//------------------------------// // Things From The Past // Story: The Red Sun Rises: Voyages // by The Atlantean //------------------------------// Princess Celestia was in the middle of a conversation with Crimson Dawn, Twilight Sparkle, and Cadence when Admiral Robinson sounded General Quarters. Alarms rang out as sailors scrambled to seal off areas of the carrier in case of flooding. “Well, I’d better get to the bridge. Something’s wrong,” she said. “Alright.” Crimson said. “Good luck, everyone.” When the spell ended, the princess teleported to the bridge. Her eyes darted around, looking for the admiral. She didn’t have to look for long, seeing him near the tactical displays. “Admiral, what’s going on? General Quarters sounded.” He turned to face her. “Our submarine, USS Omaha, has detected a submerged contact off our port bow. She is in the process of identifying the contact, and until we know who it is, it’s considered a possible enemy.” Celestia nodded. That made quite a lot of sense. “Sir, Omaha has identified contact. It’s - it’s USS Scorpion!” “What? Scorpion was sunk in May ‘68, investigation inconclusive. That can’t be it!” “Should I order contact to surface?” asked the officer. “Yeah, sure.” Robinson looked at Celestia. “None of this makes sense. I’m pretty sure that our fleet had the only ships affected.” She shrugged in reply, which just looked really weird because she was an alicorn. “USS Scorpion, this is USS Ronald Reagan. Request that you surface for clarification on your identity.” After a few minutes, a nuclear-powered submarine pushed the water away and poked above the small waves. Her black conning tower had the number 589 painted on the side, and the hull was clearly shaped like a teardrop. Five minutes after surfacing, she started transmitting in Morse code. “I can’t believe it! Scorpion’s wreckage is clearly seen at the bottom of the Atlantic! How is this possible?” Robinson cried. Celestia spoke up. “I may have an explanation. Since a rift already appeared in space because of my sister’s death, maybe your coming to Equestria somehow opened it farther and broke time. Possibly part of reality as well. That means the only way to fix it is to revive Luna and send your fleet home.” “You saw the problem, Princess. A nuclear submarine that sunk, with photographs of its wreckage on the seafloor, is right next to us. That’s no mere rift. It’s more along the lines of a temporal anomaly that affects spatial reality as well. I’m no scientist, but that’s what it looks like. There may not be a way to reverse the effects.” “You have to admit it. My suggestion offers at least some hope for you to return to your families.” “It does, Princess, and that’s why I’m going to do it. What should our heading be?” Celestia was taken aback. She didn’t expect the admiral t accept her proposal as quickly as he did. “Our present course should be fine. I don’t actually know the layout of the Celestial Sea as you might think I do.” “But you know it better than anyone on this ship does, including Amber.” Turning to an officer, he said, “Someone get a music playlist going! I’d rather not bore this crew to death.” “Sir, we don’t have the means to do that.” an officer replied. “Then use the internal communications system to play it throughout the ship, and turn on a stereo of some sort so it can be heard.” “Sir, we don’t have music equipment on board.” Robinson had to accept defeat. “Fine.” They held course for a few hours, then adjusted slightly to avoid the shallow water surrounding an island. While the fleet sailed around, a helicopter flew to the island and landed on it. Robinson could not resist the chance to learn more about the ecology of this world. It took the remainder of the day to sail far enough for the island to disappear over the horizon. As Celestia hovered over the Flight Deck to switch the moon and sun, Amber watched from the Tower, where she directed aircraft. It was quite the spectacle, and Amber was disappointed that she would only be able to see it a handful of times. At the same time, she considered herself lucky, being probably the only member of the fandom who would ever experience it. Good thing she brought her phone on this shift. Darkness overwhelmed the carrier, and running lights were quickly activated on every ship. An old aircraft flew in, catching on the arresting wires and slowing to a stop in seconds. That immediately got the attention of every crewman on duty, because no plane lifted off during the day. Worse yet, it was a Russian fighter with a propeller engine. Since Reagan had stopped using radar to conserve power for as long as possible, nobody saw it coming until it was almost on top of them. By that time, it was out of fuel and gliding towards Reagan’s stern. “Officer of the deck, this is the Air Boss. An unknown propeller plane has just landed without clearance. Send a security team to the Flight Deck ASAP.” “Understood, ma’am.” The officer sent a team, and the squad of sailors soon stepped out onto the Flight Deck and headed towards the Russian plane. The pilot climbed out and started shouting in Russian, his hands in the air. He was clearly unarmed, but ready to defend himself at a moment’s notice. “Anyone here speak Russian?” asked one on the security team. “I do,” another replied. He looked at the pilot and said, “We’re not going to hurt you. Just come with us.” The terrified pilot complied and spent the night in the brig.