the other.

Later that evening
Luna's office

Luna was taking a bit of a break, raising the moon always wore her down and she'd been staring at a map showing the projected deployment for the ships she wanted to bring to bear on the Coral Shoals to find out what happened to her ponies for hours since. She must have fallen asleep for a moment because when the knock on her office door came she was dreaming of waves and water. Luna shook the sleep from her eyes and composed herself.

"Come!"

Twilight Sparkle entered the room quickly and quietly. The purple unicorn looked disheveled and exhausted, a pair of heavy saddle bags crammed with books pressing her back down into a painful looking angle. Luna rushed over to her friend and pulled the saddle bags from her back.

"Twilight! What has happened to you?"

Twilight sketched a slightly weak bow and wavered, her knees on the verge of collapse only to find herself being grabbed up by Luna's magic and carried to a nearby couch.

"Well, Princess, your note said come immediately for a vital mission so I loaded up as many of the books on the reading list you included. as the Ponyville library had and began to relay teleport to Canterlot. I still haven't figured out the right equations to do a proper long range teleport; I think once I figure out how to curve the energy into a ballistic arc as opposed to the present method which is more or less a straight line..."

Luna cut the little unicorn off, marveling at how she could continue expounding on even the most advanced subjects in a state where anypony else would simply pass out.

"Twilight, you mean to say that you teleported all the way to Canterlot?"

"Well, you said you get here immediately for a vital assignment, Princess, so I left as quickly as I could.

"It's Luna in private, Twilight. We've gone over that before, also if you'd read the whole letter you'd know we meant for you to come by the royal carriage we had sent..like most of your trips to and from Ponyville."

Twilight grinned sheepishly.

"Whoops... sorry, Luna... I got a little caught up in the moment, I suppose."

Luna leaned in and gave her friend an affectionate nuzzle.

"We're just worried about you, Twilight, besides... Celly would banish me to the moon again if I let anything happen to you."

There was a flat note to the giggle the two mares shared, neither pony particularly liked thinking about Luna's millennium of imprisonment at the hooves of her own sister, or as Twilight had learned from Luna more recently, the thousand years of torture and suffering she'd endured from the Nightmare's cruelty. Twilight shook herself and refocused on the mysterious vital task still a head of her.

"So, Luna, why do you have me reading up so extensively on the Mer?"

"There's been an incident near the Coral Shoals."

"Aren't we scheduled to open diplomatic relations with the Meraria next month?"

"Yes, Twilight, which is why this incident is so important. Unknown forces attacked and sank a Naval cruiser just inside the territorial waters of the Meraria. There were no survivors. From what the search and rescue teams could tell... whoever this opponent is slaughtered anypony who made it off the ship in the water."

"Oh, empty night."

"My reaction precisely, my friend."

"Well... why send for me? I mean obviously I've helped out before but... but nothing like this. This is way out of my league, Luna."

"Celestia and I both have faith in you to act as my aide in this matter, Twilight. My sister has big plans for you in the future. She wants you there to help me to "season" you, shall we say, give you some practical and real world experience to go with all that book learning, breaking ancient curses, and defeating incarnations of chaos you've already been doing."

Twilight blushed. Praise from either of the Princesses always made her feel warm inside, but recently with Luna... she shook the thought from her head. Equestria was on the line, and she had to focus.

"So what's the plan for now?"

"Well any minute now..."

A harsh wrap on the door announced that any minute now was in fact right now, and two ponies were ushered into Luna's office by a royal guard. The first was a broad, powerfully built stallion, with the bearing and countenance of a lifetime of military service. His immaculate uniform confirming him as an extremely senior officer, as well as a knight of the realm. The other new arrival was a slender mare in a business suit, her lapel pin proclaiming her as a member of the Equestrian Diplomatic Corps. Luna returned their bows elegantly and turned back to Twilight.

"Twilight, I'd like you to meet Lord Admiral Sir Brine, and his lovely companion is Peace Lily, one of the sharpest members of the Equestrian Foreign Ministry and the closest thing we have to an expert on the Merarian clans."

Twilight nodded pleasantly greeting both ponies with a smile.

"I'm..."

The old admiral cut her off quickly.

"Twilight Sparkle, protege of Princess Celestia, I think all of Canterlot knows who you are, m'dear, and even if they didn't, I most certainly would."

Seeing Twilight's look of confusion, the admiral settled back.

"Back when you were a wee lass and had just come to the castle, Princess Celestia brought you to some formal event or another, a garden party I believe, you tuckered yourself out and fell asleep under my table as it happened, so I carried you on my back up to your room so Her Majesty could tuck you in properly."

Twilight blushed hot red. That was a story she hadn't heard from anypony before! Peace Lily for her part was rolling her eyes and exaggeratedly looking at her watch. It was obvious she didn't have much time for the old sailor's story telling... or anypony else's anything for that matter.

Luna took the whole situation in stride with a laugh.

"While I'm loathe to interrupt the Admiral giving me such excellent black mail material on Twilight Sparkle and my dear sister, I'm afraid we do have business to get to, if you'd all join me in the conference room?"

It was the beginning of one of many long nights for the small group of ponies.

Chapter 2: Sea State

Flare and Clanky's home
0341
(Song 1)

Flare woke in a cold sweat from a fast jerking motion, barely able to keep himself from crying out in terror. He looked over at Clanky, her one remaining foreleg was draped over him as she murmured something softly in her sleep. He hadn't woken her up, a small favor from one of the goddesses this morning. It'd been over a year since the day he got shot down now, coming up on a year since they were rescued from the hell hold they'd been struggling to survive in. Still the nightmares came to him every night, lashing him with his failure to evade capture with his best friend and the mare he was now married to, the pain of the torture, the whispers of the interrogators filling his mind.

Flare was an excellent pilot, well regarded within and without the unit. The best psychologists in the realm had been personally contracted by Princess Luna to "fix" the three of them after their ordeal. They'd cleared them all as fit and healthy, but the nightmares still came for him. Even marrying Clanky and having her there to hold him close every night couldn't banish them completely.

Flare slid out from under the sheets, moving as little as possible so as not to disturb the now softly snoring grey mare. He quietly moved out on to a moonlit patio just outside their bedroom and sat down, hard hooves splaying slightly as weariness crushed him towards the ground.

"Goddess.... will this ever end?"

"All things end eventually, we'll get through this."

He hadn't been expecting a response and near jumped out of his skin when he got one, but the pair of grey downy wings enveloping him and pulling him back in to Clanky's warm embrace calmed him instantly. They stood there like that for a long time, wrapped up in each other. Time passed slowly and they watched as the waning moon became the rising sun.

"Everything is going to be alright."

368th Night Fighter Wing Squadron Briefing Room
1300

Major Cloud Dancer was pacing the front of the briefing room like a caged predator, occasionally snarling through her teeth at a pilot who was anything other then the picture of perfection at their desks. Captain Stormhoof was much the same with his Marines, though the only Marines in the room besides himself and his platoon leaders were Gunnery Sergeant Reckless and her Force Recon squad. Freshly promoted and returned from Marine Force Reconnaissance school on the west coast. Her recon Marines were the best. They knew it, and they acted the part. The only way you could tell they weren’t statues is they breathed occasionally.

Cloud Dancer and Stormhoof had reason to be nervous however. It wasn’t every day the First Sea Lord gave your unit a briefing. Especially when the Princess was involved. Especially when a diplomatic mission after the TMS Courser incident was involved. All in all, both officers were extremely concerned about the behavior of their troops and whatever mission was coming. Suddenly the young Marine MP stationed at the back of the room snapped to.

“Attention on deck! Admiral on deck!”

The Admiral strode in unceremoniously with a few aides and an obvious Naval Intelligence officer trailing behind him. He had the grandfatherly air of an affable old sea captain, not the hard line officer and incredible naval tactician his service record book proclaimed him to be.

“As you were, folks, no need to get all keyed up for me.”

He moved up to the front of the room and let his aides shuffle around setting up a laptop and hooking it to the projector. He turned to the sentry at the back of the room.

“Lance Corporal, secure this room immediately, highest classification, weapon to condition one.”

The young Marine saluted, chambered a round into his sidearm and stepped out side, locking the door externally. The Admiral looked out at the assembled group, and the formerly fatherly voice went cold and steely.

“Everything you hear in this briefing is classified top secret, revealing anything from this brief will constitute an act of treason and result in a court martial. Does everypony understand?”

Receiving enough of an acknowledgement the old sailor signaled his aide and a large satellite view of the Coral Shoals presented itself on the screen.

“Right then, as you may or may not know the cruiser TMS Courser was lost thirty nautical miles outside of sea pony territorial waters last week. This happened right before the first formal meeting between the sea ponies and any outsiders at all for just short of a millennium. Naval Command and Their Majesties find this highly suspicious. Princess Luna has chosen to continue with opening relations with the sea ponies and shall be proceeding to the summit in a little over a month. Instead of the single cruiser we were going to send as a sign of good faith, their majesties have ordered that we deploy a light carrier battle group and that we supplement the usual ship’s compliment with Selene squadron and the 368th’s Force Recon squad which shall be Princess Luna’s personal security detail for the duration of the visit.”

The slides begin to go through photos of several several vessels.

“We’re running with a slightly smaller strike group then normal centered on the TMS Rooseblood one of our most recent carriers and the flagship of the strike group. If any of you heathen land dwellers care her nickname is “The Big Stick” if you don’t understand the nickname or know the name you are what’s wrong with the Equestrian education system.”

A chorus of chuckles fill the room, when you’re dealing with Admirals and Generals, their jokes are always funny. Or else.

“Accompanying her shall be the TMS Warlander, TMS Destrier, and TMS Charger. Two cruisers and a heavy cruiser respectively. The final portion of our merry little flotilla shall be the TMS Shade, a Darkside-class attack submarine and the TMS Lunar Shadow, an experimental submarine carrier that carries the new Trident-class subsurface fighters.”

The admiral paused taking in the faces of the assembled mass; everypony looked slightly stunned by the barrage of information. He grinned, pleased with himself for still being able to properly steam roll a bunch of young officers and Marines and get them off balance.

‘Still got it.’

“Of course, this means Selene squadron will have to become carrier qualified in under a month. Considering your unit’s reputation and it’s rather impressive collection of battle decorations I’m sure you’ll handle quite ably. The recon unit will also have some extra training to supplement the dive training you’ve all already received.”

He turns to Major Cloud Dancer and motions to an aid who passes her a typed letter and a thick folder marked “classified”.

“Official orders transferring you to Naval Airstation Oceanus for training then on to the Morning Star battle group the second you’ve been signed off as carrier operations qualified.”

Major Cloud Dancer nods and quickly scans the loose document.

“Yes, sir, I’ll have my ponies all transferred south no later then seventy two hours from now.”

“Excellent, I see your proficiency reports didn’t exaggerate a word about you, Major. I look forward to working with you on this cruise. Now then I have to return to Naval Command. I leave you in the capable hooves of Commander Datapoint of the Office of Naval Intelligence. “

The Admiral quickly vanished taking about half the entourage with him. Cloud Dancer envied him more then a little. She could tell without the spook from ONI saying a single word that this was going to be the kind of intelligence briefing that made getting sucked through an engine an attractive mental prospect.

’LtCol Windsheer knew this was going to happen when he gave me command of this detail. That bastard... what won’t he do to avoid an intell brief?’

She suppressed a sigh and pulled out her note pad, settling in for what was sure to be a long and painful experience.

Two Days Later
NAS Oceanus
VMFA(AW)-127 Flight Line
0430

The collection of airforce flyers were feeling decidedly out of place on the bustling flight line, everyone else seeming to have a place and purpose except them as the Marines of VMA-127 continued final preparations to embark the squadron in just a few short weeks but this is where their instructors had wanted to meet them. A pair of extremely crisp looking ponies walked toward the group. In the lead was a very powerfully built pegasus stallion, and just a step behind him was a slender unicorn mare.

"I'm Captain Stormcruiser, call sign King. The lovely mare with me is Captain Spark Bloom, call sign Queen and my Wizzo or Weapons Systems Officer. To translate for you airscouts, she sits in the backseat of our bird and helps me kill bad guys as effectively as possible. She's also my wife so you can decide for yourselves which roll she's more lethal in.

Spark Bloom gives her husband a gentle punch on the shoulder.

"They can decide, but you're the only one who deals with the consequences..."

"Ha! True enough, you're better with the speech making, brief the dodos for me?"

Spark Bloom turns to the assembled airforce pilots.

"We're going to give you all a crash course in carrier aviation, mostly doing test traps on the "test carrier" set up land side here at NAS Oceanus. Fillies and colts, you are not in Ponyville any more. Carrier aviation, especially launch and recovery procedures is the most difficult flying on the face of the planet. If you don't bring your A game every single second, you're just gonna end up as a smear for some squid to mop off the flight deck."

Her husband gestured with a quick jerk of his neck towards the hangar behind them.

"Follow us into the class room, let's get the ground portion of this knocked out so we can get flying."

Chapter 3: The Tailhook Club

A Month Has Passed
Edge of TMS Rooseblood airspace
Flare’s F/A-29
1330

Flare was starting to get inordinately ticked off at Captains Stormcruiser and Spark Bloom. While they were an obviously proficient and competent duo and quite talented instructors, they’d been hovering around their charges like they were nailed to them today. Albeit it was their final test, a real trap to move the squadron aboard the Roosenblood so the fleet could head out for the shoals. This was literally a life-or-death final exam, but still it was annoying.

Flare snorted indignantly. Clanky had overseen the mechanical upgrades to allow the F/A-29s to land aboard the carriers and they’d performed just fine with the land based traps they’d done the past couple weeks. Being treated like a moist behind the ears cadet was really starting to wear on him. They were combat veterans and some of the best fliers in the Equestrian military, who were these Marines to run them around like that? Major Cloud Dancer seemed to handle it all with a kind of detached mechanical precision that made Flare wonder if she knew something he didn’t.

A quick scan of the skies found the specific silver glint he was looking for, the F/A-48D “Super” Seaeagle VTOL fighter was floating high and to the right of the main formation, obviously keeping an eye on their charges. That sealed it for Flare, time to put these ponies back in their place and remind them who the real ace pilots around here were. A quick flip of his comms systems got him a line to the E-12F “Looking Glass” AWACS plane currently running the airspace for the carrier group as they prepared to steam out to blue water.

“Selene Twelve to High Guard, request challenge status for this training mission.”

Challenge was an extremely old tradition for pony aviation. All the way back before the unification of the three breeds and the appearance of the alicorn sisters to lead them. Back when flying was something that was all bone, feather and muscle a pegasi would declare challenge to prove who the superior flier was, usually by engaging in mock combat. For more serious challenges, an offense of honor or something equally dire. The challenges would go “to the fall.” Meaning that the pegasi fighting would continue to battle till one of them fell out of the sky. The victor could then display mercy and rescue the falling pony, or let them fall to their deaths.

At least that’s how the stories went, a challenge hadn’t been fought to the fall in many thousands of years, and only old writings left any record of the process at all. Things were a lot more civil now using computers and radar systems to simulate a flying hoof fight but challenge remained. Tradition, after all, was tradition.

“Selene Twelve, challenge status is green... if slightly irregular, request clearance from your squadron commander.”

“Copy, High Guard, Selene Twelve to Selene Six”

Cloud Dancer of course had been exercising a CO’s prerogative and been listening in on all channels from her flight so she knew exactly what Flare was up to and rolled her eyes a little. This just had to be one of those pride things that seemed to be the primary domain of stallions every where, no matter what race or species they belonged to.

“Six here, go ahead Twelve.”

“Request permission to issue challenge to non-squadron member.”

“Very well Twelve, I’ll assume you’re challenging Knight Seven?”

“Affirmative Six.”

Cloud Dancer’s commboard lit up showing a private channel between Selene Eleven, Second Lieutenant Zephyr, and Flare, probably trying to talk some sense into her wingcolt. Cloud Dancer knew better, his blood was up for whatever reason and he had to prove he was the best flier around. Cloud Dancer knew better of course, Flare was good but the King and Queen of hearts were better, which Flare would have known if he’d been paying attention during the first day of briefings. Oh well if he wanted to go up against a flight team with a three time ace to their credit and a near undefeated record as a student flight team and instructor flight team at the “Top Gun” Naval Fighter Weapons School it was his own funeral.

“King this is Selene Six, I assume you and Queen heard that?”

“Affirmative Selene Six, High Guard going to play referee?”

High Guard broke into the public conversation, bets were already being placed amongst the AWACS’ flight crew, they’d been working with the King and Queen for a couple floats now and they figured the upstart zoomie didn’t have a chance, so instead of victory they were betting on how long the challenge would last.

“This is High Guard, we’ll be calling the shots, challenge has been issued and accepted, combatants will move to 23,000ft and shall have a hard deck of 12,000 feet. Any pilot who violates the hard deck forfeits the challenge.”

Flare acknowledged this and broke out of the formation, heading high and to the right on the quick turn onto his wing. He pulled into a wide circle, doing his best to minimize his profile and hide in the sun’s light. It wouldn’t be enough to win the fight but it might give him a little edge right at the start.
“Pilots, the challenge has been issued and accepted. Be advised that per Marine Corps Order 9.28c and Naval Bulletin 11.9d that any attempt to continue hostilities after the challenge has been ended by the refereeing authority in the air or on the ground will be considered a court martial offense. Training weapons are hot, you are clear to engage.”

Flare’s radar lock warning started to scream immediately, He banked quickly and popped a chaff canister breaking the lock. Flare went through a dizzying series of maneuvers to try to find his opponents while keeping them from engaging him. A flash of sunlight on glass to his 4 o’clock revealed the aircraft he was searching for and he bore down on it with a sharp increase of his throttle.

“Fox two!”

The simulated heat seeker existed only in cyberspace but on radar screens across the formation is raced towards the Seaeagle fighter and just vanished off of everypony’s radar scopes a scant hundred yards from the radar blip representing King and Queen.

“Selene Twelve to High Guard, what the hell just happened? That missile was running clean and hot!”

“Your missile was interdicted by Knight Seven’s magical defense systems Selene Twelve, or did you forget you’re up against a pegasi-unicorn flight team?”

“I thought challenge was pilot to pilot only!”

“You challenged the team, Selene Twelve, that’s how the Navy and Marine Corps does business with it’s challenges, fight one, fight both, especially when you’re up against the only married flight team in the Equestrian military. I’d suggest you get your head out of the clouds and back in the fight however, or this challenge is going to be short.”

Laughter filled the crew compartment of High Guard at the indignant noise that made up Flare’s response to this advice as he pulled up hard and climbed rapidly trying to put some maneuvering distance out into the sky so he could try to reengage the King and Queen of Hearts.

Knight 7 - Stormcruiser and Spark Bloom’s Fighter

The King and Queen of Hearts were actually having to do some pretty serious flying, though the majority of work was going on in the back seat as Spark Bloom orchestrated the electronic and magic defense of their Seaeagle. She played the various countermeasures and her own projected arcane defenses like she was conducting a symphony weaving it all together and combining it with the radar picture to feed guidance to her husband who was flying and fighting the fighter like an extension of his own body.

“Break left and down, he’s going to try to get above and behind us.”

“Give him the exhaust ports in the dive, force him to follow us, then airbreak, roll and reengage?”

“Do it, let’s show him how the Corps does business.”

Selene 12 - Flare

Flare never saw the maneuver coming, he followed them through the intense evasion pattern they had put into evade them arcing into the screaming dive down towards the hard deck until King cut his airbrakes in with a little magical aid and turned into a tight arching roll up and over Flare, settling in behind him like he’d been there the whole time. A radar lock screamed in Flare’s ear and suddenly cut out.

“This is High Guard to all combatants, confirmed victory to Knight Seven by missile shot that would have resulted in catastrophic destruction of Selene Twelve. All combatants stand down weapons radars and ECM. Command would like to take this moment to remind you that any further continuation of hostilities after this time are a court martial offense, leave it in the sky.”

Flare acknowledge blandly and coasted on an easy arc to plug himself back into formation. He’d lost. Not only had he lost he’d had his flank kicked hard. His comm board lit up with a private line from Major Cloud Dancer.

“Let that be a lesson to you about the dangers of pride and virtues of humility Lieutenant. You’re a hell of a pilot Flare, if you make a career out of this you’re only going to get even better till old age finally takes your edge off like Colonel Windsheer, any stupid crap left in your head about the Captains is gone now! We clear?”

Flare gulped, it wasn’t often these days that Cloud Dancer got quite this pissed off.

“Yes ma’am, understood.”

“Good, now pull your head out of your plot and focus, if you kill yourself during this trap I swear by the Lunar Light I will personally come to hell, bring your sorry ass back to life then kill you again myself.”

The channel clicked off without further comment leaving Flare to lick his wounds and as the Major had said, focused on not getting himself killed when he attempted his first real carrier landing.

TMS RoosenbloodLanding Pattern
Selene 12 - Flare

“Selene Twelve to Stick, requesting clearance to land.”

“Roger Selene Twelve you’ve entered the landing corridor and are cleared to land, turning you over to the Landing Signals Officer.”

“LSO to Selene Twelve, coming in a little hot, drop your airspeed and come left a hair, do you have the ball?”

Flare complied and scanned the fantail of the carrier quickly locking on to the light board referred to as “the meatball” the orb of red light representing where his aircraft was in relation to the deck and the proper flight path. Flare had been shaking ever since the squadron entered the landing pattern, practice was all well and good but this was the real thing.

’Luna’s mane I have to land on that tiny thing?

He shook himself and refocused, there was always time to be terrified after it was over. Like the Major always said.

“I have the meat ball, dropping airspeed to one hundred and thirty knots.”

“Coming in clean Twelve, remember you’re aiming for the third cable, let’s start your naval aviation career with a text book trap alright?”

Flare let out a tense breath laugh.

“Copy that, let’s do it.”

“Ten seconds to deck... nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one...”

Anything else that the LSO said was drowned out by an almighty THUMP as the plane slammed home onto the flight deck followed by Flare slamming forward into his harness as the tail hook caught the arresting cable and an aircraft traveling at 150 mph was suddenly going 0 mph.

Flare caught his breath still shaking like mad as he looked for the ground guide who began to direct him over to a slot near the elevator. Flare went through his power down cycle and opened the belly hatch, desperate to get some air. He couldn’t have been happier to get his first lungful of fresh air as he stepped out on to the Roosenblood’s steel flight deck. The blaring deck loud speaker was announcing...

“Now hear this, now hear this, all hands secure from recovery operations and prepare for CAP launch off catapults one and two, alert five fighters prepare for stand down, on coming alert five stand to your planes, that is all.”

Flare shook the last of the shakes from the harrowing landing off and looked around. A couple ponies including Zephyr and Clanky were obviously waiting for him but the first pony to make it to him was Stormcruiser. The king punched him in the shoulder playfully.

“Nice trap Lieutenant, no hard feelings from before?”

“No sir, I let my pride get the better of me and I took my lumps for it.”

“That’s the right attitude to have, it’ll increase your longevity in this business.”

The stallion turned to go rejoin his wife and supervise the moving of his fighter from the VTOL landing pads to the elevator for transport to the hangar deck. He turned quickly though as if remembering something.

“Oh by the way Flare, welcome to the club!”

“Club?”

“The tailhook club of course! You’re a whole new level of pilot now!”

Flare shook his head and went to rejoin his squadron as the crew chiefs began to secure the aircraft for their own moves down to the hangar deck.

Chapter 4: Squall

TMS Rooseblood - Bridge
Naval Base Star Harbor - Sea Moorings
Background Music

Cloud Dancer walked onto the bridge with Stormcruiser and Spark Bloom in tow and presented herself to the Captain with a sharp salute. While in any other circumstance a Major saluting a Captain would go in the reverse, the Navy in their contrary and ancient ways that are utterly incomprehensible to the land bound referred to their version of a Colonel as Captains. Simply to confuse everypony per the legends on the Army and Air Force.

“Major Cloud Dancer of the 98th Night Fighter Squadron reporting, sir.”

The Captain turned and returned the salute briskly.

“Welcome aboard, Major. Captain Bowsprit, commander of the Rooseblood. My compliments to your ponies, some excellent traps out there today. Sorry one of them had to get his nose bloodied earlier, my Marines play rough. Any actual damage?”

“Just to his ego, sir. He’s young and still getting his saddle worn in; he’ll be squared away in time for regular flight ops tomorrow.”

The Captain laughed and cuffed Cloud Dancer’s shoulder lightly.

“Excellent, Major, just what I like to hear. Maybe the little lesson in humility from the Captains here will be just what the lad needed! Now then, before we get down to business we have a little work to get to so we can get under way from the port. Master Chief Hard Tack!”

A graying stallion in immaculate working khakis stepped up from his position near the helmscolt and saluted sharply.

“Yes, sir?”

“Have we received clearance from the harbor to depart?”

“Yes sir, the Admiral and the Princess are aboard and flight operations are secured.”

“Excellent, sound general quarters, all hands to the rails.”

“Aye sir!”

The Master Chief grabbed the speaker for the intraship intercomm and pressed down hard on the General quarters alarm.

“All hands, stand to for departure. Man the rails!”

The ship’s decks were suddenly alive with activity as sailors in their dress whites poured out of every available hatch, several large groups coming up from below decks on the aircraft elevators. All headed to predetermined positions along the rails of the ship and came to an solid looking position of attention, all eyes outwards towards the surrounding harbor and the sea before them.

“Helm, ahead one quarter, take us out!”

“Aye sir, ahead one quarter.”

TMS Shade - Fifty miles out of the bay

“Conn! Communications, message from fleet command.”

Commander Manecuso grabbed the naval message from the young rating who’d brought it forward and gave it a quick once over. Just as he’d thought, time to get moving.

“Alright ponies, exactly what we expected, the fleet is leaving port and we’re going along to play shadow and surprise any underwater threats. Chief, are we secured for dive?”

“On your order, skipper.”

“Very well, Conning officer, dive the boat!”

“Aye sir! Helm ahead one third, ten degrees down bubble!”

The dive was a quiet and simple one, what had been visible of the Shade’s conning tower slipping below the waves with barely a bubble to mark her passing, unlike the rest of the ships in the fleet, who were even now rigging themselves to defend themselves against any incursions the Shade was following an all together different mission. She was sliding beneath the waves to go hunting.

TMS Roosenblood - A Week Has Passed
Background Music

The dinner and informal staff meeting in the wardroom had been going quite pleasantly. Even the presence of the Princess and Twilight Sparkle couldn’t deter the various flight teams and ship’s officers from getting a little bawdy and relaxed. Everypony had been tense with the ships rigged for combat all day with very little stand down time, so the Admiral had decided to take the opportunity to let the crews relax a little before the fleet left blue water and entered Merian territory.

Flare and Zephyr were in the corner with a couple Navy and Marine fighters recounting their adventures at the northern border while Luna was trying to get more blackmail on Twilight as a foal from the Admiral to the purple unicorn’s horror. Captain Bowsprit was engrossed in a book in “The Captain’s Chair” which was a comfy armchair somepony had smuggled aboard for the Skipper’s personal use. No one was expecting the battle stations alarm to start sounding.

“Unknown fighters detected coming in from the south east, refusing to respond to hails. All hands, battle stations! Launch the alert five fighters! This is not a drill! All pilots to your planes; Captain to the CIC!”

The wardroom was already empty as pilots and officers rushed to their respective aircraft and duty stations.

TMS Shade

“Conn, Sonar! Contact bearing 45 degrees off the nose, identify contact as possible submarine!”

“Comms, alert fleet command. All hands to battle stations. Firing officer, tube status?”

“All tubes loaded, sir.”

“Very well, flood tubes three and four. Sonar, tell me you’ve got something more!”

“Yes, sir, feeding data to... Oh shit, transients transients, they’re flooding tubes... fish in the water! Repeat, spread of three torpedoes in the water same bearing as previously reported!”

“Dammnit! Warn the fleet, and match bearings on that sub and shoot!”

A tense moment as the sub’s outer doors opened and two torpedoes leaped from their firing tubes guided by wire towards the last known location of their target.

“Conn, Sonar, fish away and running hot, time to target two minutes.”

“Very well, Helm, three degrees down bubble and get us moving.”

“Conn, weapons, fish released and beginning to ping.”

“Conn, Sonar, sounds like the fish have it, sir. We’re getting a strong return off the projected coordinates of the contact.”

Silence reigned on the sub, tense and sweaty as the sonar officer occasionally counted down the projected time to impact. Each sailor and officer imagined the torpedoes tearing through the water seeking out the metal skin of a submarine very much like their own, hoping to rip and rend its metal flesh with their high explosive warheads.

“Conn, Sonar, we have detonation, breaking up noise...we have a kill.”

“Good work, ponies. Report to the fleet and continue at battle stations. Let’s see if he had friends.”

TMS Rooseblood - CIC

The Admiral was extremely pleased with the battle group’s performance and, at the report of a sub kill, hammered the planning table with a hoof.

“Hah! That’s more like it. Cocky bastards thought they could catch us napping again, eh? Stupid sons of a bitch are really getting it now! Captain Bowsprit, what’s the status of the fighters?”

“All fighters are away and engaging the enemy planes just south of the Fleet’s anti-air defenses.”

“Damage reports from the fleet?”

“The Warlander took two missile hits amidships but is reporting only light casualties and no loss to combat effectiveness. The Charger took a torpedo to her “Trixie” decoy but no other damage reported. Of the other two torpedoes reported by the Shade one apparently took out a helo dropped sonobouy and the other was shot and detonated by a crewpony on the Charger”

“Celestia’s mane that’s a hell of a shot! Put that colt in for a commendation! Any report from the Lunar Shadow?”

“She just made her regular SatComm report, she should be joining the fleet as scheduled tomorrow.”

“Very well... keep Anti-Submarine Warfare parties at full alert and move the fleet to engage the enemy air assets at maximum range. Solar Light keep the pilots; this is their fight now, but I’ll be damned if we don’t give them a helping hoof.”

Selene Twelve - Flare

Flare had never been in an air battle like this before. The Rooseblood was carrying a full compliment of ninety aircraft plus Selene squadron. Only about sixty of those were fighters, but it still made for a crowded sky.

They had started the fight almost immediately after launch cutting to afterburners and engaging the enemy fighters at knife fighting range to keep them from dropping into missile range of the carrier. Flare was hot on an enemy plane’s tail and couldn’t help but notice the odd, vaguely aquatic design of the thing. It looked almost like a fish.

’Gah, the hell am I doing? This is no time to admire the enemy aerospace engineering.’

Flare flipped a switch and brought his cannon tight and in-line with the enemy’s tail.

“Fox four!”

The stream of 20mm cannon shells tore out into the enemy fighter and paneling and fluids flew off him as the pilot jinked left and with a roll tore into a screaming dive straight down with Flare following hard behind him, lining him up for a missile shot with bursts of cannon fire. The enemy plane tore into the water with an extra burst of speed and Flare was forced to pull hard out of the dive in a high g turn. His arc gave him an excellent view as the fighter that had just vanished beneath the waves popped out of the water a good half mile away and rocketed back towards the main engagement. Flare’s mind froze for a second as he tried to process exactly what had just happened.

’Oh bucking hell...’

“Selene Twelve to Selene Six, priority communication.”

“Six here, I’m slightly busy, Twelve, so make it fast.”

“Six, enemy fighters are trans-aquatic.”

“Say bucking WHAT, Twelve?”

“Repeat enemy aircraft are trans-aquatic; they can go underwater.”

“....Oh sonofabuckingwhore, keep in the fight, Twelve. I have the feeling the fleet’s about to have serious problems.”

Flare grimaced and banked hard back towards the main of the engagement, looking for a straggler he could donate a missile to, worried about what was happening in the world beneath the waves.

Beneath the Waves

“The surfacers are fighting back well, my lord, better then we have expected.”

“I have noticed that you, simpleton.”

The odd looking sea pony cringed, expecting a blow from the shadows. His dark master was not one to cross. Even amongst their people his reputation for cruelty and ferocity was legendary... which is why he would have caught the attention of the queen of course. The expected blow didn’t land however. The commander was obviously thinking.

“What’s the status of the missile cruiser?”

“Close to surfacing, my lord. She’ll be in firing position shortly.”

“And the fighters we’ve infiltrated?”

“Standing by to make their attack run, my liege.”

“Excellent, we shall take victory from this yet!”

Rooseblood Group

The warning from Selene Six barely came in time to warn the battle group about dangers coming from below, the cruisers immediately kicking off a hard active sonar ping dubbed “yankee search” immediately the contact screen lit up with dozens of underwater contacts. The order to begin dropping depth charges was almost instant in response, but by then the fighters had begun to emerge from the water. A slightly stunned radar tech in the Warlander’s CIC watched smaller radar contacts separating from the larger contacts that had appeared from no where and grabbed the radio in a panic, getting on the fleet wide channel.

“Vampire, vampire! Missiles inbound!”

Across the fleet, Valiant Defender CIWS anti-missile systems spooled up their gatling guns and began to spew fire out at the incoming missiles marked by their radar, the thousands of rounds filling the air with a wall of lead. The cruiser’s SAM batteries began to rotate too, sending volleys of missiles screaming back towards the enemy fighters that had snuck through the fleet’s defensive perimeter.

Despite the best defenses the fleet could muster a couple missiles did manage to penetrate the defenses and slammed home onto the hulls of the ships, sending damage control teams scattering to put out fires and reroute any vital ship’s systems that may have been effected. The surviving enemy fighters attempted to slide back beneath the waves, but were mercilessly hounded by the fleet’s ASW forces, torpedoes and depth charges reaching into the inky black and rending machine and flesh alike with the power of their detonations. The powerful sonars of the ships at full power lashing out like blows marking the targets for the hunting helicopters.

Selene Eleven and Twelve - Zephyr and Flare

They’d reformed as a wing pair shortly after Flare’s discovery of their enemy being able to fly beneath the waves as well as above them. It was standard doctrine for the Equestrian armed forces to never go into a fight alone if you can help it. Two fighters together, with pilots who know each other and have trained together can be easily be the most lethal thing in the sky. Zephyr was scanning the sky with a hard eye, hunting for more fighters, the Equestrian fliers had managed to thin them out significantly, she banked right with Flare above and to the left of her when she saw a glint from the ocean’s surface a couple miles off.

“Twelve, Eleven, possible surface contact, want to go check it out?”

“Sure, not enough bandits up here to go around, Eleven. You have the lead.”

Zephyr led them through a tight turn and burned hard towards the bright spot on the water at high speeds, the spot staying slightly reflective no matter the angle of the sun. There was definitely something out there and, given the current climate, the good money said it wasn’t likely to be friendly. Intuition was quickly confirmed as the glare slid away revealing a slightly bulbous and organic-looking submarine. Its open missile hatches and the large cruise missiles beneath them looked normal enough however, and the pair dove to engage with nary a word between them.

Cannon fire and a pair of missiles arced out, lashing at the tender skin of the submarine. The missiles alone were lethal blows, the first landing amidships at the water line and the other slamming home into the conning tower. The now dying submarine managed to get it’s final revenge, a single cruise missile cleared it’s tube and arced off into the sky. Zephyr pounded a console.

“Dammit! Twelve, we have to take that missile down before it hits the fleet. Who knows what kind of payload that thing’s carrying!”

Zephyr didn’t wait for a response. She pulled the fighter up in to a high-g arc rolling into level flight. Pushing the throttle to the stops she went supercruise well inside twenty seconds after completing her maneuver. Noting she still had a ways to go, she wet her engine. Flare was left in her dust as she bore in on the missile, tracking it’s arc across the sky with clinical precision and plotting a mental intercept course. A flick of a switch set her targeting system’s radar to high gain as she bore down on the missile that was heading towards the top of the arc that would bring it down on top of the battle group. A tone and a flash of light was all Zephyr needed.

“Fox three!”

It was actually two missiles being launched, not one, but one would have been enough. The pair of semi-active radar guided missiles burned off their rails and accelerated to mach seven in a heart beat, burning in towards the swiftly accelerating cruise missile in front of them. Zephyr fought to keep up as best she could, already tracking for another missile shot, or a last ditch engagement with guns if necessary.

Zephyr rode her throttle hard, pushing her engines well into the red line, the aircraft straining and screaming around her to obey it’s master’s demands.

“Come on dammit just a little faster... just a little more Celestia moonit!”

Right then, the two missiles she’d just fired closed with their target and detonated spectacularly shredding the missile in front of them. Zephyr couldn’t maneuver to escape the expanding ball of fire and shrapnel and instead chose to punch it, main cannon firing at it’s full automatic rate, the pilot praying to sun and moon that it would be enough to clear the skies of major debris. Another flash, a second of intense heat and she was through.

“Hahah! That’s what I’m talking about!”

Then she noticed the magic energy that had formed around her aircraft, the arcane bubble twinkling merrily in the sunlight, and Knight Seven pulling up to her aft and left.

’Let nopony ever say the King and Queen don’t have an excellent sense of timing’

She switched her comm band to the intrasquadron frequency.

“Thanks for the assist Knight Seven that could have been hairy.”

There was a pleasant tone of merriment in King’s voice as he responded.

“Heh, you think the fire ball would have been bad? I promise you that your mechanic’s wrath would have made that look like a fire cracker.”

“Hah, copy that, what’s the status of the engagement?”

“We just drove off the last of them and have orders to recover aboard Stick, time to go home Selene Eleven.”

“Copy that Knight Seven, heading for the carrier.”

Chapter 5: The Shoals

TMS Roosenblood - Flag Briefing Room
Just off the Coral Shoals
1600

“Yes, Admiral, I understand your concerns, but I will not let anypony get in the way of my meeting with the Merarian leadership. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

Princess Luna’s nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed. Twilight had never seen her quite this pissed off before and was a little intimidated by her friend. While Luna was smaller and more slender in build then her older sister, she still commanded an imposing presence when she wanted to. Almost like... Twilight shook the thoughts of the Nightmare from her mind, the demon that had dominated her friend for over a millennium had no place in her thoughts about Luna now. Her friend and sovereign did need her help right now. The Admiral was a kind and fatherly stallion when he wasn’t fighting his fleet but like most such stallions he had an issue with what he saw as young mares or fillies going into an unpredictable shit storm unprotected. Twilight knew exactly how she could help Luna here.

“Admiral, Princess...”

Both ponies rounded on the unexpected source of input to the conversation though neither appeared angry Twilight resisted the urge to shrink back a little. The old habits of a wall flower and an egghead died hard.

“If I might offer my analysis to the situation. The Merarian delegation that met us when we put down anchor just off the shoals a few days ago has remained peaceful and have been under a flag of truce the whole time. We’ve spoke to several of them now, and all they’ve conveyed in relation to both TMS Courser incident and the attack on the battle group last week has been horror. We have not been attacked, have not detected any unusual underwater traffic. In fact according to Commander Manecuso’s reports, it sounds like the seapony tribes have very little heavy industry at all, certainly not enough to create the strange attack craft that engaged us previously.

The Admiral snorted loudly, shaking his head at the accurate analysis Twilight’d made.

“And I suppose you’ve read a few books on the subject of tactics and strategy, Ms. Sparkle?”

“As a matter of fact, I have. I took an interest to it as a filly when Princess Celestia took me to a military parade for Remembrance Day. I’ve studied Hoofwitz, Sun and Moon Tzu, The Book of Five Horse shoes and several other seminal military works including Lord Admiral Hornatio Nellie’s extensive work on naval strategy that was mostly completed before his death aboard the HMS Victory in...”

The Admiral cut her off with a wave of his hoof and a shake of his head. It wasn’t every day he was surprised by a mare he’d held as a filly, but today was one of them. Apparently Celestia’s faithful student had received an even more complete education than most of the nobility had been lead to believe.

“Alright, Ms. Sparkle, your credentials are established. What do you believe is going on in this situation, and what do you suggest we do to proceed?”

Luna leaned in, the anger already dissipating, pleased that her friend could not only defuse the argument but may actually have a positive answer to the situation at hoof.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle, we’re eager to hear what you think and any solutions you might have.”

Luna’s eyes were not helping Twilight focus at all, but she’d started this pony show. She had to finish it now.

“Well... ahh... I don’t think the Mer attacked the battle group, or the Courser for that matter. From every thing we’ve been able to detect, the Mer just don’t have the technology, magic, or otherwise to pull off a high end technological attack like that, and if they did want to destroy us, why the peaceful and concerned face now? Sure, we’re outside the walls of their capital but wouldn’t they have been continually attacking us from the initial point forward? Trying to whittle us down at least a little?”

The Admiral looked thoughtful, and Luna looked pleased with the analysis. The younger of the two princesses knew exactly why her older sister had sent Twilight Sparkle with her, and the sharp mind and keen intellect she was displaying now was all part of it.

“I think there’s a third force at play in Equestria’s oceans and meeting with the Mer is our best bet at getting actual intelligence on what’s going on around here. We go in ,but instead of just Luna, myself and the Foreign Office staff, we go in with the Force Recon Marines, and we keep the fleet on general alert. That will allow us to keep a strong stance with out being two aggressive, or not showing ourselves at all. I’m sure an Equestrian town wouldn’t be very calm if a fleet took up residence near by and just sat there not saying a word, I doubt the Mer like it either.”

The Admiral sighed, with an argument like that and the fire in both mare’s eyes he knew that he’d lost this battle. The mariner bowed his head in mock defeat to the small purple unicorn in front of him.

“Well, I can’t argue with passion and intelligence like yours, Ms. Sparkle, and as I sense Her Highness agrees with you I know I’d be arguing in vain. I’ll order the long boat prepared to take you ashore.”

The Main Shoal
1823
Background Music

As soon as the Princess, Twilight and the Marines had entered the long boat, a Mer popped her head out of the water, smiling friendlily and speaking in the pleasant and lyrical tone that characterized their speech. Her Equestrian was slow and halting, almost as if she was having a hard time with it’s guttural tones and hard stops. She indicated that at the center of the great island, the largest of the shoals, there was a cavern that would lead them down to the caverns of the Mer. Twilight was extremely excited about this and had to be restrained from practically interrogating the young Mer messenger for more information about their city and life as an aquatic mammal. Restrained she was, however, and the long boat headed for shore at a fast clip.

Reckless and her Marines moved out first, treating the walk in land as a proper infantry patrol, the party spaced out at intervals, security on all sides and four scout-snipers who had been attached to her team handling overwatch details, moving like shadows along the shoal’s rocky crags.

Eventually, they came to the entrance of the cavern. The air inside the mouth of the cave was damp and cool, aslight chill running up the collective spines of the group. They emerged from the initial dark passage into a softly lit chamber with a large stairwell spiraling downwards.The blue light gave everything the same cool feeling, and Twilight’s eyes were glued to the wall and the pictographs and murals that decorated the entire space. Luna nudged her staring friend playfully and whispered,

“We can look all you want on the way back, okay?”

Twilight blushed and ducked her head. She hated getting caught staring at something she found fascinating or “going full egghead” as Rainbow Dash liked to call it. Twilight shook herself a little and steeled herself for the descent, Gunnery Sergeant Reckless in the lead, rifle at the ready as the tough looking mare began to sweep down the dark stairs at a slow and steady pace.

They descended for what seemed like hours, slowly progressing down the tight space, the damp air cooling them, the stone walls dripping with condensation. Gunny Reckless halted the group with a hoof motion. There was a light up ahead, and she slowly moved around the corner, leading with her weapon.

“Oh.... stars and stones...”

Everypony followed her quickly and the group’s collective jaw dropped. It was an encased crystal staircase completely surrounded by water, lit by the same blue light that had lit the chamber where they’d begun their descent, and out in the water the lights of the city of the Meraria shone brightly in the blackness of the night. Gunny was the first to speak.

“Holy Lunar Light.... it’s massive!”

Luna herself was slightly taken aback by the massive sights.

“We are... impressed certainly. This is a magnificent city.”

Twilight Sparkle, of course, was not taken in by the sight as much as the others but analyzing everything she saw before her.

“Princess, what do you think the massive network of pipes are for?”

Luna blinked, she hadn’t even noticed the pipes that appeared to run from the surface to every building in the city in at least one spot.

“Hmmm, well we know the Mer are amphibious mammals, so they still need oxygen to breath, it would stand to reason that their underwater habitat is oxygenated, they possibly even maintain rooms with a fully oxygenated atmosphere. I believe we shall have to investigate further my dear Twilight.”

“Indeed Princess this trip should be... fascinating.”

The Marines pretended to not even notice the exchange, mentally rolling their eyes at the egghead antics of their sovereign and her aide. Their minds were focused on what was to them the much more vital issues of keeping the Princess safe, themselves alive and the fact that they were now operating in an environment that was extremely lethal to them with out special equipment. Shortly, the Princess and Twilight concluded their meeting of the minds, and the descent began again. The occasional curious fish or Mer joined them as they descended the crystal stairs darting and spiraling around them, examining these new creatures among them from all angles.

As the continued further down they began to come to the roof of a regal looking building. It’s soft rounded shapes making it look like the stone had grown in the pattern of the regal yet alien long building. A massive archway marking the transition from the stairs made itself evident. The stonework was covered in pictographs in a style similar to the ones in the chamber on the island above. As the descent continued, a soft singing could be heard, and with a nod from Gunny Reckless, the Marines all stuffed specially prepare earplugs in. While the Foreign Office and ONI agreed that Seapony singing was not the hypnotic spell that legends made it out to be, the Gunnery Sergeant was not taking chances with the necks of her squad and their Princess. Luna simply smiled at the precaution, she knew better, or she used to from long ago, hopefully things hadn’t changed that much. At another signal from Gunny Reckless the Marines silently formed into two columns flanking the Princess, with Gunny marching with them from the left side of the formation.

“Squad! Attention! Port arms! Forward march!

The dozen recon Marines stepped off like they were on the parade deck and not hundred of feet below the waves in potentially hostile territory. They might be marching to their deaths, but they were going to be damned if they didn’t show the sea ponies how to make an entrance. Their horseshoes slammed the deck in perfect unison creating a solid cadence as they marched toward the archway. As they passed through the arch, the song of the sea ponies changed, matching the rhythm the Marines had provided, unmistakably a sign of welcome to Twilight Sparkle’s mind. The room they found themselves in was a massive dome, a good half of it a massive pool that reached progressively deeper revealing massive doorways where seaponies moved swiftly, going about their business without a thought to the spectacle above them.

Twilight actively had to keep her jaw from dropping as she looked around the cavernous expanse of the room, murals, frescoes and more of the pictographs ran up every wall through out the entire thing. She almost missed the leader of the Mer in the midst of it all. He sat almost idly atop a large chair, the back of which was formed by a waterfall coming from the ceiling, flanking him were several ranks of robed sea ponies, the source of the music that somehow seemed to fill the room and make it brighter with the soft tones of their unified voices.

Luna set herself and with a motion to Twilight for her to accompany her, stepped forward and bowed gracefully to the enthroned lord of the seas.

“Greetings from the surface. I-”

The sea pony lord cut her off with a wide grin.

“We know who you are, Princess Luna. Indeed, how could any of our kind ever forget?”

The seapony stallion gestured with a fin upward, to the very top of the dome, where crowning everything, the center of all the art that had been created on the interiors of the dome was a intricately done fresco of the royal pony sisters in their forms as the sun and moon.

“Even in the depths we remember the goddesses who gave this world form, even after the exile of the world from the paradise of Equestria by the dragon of chaos we remembered, and while we became insular and rejected the world of surfacers for many centuries, we never forgot where we came from. Thus was the decree of my father, and his father before him, through all of my line. I am Coral Beard, the Lord of the Shallows and Keeper of the Names, the leader of the Seven Schools of the Meraria. We welcome you warmly to our realm and the City of the Waves. May fair and following seas come with you.”

Luna smiled brightly, perhaps this was going to go even better then she had expected it would.

“We are pleased to come into this realm of wonder and be so warmly received by those we would count as friends but...”

“But you have questions as to the attacks that befell your ponies during your journey here, of course.”

The elderly seapony stallion nodded thoughtfully, his long white mane and beard rippling slightly in the cascading water of his throne. He spoke as if he was weighing his options and choosing his words with the care of a surgeon selecting the proper scalpel.

“Your Highness, we do have the answers that you seek, and I can assure you that my people did not have anything to do with the attacks on the surfacers. A nightmare has returned to our world, but the hour is far too late to discuss such serious matters, and the council of clan leaders must be present for such talks. I must ask you for your patience Princess. Until then please, join us for a brief welcoming dessert and leave the business for tomorrow.”

Luna restrained her frustration. Somepony was hurting her little ponies, and it gnawed at her to find out. This, however, was diplomacy ,and no matter how positive and friendly the ponies on the opposite end might be, it was it’s own form of warfare with it’s own set of rules, attacks, and defenses. Acting gracefully and accepting the terms of her host now would set a more positive tone for later, and it was only a half a day... surely that wouldn’t make much of a difference would it? Luna turned on her thousand watt grin usually reserved for the Lunar Court in Canterlot and beamed up at the sea ruler.

“My companions and I would be delighted to join you and hold off on business till a more reasonable hour tomorrow.”

Luna bowed again and nudged Twilight to do the same. The seaponies began to file along a waterway parallel to a raised path that the land dwellers could walk on. Luna and Coral Beard conversed pleasantly as Luna inquired after more intellectual pursuits about the nature of the Mer and their culture. Twilight Sparkle, however, was oddly silent, lost in her own thoughts stirred up by Coral Beard’s comment about “a nightmare” returning to the world. Her eyes flashed with concern to Luna, trying pierce her heart, seeking out any remnant of the hateful demon who had tortured her for so long.

’Surely he couldn’t mean THE Nightmare... we destroyed it forever... Luna’s free and safe now... but I’ll be careful anyway. I have to protect her. I have to.’

Chapter 6: Riptide

City of the Waves
Luna’s chambers
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Contrary to the desires of their host Twilight and Luna’s evening had not been peaceful at all. The pair were night owls by nature and threw themselves into some intense research as soon as they had reached the spacious chambers Luna had been accommodated in. The Marines were nearby, apparently the tradition of all leaders in Mer culture were to go with an armed body of elite guards called a “comitatus” hoof picked stallions and mares sworn to defend their master or mistress with their lives. So all large accommodations for dignitaries had barracks for a dozen or more soldiers built on as a matter of course.

Gunny Reckless had handled the accommodations with ease, her Marines spreading out and inspecting the premise they and their sovereign would be occupying, Her opposite number, the leader of Coral Beard’s own comitatus, watched with an approving eye from one of the channels that allowed the Mer to move through the few “dry” rooms of the palace.

Everypony had departed by this late hour though. The Marines stood down for weapons maintenance and sleep, beginning the rotation of two guards who would be on duty throughout the night and day for the duration of their stay. These Marines were some of the best the Equestrian military had to offer but there was a fatal flaw in their security, guarding the exterior of the building, past the walls that kept their precious pocket of air and and the world aquatic separate was next to impossible.

Black clad shadows began to emerge from the depths of the ocean city, moving like shadows past walls and guard towers, a few slitting the throats of sentries who might possibly complicate their intended plans. They scaled the walls in swift predatory motions, hunters who could smell their prey, feel it in their teeth and now at the porthole outside Luna’s chambers see it with their eyes. They began to work swiftly pulling small devices from satchels, their work unobserved and unknown to the oblivious pair of ponies inside.

Twilight Sparkle was starting to lag a little, normally she could keep up with Luna no matter what but it’d been a long day and neither of them had slept in a while. Luna for her part still looked fresh and perky, but she had the benefit of being an immortal goddess incarnate, and Twilight did not. The purple unicorn shook herself and poured more of the local variant of coffee that tasted more like an herbal tea but had the kick of one of Pinkie Pie’s quintuple party power espressos.

Refreshed she turned to the massive stack of books before her, on the Princess’s request a large number of history books and scrolls had been delivered to her chambers before the welcome party had even come close to concluding. The sheer amount of material was slightly boggling, never having suffered some of the wars the Equestrians had allowed the Mer to keep a very extensive record system. All the way back to the dawn of their race with few very few gaps. Luna looked up suddenly.

“Twilight! Look at this!”

Luna shoved a heavy book under Twilight’s muzzle, magic highlighting the section of script she wanted the purple unicorn to examine. Twilight stifled a yawn and read through it quickly.

“Hmmm seems like you were pretty important down here a couple thousand years ago.”

“Indeed, the Mer favor the night and consider the bio-luminescence found in many ocean dwelling animals and plants to be a gift from me... which may or may not be true. That was a long time ago... I did do more work with the ocean then Tia did... I... I don’t know Twilight there’s so much I don’t remember any more...”

Twilight turns and pulls her friend into a tight hug.

“It stole so much from you... didn’t it?”

The name of the monster that had corrupted the night goddess didn’t need to be named, not amongst these two. Luna buries her face in Twilight’s mane and nods slightly, trying to hold back a tear or two. She could be strong as long as she needed to, no matter how much the old wounds still hurt, but it was nice to know she could be weak with Twilight.

Twilight pulled back and smiled at her friend warmly.

“You know Princess, it’s really late, we should turn in and get some sleep so we’re fresh for tomorrow.

Twilight hugged Luna and began to head towards the door. Luna blushed slightly and stared down at her hooves, almost ashamed at the thought that just ran through her head but knowing she didn’t want Twilight to leave.

“Ah... Twilight...”

“Yes Princess?”

“You... you could... uhm... stay...”

At that second the black clad figures who’d been outside the entire time detonated the charges they’d been placing around the porthole of the room, and a in rushing wave of water knocked Twilight and Luna from their hooves, slamming them both against the far wall. The room filled up in an instant and the mysterious sea ponies followed closely behind, binding the two struggling unicorns and fitting them with rebreathers, as they secured magic dampners to their horns. In a swirl of bubbles they vanished into the depths dragging Twilight and Luna down with them into the deeps. The enraged eyes of Gunnery Sergeant Reckless followed them the entire way until they finally vanished from sight, standing at the porthole of the barracks room next to Luna’s quarters. Her breathing is hard and she’s shaking with rage, a single icy sentence escaped her lips as her Marines secured their quarters and set up an emergency comm channel to the surface.

“Somepony is going to pay for this...”

Royal Chambers

Reckless and her Marines were a force of nature by the time they reached the Sea Lord’s chambers, they’d subdued more than a few guards and were in their special combat dive gear in case they had to follow paths reserved for the waterborne seaponies. There was rage in ever hoof step but Coralbeard met them without fear, though his comitatus was close by, slightly on edge from having these strange and aggressive ponies so near their master. The seapony elder bowed his head a little.

“I suppose you have questions Gunnery Sergeant... and after this failure I must give you answers.”

Gunnery Sergeant Reckless practically leaps forward at the old stallion.

“Who the buck were those sea ponies? Who took the Princess and Twilight? Was all of this some kind of trick?”

The sea pony lord glares at Reckless.

“NO! We are not honorless dogs who would invite someone into our homes only to do them harm. Your princess and her friend have been taken by your real enemy... the deep dwellers.”

Reckless gave Coralbeard her best incredulous look.

“And who the hay are the deep dwellers?”

“Come with me to the Darkened Hall, an ancient chamber of these palace which hasn’t been opened in a thousand years and I shall explain everything to you that you might tell your superiors.”

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The seapony didn’t allow Reckless time to respond, instead taking off down the hallway, Reckless went galloping after, her Marines and the comitatus hot on her hooves. They passed down grand stairs and waterways through grand galleries and expansive coves filled with seaponies going about their business even in the dead of the night. Finally they came to a massive set of double doors made of black stone, with a massive silver halfmoon at the center. Coralbeard suddenly looked even more aged, as if the sight of the door pained him and and it’s presence weighed upon him. His comitatus began to look nervous some pulling back slightly from the dark door.

Coralbeard took up an ancient key from around his neck and opened a small door within the doors. An eerie blue light glowed from within the room.

“Gunnery Sergeant I ask that your Marines remain here... this room... it is best if they do not enter the Darkened Hall.”

Reckless gulped nervously, she really didn’t want to be separated from her Marines but if it meant being able to rescue you the Princess... she stepped over to the seapony leader and prepared to follow him through the door.

“Fine, let’s just get this done so we can save the Princess.”

She dropped into the shallow channel through the door, the water up to her knees, it was cold, different then the warmer waters which filled the palace and it’s surrounding waters. She stepped through the door and noticed that the air was colder in the room too. The door swung shut behind them and she moved up onto a dias next to the channel walking deeper into the room as her eyes struggled to adjust. Finally the room revealed itself and the shape of the source of the blue light became clear. A giant crescent moon filled the top of the room, a fresco equivalent to the fresco of Celestia and Luna in the chamber they had entered when they first arrived.

“Oh goddess... what is this place?”

Coralbeard had vanished into the darkness but a low deep chanting echoed out from deeper in the room, and the light of the crescent began to spread, filling patterns throughout the room like it was water. The same light began to come alive in strange symbols, familiar to Reckless from courses at the Marine Corps Staff Academy. Black magic, the very blackest if Reckless was remembering her course material properly throughout. It was a breathtaking chilling sight as the marks of malevolent magics and energies illuminated themselves the massive room, every surface was covered in them. It took every ounce of discipline she had to not flinch away from the markings as their odd light creeped towards her. Reckless might have only been an Earth pony but she knew from some of the campaign stories her grandpappy had told her that dark magic was not to be screwed with. Every course she’d had on the matter through the Corps had only reinforced that particular piece of wisdom.

Finally the lights stopped, silhouetting Coral Beard as he stood before a grand altar, and there under the light of the baleful blue moon was the only unlit and uncarved part of the room. A massive throne of glittering black stone, the edges so sharp that they looked like they could cut or rend flesh that carelessly brushed against them. Towering over the blackened edifice of the throne was a statue. Finely carved and detailed, the rearing alicorn with her wings spread would have been identifiable in any light.

“Celestia’s Light.... is that Nightmare Moon?”

Coralbeard turned to face her, a look of ancient sadness set deep into his craggy face.

“Yes... this is the temple of the Nightmare, built to her honor during the decades of warfare and suffering that marked what the surfacers call the “Dawn war”. Many tides ago my ancestor held the same position I do now, Keeper of the Names and Leader of the Fourteen Schools of Sea Ponies, we were numerous when the Nightmare came to us, and demanded tribute. The schools divided, many wishing to obey the mare of darkness that they thought could only be Princess Luna returned to us after we were cast out of Equestria in the age of Strife. Others saw her for what she truly was, a warped and evil creature, enslaving the goddess we still worshiped beneath the waves.”

Coralbeard paused and gazed upon the stone work, a single silver glimmer of a tear rolling down his face and a distant look in his eyes as if he’d been present for the very events he was now relating to Gunny Reckless. He spoke again, pain evident in his voice.

“We... fought amongst ourselves, our own small version of the Dawn war, but... in the end we lost. Those of us who remained loyal, the remaining seven schools were cast down as slaves and so to please the Nightmare and the cruel masters she placed over use we worked. The seven schools who followed the Nightmare became her favored children, and as the years went they began to become as warped and twisted as the Nightmare herself. Their eyes became red with blood lust, their skin greyed, their teeth sharpened, their lungs vanished and became gills, and they retreated ever deeper beneath the waves. The Deep Dwellers ruled us with an iron fist for the decades of the Dawn war, killing us and feeding from the bodies of the slain, forcing us to fight in their cruel arenas. Till the war ended and Celestia saved us all, her light driving the Deep Dwellers the ocean’s heart, breaking their foul hold upon us. This is the tragedy of my people, what I would have told Princess Luna and her companion I have now related to you Gunnery Sergeant.”

“I.... Goddess protect, they can’t be still be... are they still down there Lord Coralbeard?”

“They are, and they have only grown more twisted and wicked as the centuries have worn on. Know this Gunnery Sergeant, the foe who has taken your Princess are amongst the most vile creatures to ever exist upon this world, when you go to battle you must take all your light and courage with you, the very fate of the world could be at stake... dark tides such as these do not come without reason.”

The mare simply stared blankly for a moment trying to process everything she’d just been told.

“I need to contact the fleet.”

“I fear there might not be time for that Gunnery Sergeant, you can feel it can’t you? In this hateful room... the Nightmare grows strong again.”

“I... buck... give me all the intelligence your people have where we can find the Deep Dwellers.”

“We shall do as you request, we shall also grant you a sea chariot, it shall aid your progress greatly.”

“Can you send a messenger to the fleet with all of this information?”

“Of course.”

Reckless stepped over to the little door they had entered the temple from and called out as it creaked opened.

“Marines, rig for a deep and extended dive, we have a Princess to save.”

Intermission: A Letter to the Princess

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Dear Princess Celestia,

I suppose I should really start writing "Dear Diary" instead but once you've been in the habit of something for so long I suppose you get in the habit and just can't stop. Whenever I sit down to write without a purpose, or a clearly defined goal, it turns into a letter for one Princess or another. Sometimes I send them, other times I don't, and I'd never send any of the ones I've written Luna to her diary... but you know about that.

There I go rambling off subject again diary, Rainbow Dash would get impatient and force me to refocus but of course she's not here. I miss them all so very much diary, thank the heavens that Luna's here with me to guide me and support me, this whole situation would completely overwhelm me if it wasn't for her. Just a short two weeks ago I was home with my friends, nothing was amiss, everything was just... good. Now I'm here with Luna trying to help her with a crisis that feels like it's so far above my level, so far above my head.

Diary, I just can't understand why Celestia picked me for this task, or if Luna did why she picked me. I know I'm Celestia's faithful student, a powerful mage, and extremely well read. (if I do say so myself.) I just... can't understand how much use I'll be here. We're flying into the face of danger on a scale I'm not sure I've faced, even after Discord, after Nightmare Moon I just don't know if I can handle it, if I'll be up to the task before me. Making peace between two disparate groups of ponies? The specter of so many lives lost aboard the TMS Courser hanging over it all...

I have made so many confessions in you my dear diary, of worry, unease, jealousy, anger, love, but now I must confess uncertainty with all my heart. Whatever Celestia sees in me.... I.... I just don't know if I have it. I will do my best for her as I always have and because.... Luna needs me, and I have to be there to support her no matter what. I just.... worry.

Wise thought for the day:
"When all world's mired in inky blackness and the storm clouds gather round, be a rock unto thine friends, and a light unto their skies, when love is the power you call upon you'll never fail in this regard. The magic of love and friendship is so much more then mere spells."

-Skyheart the Amorous, Third Treatise "Love as the Font of Magic”, Edition VII