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// Ship Girl Collection 04 
// Story: The Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer 
// by ratedoni 
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“Is this a boiler?”

“Maybe it is a time chamber,” at those words, the redhead arched an eyebrow in a perfect imitation of her XO’s characteristic reaction. It was mostly done around Rarity or Pinkie Pie, although there were times when instead of sarcastically shooting down Rainbow’s idiosyncrasies, the blonde girl preferred the more subtle way. Now, after being the recipient of such look from such a snarking master as Sunset, she understood how embarrassing it could be “Ah mean, Big Mac likes Dragon Ball and all that, ya know?”

“Well, considering where we are living now, I cannot say much in terms of entertainment.”

“Tell me about it, even though Ah still don’t understand thay'r humor,” the last few days for both teenagers had been quite a shock; first, because they were able to understand everything that was being talked in television. Second of all, was that they got excellent reception in the office and a television that appeared out of thin air; apparently, the fairies had found time to create several appliances, but made them look like retro technology, so now AJ and Sunset had a television with quality, but with the look of the 40’s.

“I’m pretty sure THEY can’t understand the humor either,” Admiral Sunset said pointing at the two ship girls that accompanied the officers into their first trip to the completed hangar. Akashi was helping transport some crates alongside the fairies while Ooyodo was checking a clipboard and several notes on it.

“Considering we are all from a different era, I think that will be normal; sadly we have strayed for our true reason for being here, right Admiral,” putting her hand behind her head, Sunset simply chuckled at what her assistant said.

“Yeah, you are right, so, Erai-san, what’s this whole thing then?” the small human-like creature was obviously proud of what she and the other fairies had accomplished. All around the hangar, there were groups of fairies transporting or installing something; most of it was already on the report that they had done for the admiral, but the apparatus in which they were in front of was the their greatest achievement.

“We fairies are connected in spirit to the old ships, those that fought back in the days of madness; you’ve already heard about the idea of spirits, of objects gaining life after years of use or strong memories attached to them. That’s the reason why the abyssal fleet gained power and form,” the dark haired fairy said with her hands inside the pockets of her lab coat as she explained more about the situation “but just like the fleet are the souls and ideas of a ship, we fairies have a different power that allows us to have a physical form.”

“You are the crew of the ships,” a solemn looking Sunset said, making AJ’s blood turn cold; as all answer to these words, the fairy boss nodded slightly.

“That’s right, but we are not a specific person, only ideas and slight imprints of what the jobs were and experience gained through the war. None of us are a real human being, we are just magic and spiritual beings that were born out of those feelings and experiences, that’s why we have no real regrets or desires out of those battles, nor any nationality or loyalty, except to seeing the sea free of the darkness that the Abyssal Fleet represent,” there was no sadness, nor longing for a life that was lost, simply a will of steel and the same purpose behind the existence of fairies.

“Wow, let me get this here straight, y'all are helpin' us because y'all were born ta do so?” Applejack’s face was as shocked as Sunset at hearing those words coming from the small creature standing there as if what she had said was something completely normal, although apparently it was something like that to them.

“Exactly; as fairies born out of the thoughts and feelings of crew members of ships, we are deeply connected to the ones you know as ship girls; is this connection that allow us to manipulate their weapons, equipment and most importantly, their repair and construction. We are like you Admiral Shimmer; it is our connection with both worlds that allow us to find and summon other spirits like the ones of Ooyodo and Akashi; help them find their way from the deepest part of the sea into the light,” Erai declared while pointing at the massive boiler like construction that the fairies had assembled.

“So, how does it work exactly?”

“Is rather simple Admiral; we gather enough materials that serve as a sort of exchange. Think of it as materials that were used for the creation or part of a ship; steel, ammunition, oil and bauxite.”

“Bauxite? Wait, are you saying you need aluminum to create a new ship?” at these words, finally understand what bauxite meant, was the only thing AJ needed to understand the reason behind the material.

“Because planes used in World War 2 were made with aluminum, but wouldn’t that be used to summon carriers?”

“That’s correct, but using different amounts of materials can create a stronger reaction with different souls, almost like using fish bait that can call for specific fishes.”

“I never thought I’ll be hearing about spirit summoning as if it were a normal hobby,” Sunset said in response of Erai’s words.

“It may sound like that, but everything heavy or dangerous is already done by us, you only have to give the signal and we will do the rest for you, although, praying a bit beforehand could work too,” Erai said joking a little bit before Sunset nodded and pulled a lever at her side. Immediately, the machine hummed, signaling it was active, rumbling and with a show of light that was quite pretty. Soon, the machine stopped and it opened it up, showing a figure that looked directly at Sunset.

Standing up right, Sunset noticed that the girl looked a little older than the other destroyers, just big enough that made her look almost the same age as AJ and the redhead. She had long brown hair and she was wearing an orange and brown dress with long brown gloves. She looked shyly at Sunset but her salute was crisp and almost second nature.

“Um… I’m the Light Cruiser Jintsuu. So, I would appreciate your favor…” Sunset looked at the girl completely bewildered at what had happened. Not only the girl was obviously also the spirit of a ship like the rest of the girls under her command, but she was a cruiser and fairly respectful by the looks of it.

“Well, would you look at that, you summoned a Light Cruiser, that will be good for the fleet Admiral,” Akashi said as Jintsuu began to talk with Ooyodo about her duties in the fleet, but just as Sunset was beginning to get out of her stupor, something strange happened.

The geode of empathy, the strange magical rock that Sunset had gained back at Everfree began to shine; for a moment, it was as if someone was calling Sunset, a voice far away, but familiar in its warm, then, the magic inside Sunset reacted and began to feed the machine as the fairies and ship girls stood gawking at the phenomenon. In a matter of seconds, the machine’s doors burst open and a figure launched itself into Sunset and only two words could be heard all around the base.

“BURNIIIIIING LOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVEEEEE!”