//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Shipmare of Great Harmony // by Dwindle //------------------------------// Her return to consciousness was not as peaceful as should have been. She did not wake up cocooned in a comforter ready to start her morning though unwilling to do so because of how comfortable she was. Nor did she start the new day crammed into a just barely too small sleeping bag due to being out on one of her families hunting trips. She wasn’t even lucky enough to wake back up sprawled on the floor of her bathroom due to a particularly enjoyable party. No, instead she found herself returning to the land of the living in the unique circumstance of being under the surface of a seemingly endless body of ice cold water. About twenty feet below the surface if she had to guess, the logical part of her mind supplied milliseconds before a wave of panic overcame her. Her desire to live-to not sink- overcoming every other consideration she might of had in that moment. Swim! Swim! A chorus of voices seemed to call out from within her mind, their request being an order she was more than happy to comply with. Her back legs kicked with more force than she would have ever thought herself capable of, though considering her life was on the line that kind of made sense. Her forelegs pulled as-wait forelegs? No, no time to worry about that- moved in tandem in a rough approximation of a breast stroke, one that would have done her high school swimming coach proud. But despite her attempts to breach the surface, regardless of her overwhelming strength brought on by her panic, she didn’t seem to be moving at all. It felt like someone had chained an anchor to her rear legs-not now- and were actively pulling on it, trying to drag her down into the cold black below. Whispers echoed at the corners of her consciousness, murmurs that called her back to rest, back to the deep. They spoke, not with words but with ideas, that those above didn’t deserve her, that the sea had laid claim to her already and that it was against nature for her to return. And giving into her momentary weakness, she almost agreed with the whispers. Why was she struggling so much to go up there? Hadn’t she always enjoyed the cold? Isn’t that why she had stayed in Michigan after the rest of her family left for greener pastures? And why would she go back to those bastards anyway? They, who had sent her and her crew to die on a fruitless suicide mission that would only serve to preserve their honor, and to waste more lives. They were the ones who, in their arrogance, woke the sleeping giant. It was because of their greed that her sisters were sunk in dishonor. One having never even fired her guns, while her youngest sister was sent to her death filled with kamikaze pilots. Why return and fight for such monsters? Slowly but surly her legs, both fore and rear, began to slow. Her struggle growling less frantic with each passing second. Her eyes began to close so she could return to her slumber, but before she could something flashed across the distant surface. Her eyes cracked open, her curiosity winning out over her apathy, to behold an explosion of rainbow light just above the surface. A light that warmed the water and melted away the shadows that had been surrounding her, yet did not harm her in any way. This light sent her mind into a strange mix of confusion and serenity, her panic and contempt replaced by...by something more. She knew that she should just let herself sink back down, to return to those calm cold depths that called to her, but…but she wanted to reach that light, to feel that warmth on her hull, her flesh, her…fur? It didn’t matter, she wanted to know just what that light was, and so she would. For there was no force in this world that could deny a being such as her when she set her mind to something. With renewed strength her legs began to kick, the entirety of her 154,000-horsepower being brought to bear to accomplish her newfound goal. The dragging sensation continued for a seconds more before, with a sound similar to a multitude of chains breaking simultaneously, she was finally free from its grasp. The shadows of the deep seemed to thrash for a moment, almost like inky tendrils reaching out for her, but soon enough they too faded as the light of the shallows illuminated the sea. Had anything been around to witness the moment she broke the surface, they would have thought that something had exploded due to the massive plume of water that flew up into the air. She gasped as she struggled to fill her burning lungs with as much air as she could, the girl only just realizing how close she was to drowning. She pulled herself up, trying as hard as she could to get as far away from the cold depths she had just escaped. For a few minutes she simply rested upon the surface of the water, trying to collect her thoughts and get her breathing under control before she could even begin to consider what was going on. But as her breathing slowed and her mind cleared, she finally was forced to confront the truth, a truth more terrible than she could fathom. This truth was that she-. “Squee! Squee, squee squee squee! Squee squee squee squee squee squee squee!” A voice called out from somewhere inside her head, a voice that caused the girl to freeze in a way that had nothing to do with the chilly water that was still dripping off her body. But eventually her mind finally started working again, an explosive sigh escaping from her lips. “…Ok…ok. I’m really happy to hear that the flooding is under control and none of my bulkheads suffered anything more than superficial damage. But I have a very important question I have to ask…when exactly did I get a bulkhead or better yet, why do I have areas inside me that could flood?! And now that I'm on the subject, why exactly do I have a voice inside my head?!?!” The girl frantically asked, her voice rising by several octaves with each word that passed her lips. “…Squee squee?” The voice tentatively answered after a moment, its response only confusing the girl further. “What do you mean I have bulkheads because I’m a ship?! And that ships have to have a crew, and that you’re a member of my crew?! I’m not a ship, I’m a human! I’m-…I-I’m…” The girl tired to deny, but her words died in her throat as she realized something horrifying. She could no longer remember her human name. She could remember facts about her life, such as the fact that she was twenty years old and had lived for her whole life in the great state of Michigan. She remembered multiple instances of getting angry at one, or both, of her idiotic brothers for doing stupid stuff and forcing her to clean up their messes. She recalled all the times that her various uncles dragged her along for their hunting trips, of teaching her how to hunt, despite her not having any real interest in killing for sport. She even remembered nearly every embarrassing moment she had ever lived through! At least the ones she hadn't forced into the back of her mind... But despite all of that, she could no longer recall her name. No, there was only one name in her head, and it was most certainly not the name of a flesh and blood human from Earth. Once again, the girl sighed explosively as she fell back on her butt and tried to pinch the bridge of her nose in order to fight off the oncoming migraine that was threating to overwhelm her. but instead of feeling the pinch of flesh between her fingers, she instead was treated with the feeling of something hard striking her in a nose. A nose that was much longer than she remembered it being. It was at this point that the girl had to address the second, slightly smaller yet equally as important, elephant in the room that appeared to be related to her newfound loss of identity. The girl wearily opened her eyes to see that, instead of the nimble, effeminate, fingers that she was expecting, she was instead treated to the sight of a horse’s hoof. Or well, something that looked vaguely like a horse’s hoof, though it was quite different than any of the horse legs she had seen before in her life. While reasonably long, it wasn’t near as long as a normal horse’s leg and wasn’t nearly as thin as one either. It was covered in a steel gray fur, a fur that almost seemed to shine as if it really was made of metal and had been recently polished, instead of the dull brown that most equines would have. Adorning the hoof was a strange metallic circle, the top half of which was a slightly duller gray than the fur of the leg, while the bottom was bright red- an antifouling red, a small voice squee’d at her helpfully from the back of her head- while just underneath the strange bracelet she could make out a hoof that seemed to just merge directly into the fur, a hoof that was almost a perfect circle. Looking at the other front leg revealed a second limb covered in the same steel-colored fur and adorned in the same strange ship-themed bracelet, a fact that only reinforced the idea that was beginning to take root in her mind. The girl looked down, intending to check to see if her rear legs were just as strange, if not stranger, but before she could check she was instead treated to a sight that filled her with both pride and disgust in equal measure. Around her chest-or should she call it a barrel now considering what she was seeing? - was a very similar piece of armor to the ones on her front hooves, with the top half being colored like steel while the bottom was the same red as the others. but directly in the center of the metal armor was a flower of pure gold that practically glowed in the afternoon sun. a flower that she instinctively knew by heart. The Japanese Imperial Chrysanthemum adorned her chest. And considering the fact that she was now apparently part ship and had a very specific name rattling around in her skull, it wasn’t that hard to figure out just what ship she now was a part of. She glared at the upside-down- at least from her perspective- chrysanthemum for what felt like hours before her head fell limp, the girl staring down into the sea beneath her hooves, her mind simply unwilling to accept the new reality she now found herself in, an action that forced her to finally notice that she was in fact, floating on top of the water and bobbing up and down in the waves like some kind of strangely designer fishing bobber. “…Why? Why did this happen? What did I do to deserve this?” The girl couldn’t help but ask, the member of her crew that had been so willing to talk earlier having fallen silent. “Did I die and this is the afterlife? I mean, I can imagine hell being something like being dragged beneath the waves for all eternity. To be crushed by the pressure and surrounded by darkness on all sides. But if I was in hell, why would I become part ship and part…horse? Pony? Heck, I could very well be a donkey for all I know!” Why? WHY!” she screamed as she rose to her hooves, the ocean still holding her weight like she was some kind of weirdly shaped water strider despite how much she must weigh considering her new ship side, and glared up at the heavens. The girl half praying that some kind of angel would descend from one of the many white clouds that filled the sky and explain what was going on. But of course, her prayers went unheeded and with yet another sigh she fell back on her rear to stare down at the water below her. This time she actually did stare down at the water for hours, her mind simply refusing to process everything that had happened to her in the span of a single morning. And it was during this time that she finally got a glimpse of her face, the oceans surface acting like an imperfect mirror. Her face was covered in the same steel colored fur as the rest of her new body, which she supposed made sense since she was also part ship now apparently. Her eyes, both being far too large for a normal horse, were just as golden as the chrysanthemum that adorned her chest and were filled with unspeakable sorrow. Her hair, or more accurately her mane, was colored a deep burgundy and was situated off the side of her head in the form of an elaborate ponytail, said ponytail being covered in a large number of Cherry blossom. And now that she was watching, was her mane…flowing? It was. It almost looked like waves were passing through her mane...which was kinda unsettling if she was being completely honest with herself. But besides for the odd things her hair was doing, the girl had to admit she was a very beautiful perversion of the natural order. She her muzzle would have looked quite regal if it weren’t for the fact that she looked like someone had just crushed all her dreams, though the truth wasn’t that different. “…Ok…Ok, let’s just think about this for a moment.” The girl eventually decided as she stared up at the horizon. “People just don’t wake up one day having transformed from a human into a part ship-part horse. That just doesn’t happen naturally…which means that something unnatural has to have caused this.” The girl decided with a nod of her head, her desire to live returning in greater force with each word she uttered. “So, besides for being part ship and part animal, what else happened that could have caused this?” “Was it those whispers I heard underwater?” She continued as she looked down underneath her hooves, only to shudder and turn away from the darkness a moment later, the girl suddenly finding crystal clear water much less inviting . “No, something tells me that wasn’t the case. Besides, it seems unlikely that some nebulous shadowy entity would kidnap me from my world, turn me into a ponyship, and then trap me under the surface of an ocean not far beneath the surface. But if not the shadows, then what-!" The girl’s words died in her throat as she recalled the explosion of rainbow-colored light that had lit the water only hours ago, the same one that had seemingly given her some form of direction. THAT was most certainly something that seemed supernatural, something that might have brought her here from some unknown reason. So, was that light responsible for her current predicament? And if that was so, if she found the rainbow again…would she be able to go home? It was a long shot, even she knew that, but with nothing else to latch onto her mind was quickly made up. Her eyes narrowed in determination as she glared at nothing in particular, her boilers beginning to fire as her will to live was rekindled. “Alright then. I don’t know what you are, Rainbow. I don’t know where you went. But I swear, I will find you, and I will make you send me home.” The girls swore to herself as she drew herself to her full height. “XO!” The girl shouted out a title that came to her mind without any forethought, a diminutive, and extremely cute, horse appeared on the tip of her muzzle, the girl fighting off the instinct to go cross eyed staring at what she could only assume was a member of her crew. “Squee?” The tiny crew horse asked as it stood at attention. “Prepare to get underway, we have a rainbow to find.” She ordered, the tiny horse looking distinctly uncomfortable for a moment. “Squee squee squee squee. Squee squee?” It asked, the girl smiling sadly in response. “Of course, I understand that it would be bad luck to sail on a nameless ship. But you do not need to worry. For I have a name.” The girl supplied, the tiny horse leaning forward in anticipation. “I am Yamato, the greatest vessel ever put to sea. And as my crew I expect equal greatness from each and every one of you.” The now named Yamato announced in a dignified voice, the tiny horse saluting quickly before disappearing into a white glow, its voice now echoing inside her head as she hurried to get them underway. Within moments Yamato felt the heat from her boilers reach their maximum output, the power they provided filling her body with energy. She could feel her crew rushing about inside her, each one of 3,330 plus seahorses working to obey her order. She felt a strange weight settle upon her back, and when she turned around to look, she wasn’t surprised to see her weapons having manifested themselves upon her back like a pair of saddlebags. Two of her triple barrel, eighteen inch guns hung off of each side while the third rested right where her saddle would have been if she had been a normal animal. Their massive barrels nearly longer than Yamato herself but she could barely feel them, nor did they inhibit her movement. Her two secondary triple mounts appeared just underneath her primary armament while her multitude of anti-air batteries manifested upon the straps that held her armaments together, almost like they were some kind of fancy embroidery. And now that she was standing, she could finally see that her rear legs also bore the same anti-fouling bracelets that her front legs had, with one major exception. Each of her rear bracelets had a long red extension running up the length of her fetlock, her rudders she realized after a moment. And finally, manifesting like the crown of a warrior queen, was her conning tower, the two halves appearing on both sides of her head and giving her a far greater view of the sea that surrounded her. It wasn’t long until she heard the squee of her XO announcing that they were ready to get underway. Yamato nodded once before looking out over the horizon and picking a direction that felt right. “Very well then. I, Yamato, am now deploying!” She announced as she leapt across the nearest wave…only to force her muzzle beneath the surface when her legs knocked into each other and kept her from landing properly. “I Yamato will be getting underway…as soon as I determine just how to use these new limbs of mine.”