Captain Avatar Apple of the Yamato and his first officer Twilight Sparkle began a conference in the captain's quarters about an hour after the warp.
"What's on your mind?", the captain asked.
"It's just as well we missed Alastor anyway.", Twilight said. "We are by no means ready to take on the base which we can certainly deduce exists there."
"Afraid, my little filly?", he asked sarcastically.
"No way, Captain", she replied calmly. "We simply have niether the weapons nor armor needed to do the job."
"Sure we do.", he asserted.
"Permission to speak freely?", Twilight asked.
"Granted.", he said.
She began. "We haven't had real ships of war in Equestria or anyplace else for time out of mind. I didn't even know we ever had any. I had to go back to records in the sealed archives of Canterlot castle going back to the Second Equestrian War, which happened more than ten thousand years ago! All access there was forbidden, even to me, until our entire world became threatened, and only then. Once I read them, I instantly understood why."
"We had one sailing ship before the rocks fell, and it was yours. You bring a cargo of apples from Equestria. You bring back a cargo of powdered crystanthemum petals for the Apple clan to use as a natural pesticide. Begging the captains pardon, but I think he's doing a really good job faking it so far from having read Hornblown novels all his life in his spare time. But unless we can bring actual armanent to the field, your command will not last much longer."
"You're on thin ice, Sparkle.", the captain warned.
"Just doing my duty as Magic Officer, sir. Which needs to include a full understanding of what we as ponies are capable of. However, compared to back then, we know nothing about war. Tell me, sir, why did you ask Luna to use the foward, and by our way only, turret which was occupled by only a single Maresushita coherent digging beam meant for mining to obtain materials to repair our ship?"
"Because I thought it was a gun.", he retorted.
Twilight smiled. "I had absolutely no idea a digging beam could be used that way. In fact, I had no idea how we were going to handle the missile. We were all relying upon you at that moment, and that was your turn to rise to the occasion. The captain wins the grand prize at the fair this time!"
"Aside from that sly dig regarding my recent mast., I can't disagree.", he said.
"What goes around, sir.", Twilight nodded. "But we can't win if we're simply a one trick pony. You said it yourself, I have no choice but to get my own hands dirty. I had a small taste of that when I prepared my own brother for Operation Empress. That hardened me a bit. Maybe what you had to do to me was more than a little painful, but I think that's made me a little bit harder too. So now I'm ready to build some things, sir. Very horrible things to use against the Gallopons. Not for revenge. Not for research. Not to prove I can do it. Only so that we may live. Follow me so far, sir?"
"What do you have in mind, XO?", the captain asked.
"What back then they called weapons of mass destruction, sir, with plans I obtained from the sealed records.", she said. "Equestria during the Second Equestrian War had found a way to convert matter into pure energy, the research was called the Manehatten Project. They had used these, most unfortunately, against the Crysanthemum Empire as a last resort to force their surrender and a peace treaty with the current Emperor, who at the time was simply a colt-aged figurehead controlled by military rulers. We need to create our own missiles armed with smaller versions of these warheads, for cracking open other warships. We need to create launchers for those missiles. We need to refit this ship for those launchers, and we also need to refit the Wonderbolt suits to be able to launch at least two small ones at a go."
"Good thinking, so far. What else?", he asked.
She continued, "I examined the Maresushita mining beam in detail. I'm glad I did, after having studied the basic principles of Crystanthemum artisanship for a year. We could replace a turrent and add two on the fore side, and two aft, with three beams each. The tool appears to project a dense beam of anti-electrons by amplifying light and then using the light to pump a medium which makes the particles.. Essentially, shocking the target but with antimatter instead. Antimatter destroys any form of matter, sir, enemy armor would be useless against it. We increase the size from gun to cannon."
"Oh, a 'shock cannon' ", he said. "Catchy name, that."
"Whatever the captain wishes.", Twilight replied. "I estimate we could have a good two and a half million furlong range."
"I'll believe that when I see that.", Avatar was skeptical. "What else?"
"A modern-day weapon of mass destruction.", she sighed. "I could apply the same overall design principle of the Maresushita cutter and adapt it to the fore and aft sections of the wave motion engine's resonance cavity surrounding the message crystal. It would turn the ship into one giant cannon projecting faster than light particles. It would use up the engine's power in a single burst, and then the engine would need time to recharge. We should only use that after everything else fails."
"A 'wave motion gun'. ", the captain mused. "How long do you think everything you're mentioning would all take?"
"Normally", she said, "It would have taken about five years on Equestria's surface, if not from all the digging for minerals which would half to be done, than from the bureaucrats fighting each other and delaying the work. Fortunately, we're at a place where we have available lots of rocks smashed apart into bite sized pieces, and the power from our ship to smelt, refine, cast, and machine them. I'd estimate four months if we had to do that all by ourselves. However, we seem to be quite close to the original residence of a friend I made years ago. If I can call in a favor from him, maybe we can accomplish all this in four weeks."
He raised his eyebrows at her. "And just who would this friend be?"
"My friend's name is Discord.", Twilight Sparkle declared. "His home is right... there", she pointed with her right forehoof at a star somewhat brighter than the others. "In the ancient Roaman language, his name would have been known as 'Eris'. His home is more or less a planet in it's own right,and I would never have known had he not told me."
"Lucky for us.", Avatar said.
"Maybe.", Twilight Sparkle agreed. "But I think we need to be very polite to him."
She paused. "Oh, by the way, sir. Would you like to know why we don't have these things with us today?"
He crossed his forelegs as he informed her, "I'm all ears.".
Twilight quirked up one side of her mouth. "I doubt that, sir."
She breathed. "Anyway, because the peace treaty as a consequence of two Crysanthemum cities being completely wiped out had banned all sophisticated weaponss. All physical combat was to be performed either with the open hoof or with a sword or stick or arrow, while riding nothing more complicated than a war chariot. Any pony violating the treaty was to be instantly beheaded when caught. Equestria developed magic over the past ten thousand years to make our lives more comfortable, and The Crystanthemum empire developed artisanship while remaining absolutely devoted to pacifism. Now do you realize just by how much I am prepared to destroy all we hold sacred, because I love my family and friends so much and need to protect them from an even worse horror?"
"Aye, my little filly.", Avatar said. "I do."