The trip was supposed to be simple: a few weeks sailing to deliver family spices to a new buyer, a quick vacation, and back to the plantation. One mysterious, and coveted, box turned Cold Snap's chance to prove himself into a desperate struggle to survive on the wild seas at the mercy of a captain that sailors feared to whisper of, if they even believed he existed.
Others want that box, and the only thing keeping Snap and his friend alive is a ship so unnatural it had to be created by demons. Everything he thought he knew about the world's past is shattered in a game of cat and mouse to see who cracks the box's mystery first.
Unable to back out, and finding himself not eager to do so anyway, Snap throws his lot in with the peculiar Captain Gideon, who harbors more than a few secrets about his ship and himself.
Just a couple paragraphs and I'm already hooked.
A beast of iron. One who dreads nought that which the sea or sailor alike can bring to bare upon her...
Very well, you have my attention.
This leaves me with but one question... do you see torpedo boats?
Hmmm, the picture that you used... It's the Borodino-class Pre-Drednought Battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy.
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Huh. Didn't know that. For some reason, I assumed it was of Roosevelt's Great White Fleet ships.
This gets better with every chapter, and it was already good
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More important question, did we manage to lose the Kamchatka?
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Do you see torpedo boats?
A valid point.
Also, I fully know it's wordplay...but I gotta be pedantic still and point out that "carpet diem" would literally translate to "carpet day." Which, amusingly, still seems to fit, so how about that.
A mystery indeed, though darn if I have any good theories for it currently.
I mean...you're admittedly not wrong.
Is the only reason why this has a human tag cuz of the 1800s ship?
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?? what??
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I'm gonna assume it has something to do with the Bermuda triangle. They found a human ship in the area and now are searching for other human artifacts.
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Does this fic, only have the human tag because the characters within have access to a ship made by humans?
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ah
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Currently, I'm assuming that answering that question now would spoil a key element of the story...but I'm not its writer.
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I'm assuming some or all of the Rose's command/engine crew are isekai'd humans, but that's admittedly just that: an assumption.
I don't see descriptions of humans?
So I take it Captain Gideon is a pirate ghost?
I see the cover art and am intrigued. What ship is it?
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I'm told by those more knowledgeable than I that it is an Imperial Russian Borodino-class Pre-Dreadnought. I just thought it looked cool.
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Hmm, as a naval history enthusiast, I'll have to investigate.
The mystery continues to deepen. It doesn't help that one does feel like the answers are right there in front of you, but because we're seeing them through Cold Snap's eyes, who's not knowledgeable enough to recognize everything he sees on this ship for what it is, those answers remain just out of grasp.
You're a true writer then.
I really need to comment more often on the story than these author notes, because the story's seriously great too and it needs the attention...but darn it, you also make these author notes so much fun on top of it all.
... the accent is pretty accurate, all things considered.
Particularly as, if the chapter title suggests anything, it's not going to be a very good crash course.
Aaaaaaaand that's where THAT particular tag fits into all of this.
Well, no more than usual.
Why didn't you respond to my comment?
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All will be revealed in time, young grasshopper.
I do wonder how he had a rather large island? That will be interesting to explore later
I know Cold Snap doesn't know better...but I'm having to hold back the little grammarian in me that wants to correct that little bit of unknowing bad grammar.
Well, they got that part right.
Not unless someone in their world discovers the novelty that is air superiority, but that's another topic.
I don't know if it was the intended inspiration, but I immediately thought of this historical picture, the battle between the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/The_Monitor_and_Merrimac.jpg/800px-The_Monitor_and_Merrimac.jpg
Bloody amazing. Also, I hope this project isn’t being too stressful for you. Make sure to take care of yourself! Hope you’re having a great day.
It does, actually. It doesn't help that Gideon has this Captain Nemo kind of vibe to him, and Nemo most certainly had an underlying motive and agenda to doing what he did with his own creations, so...
Indeed.
"The flames consumed nothing, yet were everywhere."
Sounds like a metaphor for radiation, but why would a simple plantation-pony dream of something he's never heard of?
This actually happened in human history, the Roman empire discovered steam power, but did not pursue it because they had slaves that did everything steam power did.
You know, pocketwatches do canonically exist in Equestria (for that matter so do wristwatches, but they're less common), so Snap should know full well what that is.
Wuh-oh.
It depends entirely on the personal style of the writer in question, as some have more use for them as a means of refining their writing. It can also depend on how you define "draft"--technically speaking, writing it out then going back and correcting any missed errors can be termed as a "second" draft, as it's arguably not the same as the initial "draft" you originally wrote.
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Well, in fairness too, the Roman Empire's steam power was still very infant and unrefined, and thus limited in capability. Their empire fell before they had the chance to really advance any further beyond that and the political turmoil that followed ensured such advancement didn't continue until much later.
Had the Roman Empire not fallen when it did, it may have embraced steam power eventually, changing the playing field centuries earlier than it did.
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True. Though this story is supposed to be set prior to the Equestrian Diarchy. It is feasible for pocketwatches to be an aristocratic rarity. Also, its hinted, though never quite said, that Snap comes from a region that is slightly backwards from Equestria proper. Not unbelievable that he doesn't recognize it. Of course, this is a blatant cover up of me missing details.
So Snap accidentally bound himself to a..... phylactery? matrix upload beacon? Claymore Roomba control unit? Nu-age health fad crystal that somehow actually does something?
And whatever it is, it's inducing dreams of apocalypse while pulsing in time with his heart. Clearly this can only end unambiguously happily with all major characters alive and hearty!
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See? Now you're thinking like an author!
After all, only the best of friends would attempt to drown you with such noble intentions behind it.
Oh no! The Whorse of Babylon!
What, are they going to put the knowledge back in the fruit? This is why ponies don't care about nudity! It was planned since 2010 I tell you!
He's gotcha there!
Don’t get hung up that you were late. Take as long as you need besides, who are we to take away from your fun?
Yeah, that does kinda sum it up, doesn't it?
Really, probably the thing that's holding back Snap the most here is that both he and all other sides are too busy keeping secrets from each other, and being generally reluctant to trust each other. If he can break that trend with just one of them, though...
Got his priorities straight, I see.
Hooray, the captain's a decent sort and Lilith is a craven harlot. That's why books have covers: to judge them!
Um, yeah, about that...
Well, I could've told you that several paragraphs back, Snap. But, as you said, you're already committed now, so...we'll just have to hope it all still works out somehow.
"Oh no...."
Oh yes!
Few would consider a ship unseen, for what they cannot see plying atop the waves... merely lurks beneath them.
Ah! Plot complication! We were nearly overdue for another one of those.
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Now I'm imagining Lilith surfacing in a nuclear submarine