Battleships are Magic

by totallynotabrony


Chapter 5

Author note:
Let's try something different - a short chapter.

Manehattan
USS Wisconsin
The wooden pier groaned under the force of the ship mildly bumping into it. As long as the waves didn’t do anything strange, it would probably hold. Twilight Sparkle had informed Mittal that the tides in Equestria were very predictable.
Ponies of all kinds had come down to the water to have a look at the ship. It was quite an attraction. There were tall buildings in Manehattan, even some that could be classified as skyscrapers, but Wisconsin dwarfed them all.
The resemblance to Manhattan was unsettling. Combined with the inexplicably English-speaking animals and other details Mittal had noticed, it was beginning to seem like they had arrived in some bizarre version of Earth, rather than a different planet.
Maybe he could ask Twilight about it later. For the moment, there was too much to do in preparation to leave.
Field Marshall Sparkle came aboard with the ponies she had picked for her staff. Most of them were members of the Equestrian military. The colorful ponies that were with her before were not present. Mittal asked about them.
“The six of us are the Elements of Harmony,” she told him, briefly explaining the purpose of the Elements. “We’re all really great friends, but we had a long talk and decided that Harmony is not something that would really help us with the necessary chaos of war.”
“Where did they go?”
“Applejack and Rarity are with the supply group, in food and clothing respectively. Pinky is in the planning and logistics division. Fluttershy is helping with the hospital. Rainbow joined the Sky Corps.”
Ponies seemed to be naturally good at organization. Their cutie marks, the symbols that every pony received, easily told them what they were good at. With each pony doing a job they were suited to, things seemed to run more smoothly than humanity could manage.
Mittal had heard a few stallions refer to their marks as “stud stamps.” He couldn’t blame them. If he had a tattoo on his posterior, he wouldn’t call it a cutie mark either.
Joining Twilight were Zecora, and a small purple dragon that Twilight introduced as Spike, her assistant. Prior to the introduction, Mittal had assumed that all dragons were bad news. It seemed like heritage was not discriminated against in Equestria.
The Manehattan harbor began to fill up with vessels of all kinds. Ponies had no need for fish, so they seemed to be different types of boats than a human port would have. Many were repurposed civilian craft that had been volunteered for the cause.
Everything came together much more quickly than Mittal would have thought. Things ran on a smaller scale than in the human world, and events were able to happen faster.
Wisconsin was tied to the pier for two days. In that time, masses of pony volunteers arrived. Mittal was wary of sending untrained civilians, but Twilight informed him that “volunteer” was the Equestrian equivalent of army reserves. Perhaps not quite as effective as a standing army, but able to respond on short notice.
Joining the ponies were crowds of buffalo, sheep, donkeys, and just about every other creature Mittal had ever seen before. Twilight showed her prowess at logistics by arranging transportation, food, and supplies for them all. It looked to be no easy task.
The night before scheduled departure, Mittal took a walk along the waterfront. He’d been to New York City before, and his eyes kept picking out similarities between it and Manehattan. Maybe his parallel universe theory wasn’t so crazy after all. Were the dragons some kind of equivalent to Saddam Hussein’s regime? There was a scary idea. Mittal decided to think about other things.
Alcohol did not seem to exist in any large quantity in Equestria. Some of the sailors probably would have figured out a way to smuggle it aboard if it did. He understood the need to relax occasionally, but going into battle buzzed was not a great idea.
Mittal glanced at the stars. Despite being in a city, there wasn’t much light pollution. He didn’t immediately recognize any constellations, although there were three collinear stars that rather resembled Orion’s Belt. Perhaps the clear skies made more stars than usual visible, crowding the night sky and obscuring the familiar constellations. And what was to say the ship hadn’t also been transported across a distance, ending up somewhere else on the planet that had a view of the sky from a different angle? Speaking of-
Mittal shook his head. It was all right to speculate, but he had no facts to back any of those ideas. He decided to go back and get some sleep. The next day was going to be long.
Rising before the sun, Mittal ran one more check to make sure every sailor and every piece of equipment was ready. He consulted the supply department about their provisions.
Under standard rations, there was enough food left onboard for perhaps a week. Mittal was thankful that the supply officer had been keeping careful records. Wisconsin would normally have a stores ship in the battle group to resupply from, and running out of something would be no big deal. Mittal discreetly asked the galley staff to cut back slightly and make the raw ingredients they had stretch as far as possible. The ponies were happy to supply fresh fruit and vegetables to replenish their stocks, which helped quite a bit.
Fuel was another limited commodity, although that wouldn’t become a problem for a few weeks. Battleships carried not only their own fuel, but often refueled the destroyers in the battle group. There was quite a lot in reserve.
By midmorning, all the smaller boats had put to sea to give the battleship room to maneuver in the harbor. Mittal had learned that the Equestrian Sea was actually more of a strait than an ocean. Relatively speaking, it wouldn’t take very long to cross.
As Wisconsin pulled away, the crowd that had come to see them off cheered.