Fallout Equestria: The Indefatigable

October 27, 1007 - Mission Day 17

The sun rose on the fourth day, the clouds having retreated. The storm front had passed the squadron straight by as they reached a full week and a half of cruising away from the coast of Las Pegasus, and only two days away from their destination. On deck, the sun was rising as one of the ship's scout aircraft landed, and another one began to taxi to replace it.

Shortly after the replacement scout plane left the perimeter of the ship, a thin, transparent bubble began to appear around the Indefatigable. The brilliance of the shield grew as its transparent layers were filled with a citrus orange color. On deck, observers felt the wind still as it buffeted off of the shield, and an odd feeling of entrapment came over them. It was as if they had been trapped in a gigantic crystal ball, sequestered from the world.

On the bridge, Admiral Azure Bluette watched alongside Captain Anchor Aweigh as the shield rose around the carrier.

"Nothing problematic about it blocking the air like that?" Azure noted with a humm.

"That's why we have the oxygen generator, if air quality drops too much," Anchor shook his head, "It won't always be like this either. It only needs to be at full power to stop gaseous molecules and the like. Most of the time it will be at half power, like yesterday's tests."

Azure chuckled, leaning up near the window to look up at the dome above the ship, "The power of an alicorn's shield made to bow by a machine."

Ship Right turned away from a console at the back of the room, saying to the two officers, "Well, all projects show nominal status. Looks like we're green."

"Power it down, then. No point in stressing it out until we reach Skye," the Captain sighed, stepping back and reaching up to rub an eye, "You know, whatever experiment you and the brass are cooking up. It better not leave a mark on this ship's paint."

Azure let out a tiny huff through her nostrils, "It shouldn't Captain. After all, if they really wanted to blow the Indefatigable up, they wouldn't have let me come aboard first."

Calm Seas, standing by with a pair of binoculars around her neck, looked over to the Captain, "A word, Captain?"

"Huh? Oh, sure," Anchor nodded, moving from rubbing his right eye to rubbing his left.

"Commander Bright Bean told me that some of the crew are wondering if the Nightmare Night parties will be postponed due to the mission," she relayed, referring to the commander of the ship's administrative department.

"Well, it might be. We reach Skye in two days. What's today?" Anchor rumbled, walking forward to pace idly.

Answering his question, Azure spoke up, "The 27th."

"So depending how it goes we might just celebrate a little late this year," Anchor shrugged, "They can wait for their pumpkin pies, spiced lattes, and ice cream desserts for another week if they need to."

"Of course. I'll relay that," Calm Seas nodded placidly.

Outside, the faint rays of the rising sun broke through as the shield powered down. Like ice melting away, the color dripped and sloshed out of the shield bubble as it turned translucent again. Eventually, as all the color drained away, the shield popped like a bubble, leaving the wind to blow across the deck again.

All around the ship, no land was in sight. Not the mainland, no islands, they were well and truly at the center of the Luna Sea. Some of the deepest oceans gaped beneath them. Centuries ago, wooden ships made their way fearfully across these waves, bending sail and clinging on for every swell.

Azure stood there, staring out at the water for a moment. A beeping came from her PipBuck, and she raised it up to her eyes as she saw its alarm clock function going off. 9:20, she was due for a wireless video briefing downstairs at the Flag Bridge on the combat drills their escort destroyers had undergone the day before.

She reached to switch off the alarm. However, as the time stopped flashing and the readout of her body's general status flashed back on screen, the beeping continued.

"Beep-beep! Beep-beep! Beep-beep! Beep-beep!"

Her ears perked as she turned around to the communications console, where a button on the control panel flashed red and squawked with every pulse. The communications officer reached over and depressed the button, reaching up for her radio headset as she shouted, "Incoming high-priority message! Encryption class magenta! Command code two-two-one nine!"

Instantly, the mood on the bridge dropped. Any chatter that had been ongoing between stations dropped off completely. Ponies went stiff at their stations, ears panning around on instinct.

The Captain growled, "Convenient, considering we're all already here..." he said, walking up to a nearby station. Calm Seas automatically turned to follow him.

Azure gave one last glance towards the communication station, before following him. Anchor Aweigh's horn glowed as he punched in a series of keys on the front of the console. 'Ready for Command Auth' began to flash on the terminal screen just above the keypad. Next to then keypad, a blank white circle the size of a hoof began to glow.

Anchor took his turn first, placing his hoof on the pad. After a moment there was a beep, before the captain recited, "This is Captain Anchor Aweigh, commander of the HMS Indefatigable.

The screen quickly blinked 'Authorization Confirmed', before returning to its original screen.

Calm Seas placed her hoof on the pad next, leaning forward towards the console and saying, "This is Commander Calm Seas. Executive Officer of the HMS Indefatigable."

Once again, the computer acknowledge the authorization. Both of the officers stepped back to make the way for Azure.

Placing her hoof on the pad, Azure recited, "This is Admiral Azure Bluette. The most senior officer aboard the HMS Indefatigable. With mine and the other's authorization, I order a level magenta decryption task."

"I concur," the Captain said, lips drawing thin.

"I concur," the Executive Officer echoed.

The screen changed its text, now reading 'Ready for Decryption Task Port 201-102'.

At the same time, the communications officer pressed a button on her terminal. A nearby tape drive opened, ejecting a holotape, which was quickly grabbed and floated over to the Captain's outstretched hoof.

Stepping back from the computer interface, Azure allowed the officer of the deck to procure a key, opening a locked cabinet labelled '201-102'. The cabinet door opened, revealing a combination coded safe behind it. Anchor Aweigh immediately reached for it, only for Azure to interrupt him.

"Captain. I have seniority. I should be the one to input the code," she reminded.

"Of course," Anchor bowed his head, stepping back once again for Azure.

Twisting the knob on the safe, Azure entered the ship's decryptor 10 digit encryption key. The lock popped open, and the door opened, revealing a holotape port inside. Stepping back and giving the Captain a nod, she watched as he inserted the holotape containing the transmission into the port.

The computer's screen flickered, and a series of dots appeared as the machine processed the task.

"Is this related to our mission?" Anchor asked, glancing towards Azure.

Azure frowned, shaking her head, "Not unless they're changing the orders on me too, Captain."

Behind her, the bridge officers eyed each other nervously. All that filled the air was the distant sound of wind, the whirr of the ventilation, and the occasional notification on an instrument.

The sound of a printer broke the silence as the computer finished its task, printing the decrypted message from a slot by the terminal. As the paper printed, the Captain reached up and removed the holotape, closing the safe behind it and scrambling the codes. The cabinet was then slammed shut and locked as well, just as Calm Seas reached out and took the finished message from the printer.

"Ms Seas. Read it out," Anchor ordered as he stepped back from the computer bank.

Azure Bluette watched as Calm Seas' eyes scanned down the length of paper. The mare blinked, starting from the top and reading down through it again. Her mouth opened, and then closed again.

"What's got your tongue, Exo?" Anchor raised an eyebrow.

Calm Seas looked up, eyes wide. Her tongue ran across her lips, "This is a message from the MoA Intelligence. It reads as follows:" she paused again as she looked down to the paper, before starting in earnest, "This is not a drill. Active balefire devices in Equestria. All units with strike capability, megaspell launch authorization given. CARE protocols initiated. Thermomagical war imminent. This is not a drill."

The paper was held out towards the Captain. Azure's eyes looked over his shoulder as he read it. Her stomach turned.

Anchor looked up, his face white as a sheet, "Bosun mate..."

A terrified pegasus stallion stood by the ship's intercom, blinking as he realized he had been addressed, "Y-Yes sir?"

"General quarters. Reason for battlestations, CARE protocols," Anchor gritted his teeth as a degree of color came back to his cheeks. Balling up the message, he turned towards the engineering station, where Ship Right looked at back, wide-eyed, "Shields up!"

The ship's intercom came alive with a shrill whistle, starting low, going high, before going low again. Every ear perked and every eye travelled to the ceiling. As the shrill ended, an unmistakable alarm came on soon after.

DONG DONG DONG DONG DONG DONG!

"This is not a drill, this is not a drill! General quarters! General quarters! All hooves to your battlestations! Set condition one throughout the ship! Up and forward make your starboard side, down and aft make your port side! Reason for General Quarters: CARE protocols. General quarters! General quarters!"

Ponies in the mess halls screeched out of their chairs. Those walking in the corridors began running. In the berths, sailors rolled out of their beds and scrambled off of the floor. Showers turned off, toilets were hurriedly flushed, and all non-essential activities instantly abandoned. Firefighters donned their suits, damage control units sprinted to their lockers, bulkheads were sealed, and others ran for their stations.

In the Power Armory, Ice Slushee, towel still wrapped around her head, thundered down the stairwell towards the ready rooms, accompanied by Spear Bash, her uniform half pulled down over her head. Ahead of Ice, an earth pony Ranger, in a half-buttoned up beige shirt and with a toothbrush in her mouth, stampeded towards the same destination.

Exploding through the bulkhead into the power armory, Ice Slushee went for the 51st's ready room, shaking off the towel around her mane and tossing it at a nearby trashcan.

"Move it ladies!" Crystal Trail bellowed from her station as her squad rushed by her for their armor suits, "Suit up and on the flight deck two minutes ago, come on! This is the real deal!"

"Who's on us? Dragons!?" Hay Weave shouted as she went for her armor, beginning the process of opening the hatch on back to enter.

"CARE protocol!" Crystal Trail shouted, jumping inside her armor, the hydraulic whine of the hatch closing behind her sounding soon after.

"What the hell is that?" Shot said, his voice made analoge by the speakers on his helmet as his hatch closed too.

"Means it's the big one, dipshit! We're launching the Megaspells!" Slushee belted back, climbing inside of her armor. With a whine, the hatch shut behind her and the HUD in her helmet booted up. The station automatically lowered the battle saddle onto her back, it gripping onto the armor with a series of mechanical locks.

"What- you mean...?" Shot's voice quavered as his head turned towards her.

"Move it, ponies!" Crystal Trail bellowed, gesturing to follow with the mechanical hiss of her powered foreleg, marching out of the ready room, followed closely by her squad.

Along with a wing of flight of five fighters being scrambled as the shields went up, the 51st Recon rose to the surface on the lifting platform. A large, translucent bubble covered the ship, and was slowly being filled with orange hardlight. The roar of jet engines behind them as they cantered out of the way was all they heard before the repulsor catapults launched the fighters forward, slinging them from the edge of the flight deck and through the shield before it solidified.

Slushee looked around. The sun was up. The water was calm. The laser point-defense turrets lining the side of the ship were armed, their crystalline barrels glowing pink with charge. The shield completed charging, surrounding the world in a barrier of orange glass.

Her breath echoed inside of her helmet, the sounds of the clicks and whirrs of her respirator and the hydraulics of her suit being the only noises that got through the armor. Nopony emitted a peep. With a mental command, the optics of her helmet zoomed in on the horizon as she scanned it.

A flash.

Her chest contracted.

Another flash. Then another. Then another.

Like distant lightning strikes over the horizon.

Maybe they could've been lightning. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe it was an illusion? A test?

There was a sudden, bright flash, causing the 51st to gasp in shock. Turning around, Slushee saw a second sun rising, just off the bow of the Indy. A ball of lightning expanded, before shooting up skywards in a ball of great, angry smoke. Wind could not penetrate the barrier, but instead rippled across the ocean surrounding the ship. Ahead, the flash turned into a distant, tiny mushroom cloud.

The same flashes as the ones on the horizon, but this one was closer. What else could it have been?

If it weren't for her suit to hold her up, Slushee would have collapsed.

"Celestia... that's Skye Island..." Calm Seas breathed, lowering her binoculars as the mushroom cloud reared its head in the distance.

"Reading..." the sensors officer swallowed, hard as he looked at the hundreds of red pings on his scope, "Reading a lot of... thaumaturgical activity... fuck..."

"Tell me... tell me this is part of your mission..." Captain Anchor breathed, unable to tear his eyes away from the window, "...I'm not fucking around. If this is an illusion, or some sorta test, you'd better tell me right the fuck now."

Azure, gaze locked in the exact same direction as his, felt goosebumps travel across her coat as her head slowly spun. She reached out for a nearby chair, collapsing into it with a sputtered gasp.

"Tell me it isn't real, Azure," Anchor demanded, closing his eyes and looking away, only to open them with a wild-eyed stare towards the Admiral, "Swear it on your life!"

Azure's forehead wrinkled as she clutched an armrest, trying her best to stay upright, "Celestia. I know nothing. I- it can't be..."

"What about the numbers? The changed harmonics on the shields? Could that be doing something?" Ship Right said, looking up from his console.

"Is that your game!?" Anchor shouted, walking over to Azure and grabbing her by the coat, pulling her up to his muzzle, "Pull us all the way out here? Play some sorta fancy trick? Is this some sort of experiment, see what happens when the chain of command breaks down!? Bait the crew and officers into thinking their families are gone? Is that the game!?"

"Captain!" Calm Seas shouted, grabbing at the back of his collar.

Azure raised a hoof shoving the stallion off and into the side of a nearby tape drive as her face twisted into a scowl, "Captain Anchor!"

The Captain staggered, breathing heavily and glaring up at the Admiral.

With a snort, Azure stood shakily, trying her best not to faint as blood rushed away from her head. After a moment where the world wobbled an quavered, her heart thundering in her ears, she managed to fix her eyes on him, "Captain! I swear on my mother's grave I know as little as you do! No matter what, arguing and fighting in front of the officers and crew is going to get us nowhere!"

Looking up from his place on the floor, Anchor saw the eyes of the bridge crew, transfixed on him. They were terrified. Regret poured across his face as he raised a hoof and placed it over an eye, "...I'm... sorry... I acted irrationally, Admiral."

More flashes of light sparked on the horizon, drawing eyes back out of the window. An eerie, green glow was beginning to rise from the horizon as it seemed the storm began in earnest. Every other second, another white flash. Anchors head dropped, eyes staring blankly at the floor.

Azure looked towards the petty officer operating the console belonging to the ship's internal security system, "Mr. Bales. Tell the Rangers they are to move immediately to secure the armory from any entrants who do not possess my express permission. They are also to dispatch a unit to guard the hatches to the flight deck to prevent unauthorized access, as well as to the ship's... food stores."

"Aye aye, ma'am..." he nodded solemnly, finally turning his eyes back to the console and carrying out his task.

Anchor's head suddenly came back up again, "We should- we should contact command. Ask them what there needs to be done!"

Azure shook her head, "No... we're completely out of range of the mainland, and it's... unlikely they have the capacity to fly a mid-air refueling mission out to us our air wing. There's nothing we can do, a-and there's a chance that our radio silence is why we are not being targeted."

Raising a hoof up to his mouth, he simply muttered, "Celestia, no..."

Azure pursed her lips, "But we should... at least listen out," looking to Ridge Wave, the junior officer sitting at the radio desk, she ordered, "Tune in to any frequencies you can find. Tell me if there's anything... useful being broadcast," Azure said, trying to keep her chin high as she walked towards the intraphone on the wall. She began to dial in to different departments, informing those in charge to come in for a meeting.

"Aye, aye," Ridge Wave swallowed, turning up the volume on her headset and twisting a knob on her console.

"This is the Ministry of Arcane Science Emergency Broadcasting System. Balefire strikes have been confirmed. If you have a fallout shelter or a place in a Stable, please evacuate immediately. Otherwise, shelter in place, and do not leave your home until the all clear has been given, repeat-"

"-Evacuation orders from the government have been confirmed. If you are registered with us, please go to your assigned Stable posthaste. Please do not attempt to enter a Stable that you are not assigned to! Do not travel to a Stable if you have no reservation-"

"Celestia help us all..."

"Game over, mare! Game over!" Shot Stack shouted, forehoof clutching the top of his helmet, "The fuck are we gonna do now!?"

"Sarge! We gotta go back! I got kids in Cloudsdale! We can make the trip on one energy cell!" Sugar Beach shouted, a steel plated hoof jabbed out over the railing.

"That's suicide and you know it, private!" Crystal Trail stamped a hoof.

"Well what if it's not!?" Sugar screamed, "Fuck's sake we can't just sit around and do nothing!"

Lead Syringe stared out to the horizon, "W-What if it's some sort of trick?" his voice quavered for the first time in front of his comrades, "What if it's a mass illusion, and they're just trying to psych us out?"

"Oh yeah! Great trick!" Shot Stack moaned, falling onto his flank with a loud clank, "Make us think we're being attacked so we'll fucking blast them first!"

"I've had bad dreams like this before. I know it's a bad dream, I can wake up now..." Radio Whistle whispered to himself, sitting on the floor, facing away from the blasts and rocking back and forth slowly, "I CAN WAKE UP NOW!" he repeated at the top of his voice.

Ice Slushee felt glued to the spot. Her hooves tingled and her stomach twisted constantly. She felt bile rise in her throat, and she reached up to her faceplate, undoing the locks and ripping her helmet off just in time to hurl her breakfast onto the flight deck rather than into her respirator. Panting heavily, she squeezed her eyes shut and looked away from the horizon.

All around her, the flight deck crew had abandoned their duties, standing by the railings to gawk, just like the rest of them. Though her world spun, Slushee watched as one of the crew members grabbed a bag of tools sitting by the railing.

Then, in one swift motion, the earth pony climbed up and over, disappearing over the sides as his colleagues to his left and right grabbed at him in vain.

Slushee surged, running to the side and jumping over as well, spreading her wings. Even with her helmet disconnected, the suit was designed to continue operating and boosting her flight magic enough to keep aloft despite the weight. She saw a splash in the water below, and immediately flew for it. She pulled up a few feet above the tips of the waves, not wanting to actually submerge in her extremely not-buoyant power armor. Below, all she saw was a shadow disappearing into the abyss. He had not tried to stay surfaced, there was not even a struggle, if he had stayed conscious after contact with the water tension at all.

Ten more flashes appeared on the horizon. A wave splashed at her hind hooves. She puked again.

"At oh-nine-twenty hours, we received an encrypted message from command. At oh-nine-twenty-two, we finished the decryption of said command, which informed us that balefire devices were active in Equestria, and that indiscriminate megaspell deployment was authorized."

"The Indefatigable was not in range of any strategic targets to deploy its twin tactical megaspell devices. By oh-nine-twenty-eight, we spotted the first detonation on the horizon. Additionally, our sensors picked up a high amount of necro-thaumic activity at the same time as these detonations were spotted. As visible light and this wavelength of necrotic magic travel at similar speeds, we have every reason to believe that these detonations were balefire bombs."

"At this point, we have counted over a hundred detonations. We believe we have picked up patterns that may match Equestrian megaspell launches as well, however the Zebrican continent is out of both our visual and sensor range so we cannot confirm the status of the Zebra Empire at this time. We received some radio traffic, from MASEBS and Stable-Tec, most military channels were garbled and indecipherable."

Azure Bluette looked up from the page, towards the officers arrayed on seats in front of her. At the back of the room, four video screens were tuned in to the faces of the captains of the four escort ships.

A fluorescent light buzzed above. White paint covered the walls, where closed doors blocked off the briefing room from the rest of the ship. Wooden chairs were lined up in rows ahead of Azure's position, where somber faces and pale cheeks stared back at her. A fan hummed, pushing cool air through the compartment.

"There is currently no damage to the ship, neither have our shields absorbed any energy. Why don't we hear from Captain Anchor about the measures instituted aboard the Indefatigable?"

Captain Anchor nodded, adjusting his cap and standing, "We have remained at general quarters since receiving the transmissions. Our Ranger Marines have been guarding key areas aboard the ship, such as the food storage, armory, and the flight deck. From what we can tell, morale is at an all time low. We have had multiple suicides, mostly those on deck jumping overboard, but two others below deck as well."

The captains of the other ships took their turns next. There were many of the same problems aboard their vessels, with similar lockdown measures, and they were on watch for any signs of radioactive particulate. So far, none had been detected.

"Ship Right? How long can we keep the shields online?" Azure asked as the escorts finished their own briefings.

"Endurance tests brought major instability by around sixteen hours, followed by the projector burning out. I wouldn't risk it nearly as long, as we just finished repairing it. Unless we want to burn it out again and be vulnerable, about twelve hours," she said, head bare and cap sitting on her lap.

"We have done calculations to see if our escorts could safely fit underneath the Indefatigable's shield," Azure intoned, looking up at the video screens at the back of the room, "However, we believe the margin of error would be too low to avoid collision with the Indie or with the outside of the shield. Instead, I am ordering the escorts to spread out to a range of fifty miles from the carrier. While this increases the risk of submarine incursion, the most likely target for a balefire strike at this point is the Indefatigable, which is able to protect itself from a direct hit. We will reform in a standard formation once we can be sure that no more detonations are occurring."

Captain Stride spoke up, "Who do we think won the fight?" he asked through the speaker.

Azure looked over to a pony in a with a white labcoat wrapped over his blue uniform, "Dr. Atom Bash, the specialist in charge of the Indefatigable's reactors, is the most knowledgeable about the... repercussions of these attacks."

As eyes settled on him, a snow-white stallion with a labcoat wrapped over his junior officer's uniform, he sighed, "Well. The amount of heat released by the detonation of megaspells and balefire bombs would light fires and kick up a ton of smog into the atmosphere. This smog would be called 'fallout', which will be both highly radioactive and dense. Wind will carry the fallout across the globe, where it will condense and form clouds. Ironically, the clouds will decrease the amount of sunlight to reach the ground and cause temperatures to drop..."

Atom Bash sighed, "The theorized event would be called Necro-Thaumic Winter. Radioactive ash and snow will rain from the sky, there's a chance of an ice age, or at least an extremely long cold snap that will last for decades, at the very least. Sea levels will likely rise significantly for a while, as ice is melted by the bombs, before retreating significantly as the cold freezes it again. We can expect very rough weather in general."

"So we're safest in the middle of the Luna Sea?" Captain Sea Leg asked.

"Yes... we were... very lucky to be at this position. This is likely the only place on this planet where we would be spared from balefire strike," Atom pursed his lips, "Regardless. While it is clear weather right now, that will soon change. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps the next day. But it will change. The hull should insulate us from any radioactive particulates, and our air should be filtered to prevent harmful dust from entering our ventilation systems."

"What about our oxygen generator? Isn't this what it's for?" Calm Seas spoke up.

Ship Right shook her head, "It's not designed for endurance. It's designed to prevent mass casualties from a chemical attack for long enough to get out of danger. I can only depend on it lasting for a few days at most. We're not looking at just a few days, according to Dr. Bash. I can rig up some sort of filtration system on the air intakes with the help of the specialists. We should have at least one pony in each section with a PipBuck on to monitor rad levels, just in case."

Brass Bugle, leaning on the armrest of her chair with a hoof to her cheek, gave a derisive snort, "Not lookin' at a few days in this apocalypse. Gon' be a few years, decades until it's safe to even go outside. How much food we got, anyway?"

Bright Bean, sitting at the back with a stack of papers on her lap, sighed, "We resupplied to standard duty levels two days ago. Those stores are meant to last for around ninety days."

"We shall institute closer rationing then," Azure pursed her lips, "Post guards to supervise the cooks. Ensure ponies eat no more than their fair share. No reducing of rations yet, I don't think our morale would survive that measure at this point. We just have to make sure nopony overeats as a response to the stress."

The Captains on the video screens nodded, looking downwards to scratch away at their notepads.

Azure licked her lips, "And... on Nightmare Night, we should serve the party treats as usual. We are in peacetime now, after all."

Bright Bean let out a slightly amused snort, but otherwise the room remained silent.

"Commander Lightning Bringer?" Azure said, looking towards the pegasus in the MoA uniform, "As our head of Operations, what is your opinion on how long we need to keep our shields up before the threat of attack diminishes?"

Lightning Bringer frowned, "There's going to be no time that we're completely safe. There's always the chance of a holdout somewhere with balefire strike capability finding us and launching. On my own advice, I say we wait until we stop observing detonations on the mainland before dropping the shield. We can keep our scout plane up, to look for any incoming bogeys. Their sensor range should give us the warning necessary to raise our shields in time."

Azure nodded, "We will wait until we either stop observing detonations or until the shield projector reaches a concerning heat level. When we lower the shields, we will call off General Quarters and recall the fighters. The only patrols will be the scout aircraft, in order to preserve our fuel reserves."

More nods from the officers and commanders.

The admiral reached up and adjusted her tie, swallowing another lump in her throat as she raised her chin, "Ladies and gentlecolts, officers of the 28th Squadron, we face a nigh-insurmountable challenge. One that we must tackle alone, one that may seem completely impossible from our current position, deprived of information and direction. We must not focus on the big picture at this point in time, not until our specialists can gain more insight into the situation.

"Instead, we must tackle each challenge as they come. Our greatest challenge at this point in time is morale, both among the crew and..." a pause as her head bowed, retreating from its noble stance, "...Ourselves."

Captain Anchor frowned, his eyes averting towards the ground. Officers looked at each other. Lips drew into lines. Some heads nodded, most simply dipped.

"We all had family back home. Family we may never see again. We have lost our country, which I know we all patriotically and loyally served until its end. It will be a long time until we can come to terms with that, I believe. All of us will grieve, all of us will weep, all of us will feel weak."

Azure raised her head again, widening her stance and stiffening up into a militaristic posture once more, "Yet, our duty still continues. The enlisted pony will look to their superiors during these times. As their betters, if we show weakness - they too will be weak. If we flinch, they will flinch. If we fear, they will fear. If we give up, so will they. We must keep our grief to our cabins, and stand as one side by side on the quarterdeck. As it has always been, when the order to jump is given, we shall jump, when the order to fight is given, we shall fight. Today, we stand untouched, at full combat readiness, and with the option of victory. The moment the crew of this fleet give up, that is the moment of defeat!

"Though we may be on the far side of the world and Equestria may lay in ashes, we still carry Her spirit within us, her values, her victory. This fleet is Equestria. We are her statesponies. We are her ministries. She carries on to the end of this war in victory as long as her colors billow behind us. Let it never be said that Equestria went quietly into this darkest night!"

Azure raised a hoof into the air, "Three cheers! Hip hip!"

"Huzzah!" the officers echoed.

"Hip hip!" Azure repeated.

"Huzzah!"

"Hip hip!"

"HUZZAH!"