//------------------------------//
// The Great Regatta 
// Story: Tugs of Seaquestria 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

Navigating into and out of Hippogriffia port was a tricky business. The harbour entrance was surrounded by rocks and sandbanks, and many a careless sailor met their end by not looking carefully at their maps and charts. These rocks were once marked by a network of lighthouses, the most famous of which was manned by a chap called Salty, but these had been decommissioned and replaced by a network of lightships, which were not only cheaper to run but could also move from one danger zone to another if required.

Sunset Shimmer was one such vessel. Her loud horn and light enabled her to warn ships of oncoming danger. I had the supply and repair contract for Sunset, and we made sure to give her regular supplies of fuel and new parts, mostly spare bulbs in case she blew one.

One night, Skystar and Silverstream had just finished a delivery of parts. Shelly the fuel barge had just finished pumping kerosene into Sunset's fuel tank, whilst Sheldon had been cleared of any spare parts. "There you go!" Skystar said cheerfully. "That's another 24 hours of fuel. Now you can show us the way home!"

"I don't know what we'd do without you!" Silverstream added.

"And I don't know what I'd do without you," Sunset replied. "I imagine you two are taking part in the great Regatta, right? I never get to see that from out here."

Skystar laughed. "We could always stick a light and foghorn on Silverstream and put her here!"

"That sounds silly," Silverstream replied. "I'm in the parade too, you know!"

"Well, we'd best be getting on our way," Skystar said. "See you tomorrow!"





That evening, the fog rolled in. It was so thick you could barely see an inch in front of your face. Sunset was musing to herself about the Regatta when she suddenly heard a ship approaching.

Sunset blasted her horn several times to warn the vessel to slow down, but it either didn't hear her warnings or ignored it. Suddenly, the vessel loomed out of the fog and crashed into her, causing her to pitch to one side whilst the ship, an out of control tramp steamer, was thrown off course and crashed into the rocks, pitching to one side before slipping back into the water and sinking.

Sunset was badly damaged. Water was seeping into her hull through a hole about a foot wide, and although her compartmentalised hull was able to keep the water there for now, water had seeped into her generator room and knocked out her light. Not only that, but the water in the front bulkhead was slowly pulling her forward into the water. If she wasn't rescued soon, water would spill over into the next bulkhead, and the next, until she was dragged to a watery grave.

Suddenly, as the sun rose, a burst of bubbles signalled the arrival of Gallus the submarine.

"Gallus!" Sunset called. "Thank Faust you're here! I'm sinking and in need of urgent repairs!"

Gallus took one look at the hole and gasped. "That hole needs to be plugged," he said. "There's no chance of you being towed in that shape. That's bigger than the hole that sank the Griffonic!"

It was then Gallus had an idea. Sounding his whistle, he moved forward and plugged the hole with his front end, then discharged his ballast tanks to keep afloat as long as he could. "This... should... hold... for... now!" he said. "Keep sounding your horn! It'll alert others to our position!"





Meanwhile, at the docks, the Hippogriffia Tugs and myself were preparing for the festivities. Blueblood was keeping everybody entertained with his stories when suddenly a loud, piercing whistle echoed through the harbour.

It was easily the loudest whistle in the harbour- attached to the smallest boat! This boat had very pale cyan paint, combined with lining of alternating shades of green. This was Vapour Trail, one of the coastguard vessels, and I ran over to speak to her.

"Captain Novo!" she said. "Sunset Shimmer was badly damaged in an accident last night and is in danger of sinking! She needs help, fast! The Storm Fleet are busy elsewhere and can't help!"

"You heard her!" I called. "Sunset Shimmer needs our help, and fast! We'll have to put the festivities off for now. Mistmane, collect Cherry Jubilee!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Skystar! Collect a timber barge! If you're asked why, say it's an emergency and that Captain Novo needs it!"

"Understood, ma'am!" Skystar replied, and set off for the harbour.

She soon spotted a barge, and moved for it. But suddenly, Adagio and Aria blocked her path to it. "Nice try, Skystar," Aria sneered.

"Out of the way!" Skystar called. "This is an emergency!"

"Always seems to be an emergency whenever you get involved," Tempest snorted, as she stopped nearby.

"Sunset's sinking, and we need a barge to help with the rescue effort!" Skystar replied. "I'm taking that barge! It's an emergency and Captain Novo needs it!"

"That barge is being unloaded," Tempest said. "You so much as put one line on that thing and I'll report you to the Storm King."





Luckily, Skystar took no heed of this threat, and took the barge out to Sunset. Mistmane had arrived there several minutes earlier, and had positioned Cherry Jubilee, a massive portable crane painted cream and two tone red, ready to lift Sunset. Skystar looked at the scene in surprise. "Well, did a fish ram you?" she asked.

"Hilarious," Gallus replied.

"Hold on just a little bit longer!" Mistmane said. "We'll soon have you out."

"Listen up!" Cherry Jubilee called. "Ah'm about ta start liftin' this here ol' lightship. Skystar, get yer line attached and pull Gallus out when Ah say the word."

"Roger that!" Skystar replied, and attached her line.

Mistmane sounded her whistle to alert the others they were ready to lift. "Right then, one, two, three, lift!"

With a roar and a snort of steam, Cherry's boiler and gears thundered into life, lifting Sunset up and out of the water. "Pull!"

Skystar and Gallus set their engines to full reverse, the former blowing steam everywhere. "Gallus, you're very, very stuck!"

"Gee, I wonder why that could be," Gallus said, sarcastically.

"Put more power into it!" Mistmane called. "You can get him out!"'

At long last, they had Gallus free. But the situation was far from over.

"My my!" Cherry exclaimed. "This does look bad. Sunset's hull is pretty badly holed, and there's little Ah can do out here. She needs ta go to a drydock."

"Skystar, you take Cherry back to her dock," Mistmane instructed. "I'll tow Sunset to the drydock."

"You may get to see the regatta after all!" Skystar said, as the tugboats set off, Gallus following close behind.





Whilst all that was going on, Sky Beak had towed a barge to the garbage company to be loaded. But to his astonishment, the resident crane, Silver Spoon, a relatively small grey and silver thing, was sitting idle and doing nothing rather than sorting through heaps of rubbish.

"Hello!" Sky Beak greeted. "Where's the rubbish?"

"There's no garbage today," Silver Spoon replied.

"But there's a mountain of the stuff over there!" Sky Beak exclaimed.

"There's no garbage today," Silver Spoon replied, again.

"How can there be no garbage?" Sky Beak asked. "We must have garbage! I need garbage, Chrysalis here need garbage!" He indicated to a black barge painted with blue lining next to the quay. "We all need garbage! Next you'll tell me Celestia and Luna are retiring."

"There's no garbage today," Silver Spoon replied, yet again. "Some sort of festival going on."

"Is that you?" asked a voice, and a strange looking man stepped out of a shed and looked at him. His nose looked something like a shark.

"Yes, sir," Sky Beak said. "There's absolute heaps, hills, mountains of garbage over there, but none of it is in the barges."

"That's because this garbage is being used for decoration!" replied the shark faced man. "Silver Spoon will fill several barges with garbage and these will become floats in the regatta."

Silver Spoon's winch started up, and she moved her arm and bucket in over the garbage piles. "This will take a while, so I'd suggest putting your cutoff in neutral," she said.

"This day keeps getting stranger," Sky Beak sighed. "Then again, it is festival day."





Meanwhile, Skystar and Mistmane had succesfully towed Sunset to the repair yard to be fixed. "Cheerio!" Skystar called. "I need to help Big Mac now, but I'll make sure to come back later!"

Sunset laughed. "See you later! Perhaps I will see the regatta after all."

"You probably will," Mistmane replied. "The engineers said the damage is a lot less serious than they thought, and they'll have you back in the water by teatime."

"That sounds good," Sunset said. "But I'm in no rush to get back out to sea."

"Sadly, it's not for you to decide," Mistmane said sternly. "You're far too important to navigation, what with the lighthouses being out of use."

Meanwhile, Skystar was telling Big Mac all about what had happened when they were interrupted by a series of shrill whistle blasts. The tug that approached was painted purple with two tone turquoise lining.

"Look sharp!" he called, in a clipped Griffish accent. "I am General Seaspray of the Royal Equestrian Navy."

"We can't be spared right now, we're doin' essential work," Big Mac replied, rolling his eyes.

"I am looking for one of our submarines. His name is Gallus," Seaspray explained.

"Last I saw, he was at the salvage yard," Skystar told him.

"Thank you. Now I must be on my way," Seaspray started, before suddenly Gallus surfaced nearby. "Gallus! There you are!"

Seeing the look of confusion on his friend's faces, Gallus spoke up. "The navy's blowing me up today."

"WHAT?" Skystar exclaimed. "Why? You're a hero with years of life left in you!"

"I don't expect you to understand matters of the Navy, being a civilian and all," Seaspray said pompously, "but instead of rotting in a scrapyard for decades, we Naval vessels go out in a blaze of glory as targets for the battleships. Gallus here is old, and out of date, and no longer of use to us."

"But he's still of use to civilian life!" Big Mac protested. "He saved Sunset's life only just today!"

"Are you questioning me? Because if you are, I'll have you court martialled," Seaspray said coldly. "This way Gallus. Target practice at 14:00 hours."

Seaspray led Gallus away. "Don't go!" Skystar called. "Run and hide! There's no point in needlessly throwing your life away like this!"

"Orders are orders," Gallus said sadly. "There's newer subs patrolling the area, and they'd sink me if I'd try to escape."

The second the naval vessels were out of earshot, Big Mac spoke up. "Skystar, we need ta save Gallus. You go and get Mistmane, she'll know what to do. Ah'll find a barge. Ah know the navy has some big guns, but Ah'm prepared ta risk that ta save a friend."

Skystar blasted across the harbour and into the docks as Mistmane was finishing refuelling. "Mistmane! We need to move fast! The navy's going to blow Gallus up!"

"What?" Mistmane asked. "We can't let them do that. We need to act, and fast."

"And risk getting blown up?" Blueblood asked. "Everything seems to be going wrong today."

Mistmane quickly ran through the plan. Skystar sailed off to collect a timber barge, and after running into Tempest again, took the barge with her despite Tempest's threats. Elsewhere, the rest of the tugs were to form a line to sail out into the harbour. Once Skystar returned, she ordered the switcher to put white flags at either end.

Out in the harbour, Gallus had been fitted with a pair of white flags so that the battleship, the Valiant, could clearly see him. Seaspray, having towed him into position, began to back out of the danger zone. "It's been nice knowing you," he said. "The Navy thanks you for your service, Gallus."

"Glad to have served, sir," Gallus replied, as Seaspray left the area. "If the modern Navy's like him, I'll be glad to be in Davy Jones' locker."

A siren blared, announcing the start of the exercises. Mistmane looked over to see the turrets on the Valiant already starting to rotate over to Gallus' position. "NOW!" she called, as all of the tugs put their engines to full regulator, charging into the danger zone.

"Get clear, you idiots!" Gallus called. "You'll all get blown to bits!"

"I don't like this!" Blueblood exclaimed. "We're in quite a lot of danger here!"

"Keep going!" Big Mac called. "The faster we go, the sooner we're outta danger!"

"Skystar, attach a line to Gallus!" Mistmane ordered. Skystar obeyed without hesitation. "Big Mac, park the barge there, out at sea. With luck, all the Navy will see is the giant flags."

The tugs, with their work done, pulled Gallus clear despite his protests. The plan worked perfectly; the Valiant saw only the white flags and opened fire on the log barge instead, obliterating it in a single hit.





When the Tugs got home, Gallus in tow, trouble was waiting for them. Tempest Shadow saw them and sailed over. "What's going on?" she demanded.

"None of your business," Blueblood replied. "Now kindly go away."

"You lot owe us two wood barges," Tempest said. "And with so many of you in the same place at once, something fishy's going on." She moved forward and saw Gallus tied off behind Skystar. "Oh? Stealing government property, are we? The harbourmaster's going to give Novo an earful."

"That's Captain Novo to you, Tempest," Ocean Flow said quite sternly as she sailed into the harbour. "Causing trouble, are we?"

"You lot have stolen from us and from the authorities!" Tempest responded.

"Oh, really?" Ocean Flow said. "All I see there is a mockup of a submarine. I should know a real submarine from a fake one, after all."

Tempest sailed off. "You'll hear from the Navy about this!"

Ocean Flow turned around and rolled her eyes. "Sorry I'm late, darlings. I had a job up the cost that went long. May I still take part in the parade?"

"Of course you can!" said Mistmane.

"Wait," said Skystar. "You used to be in the Navy, Ocean Flow?"

"Indeed," Ocean Flow replied. "I was due to be processed for target practice too, until Captain Novo bought me and brought me here. But enough of that; let's get ready to parade!"

"There's one slight problem," Silverstream pointed out. "Where's Sky Beak?"





Sky Beak was still stuck at the garbage plant, Chrysalis the garbage barge still being loaded. At last, the final check was completed, and all was ready to go. "This looks pretty impressive!" Sky Beak said. "Though it is a bit smelly."

"I think it works splendidly," Chrysalis said. "The banners are especially nice. Now, we need to go as the parade is due to start!"

As Sky Beak sailed off, Silver Spoon brought her grabber back into the stowed position. "Now I can have a nice rest," she said. "It's not easy being a crane. Good luck, Sky Beak!"

Sky Beak got to the regatta position just in time, as the starting cannon sounded. Leading off was Blueblood, followed by Mistmane, Big Mac, and Sky Beak in rapid succession. Next came Adagio Dazzle, towing the portable light beacon, with Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk behind her, towing a float loaded with wood and fruit. Skybeak and Silverstream followed them, towing Pipsqueak and Rainbow Dash. Ocean Flow was out next, by herself.

Then Tempest Shadow entered, towing a barge containing the world famous Bridge Street Cafe Jazz Band, a wonderful sound that got the crowd up and dancing- including myself!

But the piece de resistance was yet to come. That evening, a freshly repaired and running Sunset Shimmer shone her light across the bay, and I had a new vessel in my fleet. Quite how I had been offered a submarine by the US Navy initially confused me, but I was quick to clean it up with the Tugs, and applauded them for their bravery.