//------------------------------//
// Chapter 30 
// Story: Beyond the Veil of Sleep 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

Mira stared out through the fake windows of the Diaspora, taking in the terrifying scale of what awaited them.

An Equestrian fleet floated here, though how long they'd been there was somewhat less clear. Maybe they knew what she'd been planning this entire time, and so knew where to wait. Either that, or just knowing what city she had made into her headquarters was enough to plot an ambush.

It wasn't just one Equestrian ship, though that would be bad enough. These were the vessels that brought fear to the other nations of the world, floating vessels of the line made from sturdy timber and covered in gunpowder cannons. Now those ships were all sailing straight at her.

"Can we fight so many?" she whispered to the captain. Not so loudly that she would inspire doubt in the crew—she needed these ponies to keep fighting bravely. She didn't know the first thing about naval warfare, but she knew several ships on one were not good odds.

Yi nodded slowly, not moving from his seat. "Equestria should not have sent ships into this place. Their crew are not dreamers, but ordinary ponies propelled by some unicorn's spell. Their substance is tenuous, and their minds are unprepared."

"And they've never fought against a ship like ours before," Abe added. He stood from his seat, stalking along the deck and raising his voice as the captain never did. "All crew at stations! Watch for range, ten thousand yards! Sensors, assessment on those vessels?"

"Three Equestrian Ships of the Line. Twenty guns, effective range, 200 yards. Two support craft, ten guns. Unicorns and pegasi aboard are more dangerous, but their capabilities are impossible to judge until they use them. Unicorns likely the greater threat—any adverse weather will be far more damaging to their ships than ours."

"Eleven thousand yards and closing!" somepony else shouted.

"No response to our hails!"

"Of course not, they don't have radios."

The bridge was chaos. Mira retreated from her seat, and might've fled the place completely, if it wasn't for Meridian near the back of the room. The familiar stallion waved her over to the navigation table, which had attracted relatively little attention now that the battle had started. If they weren't on the right course now, they would have to fix it when they survived.

She joined him on the other side of the table, sheltering there against the energy beyond. "Have you seen fights like this before?"

He nodded. "Long ago, when we had other enemies in the Dreaming. They're all gone now, and the realm is safe for ponies. But the dangers of other ponies remain."

That much was painfully clear to her.

"Prepare the main gun! Target their flagship. Charge to five gigafarad."

Meridian waved her away from watching the battle, and over to the table in front of him. That table was another magical device, she understood that now. On its surface, she saw the enemy ships in the distance, and their own vessel, sailing undaunted straight into their formation.

"That fleet does not belong here," Meridian whispered. "If they wanted to explore the Dreaming, that would be one thing. But fighting the ancients... they have no idea what they're doing."

A low hum filled the ship, making Mira's mane begin to stand on end. Whatever the main gun was doing, it wasn't a comfortable feeling.

"If they're that strong, how did we lose?" she asked. "Bats are a defeated race in Equestria. We're in hiding. Wherever we go, ponies make us suffer. If we had won the rebellion..."

"Firing!" Every window in the room, even the table, briefly went black. The magic returned a few seconds later, just in time for the explosion.

The lead Equestrian ship was in two pieces now, sinking into the depths. Not a single living pony remained on its deck, though that would be hard to see at this range. But how could they be alive when the wood of their ship was all burning?

The vessels beside it reeled to either side, struck by the force of the blast. But the diversion was small by comparison to the wreckage left of the first vessel.

"Target destroyed," said the weapons-pony. "Four in sight."

"Recharge to five gigafarad," Yi commanded. "Get me a firing solution to the second capital ship. I don't want those unicorns to get a chance to deploy."

Mira had never seen such destruction in the real world. Only in the lunar rebellion had such numbers fallen in a battle before. Except none of those ponies died, they just woke up. The Diaspora's crew can die for real, but our enemy can't. If they kill even one of us, it's a terrible defeat.

"The ancients are all dead, Mira. Not even at our height had we discovered the secret to recreate their artifacts. What good does it do us to dominate a field of battle that our enemy has not even entered? We triumph over nothing.”

"Causality violation on the rear vessel!" another pony shouted. "Powerful magic captain! Sensors can't even tell me what I'm looking at here."

"She's here," Yi whispered. Then he stood up and started shouting. "All batteries, prepare to fire! I want twelve STS engagements now! Sink that fleet!"

"Firing!"

"Firing!"

Mira watched the magical table before her as the Equestrian fleet got closer—then they exploded. She hadn't even seen the weapon fire this time, not like the main gun. One moment the ship under them rumbled slightly, then ships just weren't there anymore. It was a slaughter on the scale of little she had ever imagined. Worse than the last time a bat village was found, except of course that none of these ponies would actually die.

Then she saw it. A comet-trail rising from the wreckage of a ship, so bright that it hurt to look at. One of the nearby consoles exploded in a shower of sparks, flinging the bat in front of it backward to the ground.

The lights overhead surged bright, then plunged them into darkness. Every window went dark, every spell. "I think she hit us," somepony said.

"Get a medical team up here!" the captain yelled. "Marines, to the deck! Get the marines to the deck."

There was a faint crack, then a green glow filled the room in front of them. Bats pulled out little sticks like torches, and one by one they lit up. The glow was subtle, but more than enough for bat eyes.

Unlike a ship of wood and rope, the Diaspora depended on its spells. With their magic not working anymore, the bats up here could do very little. In their own way they were now at the mercy of whatever was coming. She. There could be only one she that could strike with such magical power.

"Captain, you can't go up there!" That was Abe, trying to prevent Yi from reaching the steps. "No bat could triumph against her!"

"And yet I must," he answered, waving the soldier aside. "Someone must wake the dreaming princess, or she will destroy this crew."

He vanished up the steps, leaving the room in stunned silence.

At least for a second. "You heard him! Someone get down to Deck C, mobilize the marines! Aumoe, get the auxiliary power online! Deletant see what defenses we can get running. And I want another messenger to run down to engineering! Is the void siphon still operational?"

Mira did not stop to see how the others would react—there was no time. But just as the captain felt a responsibility to protect his ship, so did Mira. She was the reason the Diaspora was even here. Captain Yi had the bravery to resist a princess, but not the magic. Yet maybe she did.

She heard other hooves moving in the stairwell as she ran, a chaotic mess impossible to guess at how many were moving or in what direction. Maybe the brave bats charged into danger, or maybe they were fleeing. But if it was really the Alicorn Mira imagined, it would not save them.

"How can she even be here?"

A little voice answered from her shoulder. Pixie emerged from her robes, clinging on with sharp claws. The pain was a small distraction compared to everything else Mira faced. "I don't think she can be! Celestia can't dreamwalk. But that doesn't mean her influence can't be here!"

Mira knew the instant the Alicorn arrived, from the sudden shockwave, making the stairs rock under her. She nearly lost her footing but braced against the wall to keep from falling. The ship crashed into the water, along with an awful groaning of metal and more breaking things. But the bats would have to worry about all that, there was nothing she could do to help.

Mira scrambled out of the stairwell, and up onto the deck to a scene of chaos. The battle had already started.

There were already marines up here, or maybe they were just faster runners. A half-dozen dead lay where they had fallen, sprawled out across the deck. Around the Diaspora, the seas raged, dark water occasionally splashing up against the vessel.

And at the center—an Alicorn, and Captain Yi. His sword was out, somehow moving on its own as though the bat were a unicorn. She had her own blade and fought him with confidence and speed.

This was no even fight—Mira watched him battered back with each step, his sword showering sparks each time it was hit. Yet she wasn't killing marines anymore, all her focus was on him.

"You have no idea what you're interfering with," the princess said, her voice low and harsh. Mira had never seen her in person before and didn't think to.

Through the water and mist and pounding rain, she could hardly see her now. There was only the damage she'd done to the ship—whole sections of deck melted away, and the dead crew who had tried to stop her. "I was happy to leave you to the dreaming world, so long as you didn't touch mine. But when you aid this bat, you put my kingdom in danger! Give her up to me!"

Yi had no horn, no visible magic. Yet he could barely speak in return—it clearly took all his concentration to avoid being skewered. With every second, he was running out of ground. This was no fight—he was only buying time. "You are... exterminating us," he gasped. "What you do in Equestria is... genocide. Slow, merciful, still."

Celestia looked up, and finally saw her. When she spoke again, it wasn't even to the captain. "The nightmare taints your efforts. Everything you touch will turn to ruin! Every life that is taken is on your head."

Her distraction seemed to make little difference with her fighting ability, because her blade came down another second later, brushing his sword aside and piercing his chest. Several ponies on the deck gasped or screamed—a few started firing their weapons again. Projectiles struck against the air around the princess, without impacting her.

Yi's body fell at her hooves. His sword clattered, then slid away along the deck. He was still alive enough to turn and look in her direction. "Protect... them." He stopped moving.

But the princess became a swirling storm, energy and light swimming together into a whirlwind. Debris and fallen ponies nearby lifted right off the metal and went flying off into the ocean. Her voice became a booming shout, filling the space around the ship. "Chosen of the moon! Corrupted by Nightmare! Come forward and speak to me! Or I will destroy the last of the ancients!"

The powerful storm became a gale, lifting her mane, whipping so much water into her face that it blinded her. For the second time in her life, the magical attention of an Alicorn was on her. She felt its rage on her, as powerful as the marines still fruitlessly firing their weapons at Celestia's barrier.

"We're dead," whispered a voice from just behind her—Kallisto, emerging from the doorway. "She's here—no pony in the Dreaming can stand against her."

"Now!" the princess demanded. "Come forth, chosen! Face me alone or watch as all these assembled die before you!"