Midnight watched the sun set from the deck of the cruiser. Icescape, Twilight, Applejack, and he had all departed what still stood of Manehattan three days ago. Applejack and Twilight had been put on a different ship, sensibly, if you were military brass. This left all the colts and stallions in one ship group, which was getting annoying, and fast. He couldn’t wait until they reached the Bridle Islands; not only did he miss AJ, he was feeling cooped up on this damn boat. It didn’t help that Captain Thorn was on the boat, too, though he had a different bunk room, at least.
Of course, as much as these minor issues annoyed and irritated Midnight, they didn’t really worry him that much. What he was most worried about was the threat of a naval battle. He’d heard stories of massive engagements on the passage over, and while he was sure the fleet could handle it, there was still some risk of the ship going down. They seemed safe for another day, though, he thought as he watched the sun finish dropping below the horizon. Only a little over a week left, then they’d be in the islands’ defenses. That would be reassuring, he decided, before turning and heading off to his bunk. There were always appearances of normality to keep.
Icescape grunted in pain as his head hit the metal wall of the bunk room. While he was glad to stop having freaky dreams about the wall-eyed, muffin obsessed mailmare, he rather wished whoever had awoken him had been kind enough to not slam his head into the wall. As he put together semi-coherent thoughts, his whole body hit the wall. This time he was awake enough to notice that the entire ship seemed to have tilted a little to the starboard. As he went to get out of his bunk and look for the cause of the commotion, he realized that the ponies that slept on the port side of the bunk room were crumbled on the floor. Oh, hay, Icescape told himself, this can’t be good.
Midnight noticed the ship tilting over seconds before it actually rolled to the starboard. Using his magic, he stopped himself from merely flying into the opposite wall, and then lowered himself to the ground. This is bad, he said inside his head, I didn’t expect any problems at night. Lost in his thoughts, he almost missed the second blast. He managed to stop himself from sliding just in time, proceeding to rush out the bunk room door and to the deck.
Applejack had been given night duty on the anti-air guns. It was a boring job, but important if anything should actually happen. The destroyer she was on didn’t have the new automatic magic guns, so it was up to earth ponies to ensure the ship survived. As Applejack started to daydream about her favorite things, Midnight and apple cakes, a bright light flashed in the sky about two miles to the east. She craned her neck around in shock, just quick enough to catch a second explosion rock a ship. The ship appeared to be a cruiser of some kind. Fear twisted in her gut. It couldn’t be Midnight’s ship, could it?
Captain Thorn was supposed to be asleep, but he had one of those feelings. A certain flutter in his stomach, a few short breaths, a quick up swing in his pulse. He’d had these exact same feelings twice before, and both times had turned out very bad. Which was why he was on deck, staring into the ocean. He would have bet the world that one of the ships in this column was going down, and it was probably his.
Just as he picked up his gun to check it for the third time, an explosion ripped through the side of the cruiser. A bright flash went up into the sky, a ball of fire shooting towards the heavens. Thorn was tossed backwards before he could tense up. He climbed to his hooves quickly, seemingly undamaged, despite being thrown a good twenty feet into a solid metal wall. He braced himself, knowing worse was coming, as it soon did. The second explosion left the cruiser listing fairly far starboard. This had no effect on the Captain however, as he just ran to the edge, waiting for gryphons to appear out of the night, gun at the ready. He didn’t even notice the flames splattered across the main deck.
Icescape stumbled onto the deck just in time for the main guns to start firing. A pony ran by, screaming “Torpedoes! They were torpedoes!” Icescape shook his head, looking for an officer to get an assignment from. It seemed that most of the electricity had been cut off by the blasts, but the fire illuminated whatever it didn’t destroy. The long shadows were jumping around, causing the whole seen to be somewhat disconcerting, but Icescape was focusing on more important issues. He found an officer, who only told him to go help patch up the bow.
After sprinting through the bowels of the ship, Icescape came upon engineers, already getting to work lifting heavy sheets of metal into place with magic. The fires had been extinguished in this area; small battery powered lights had been strung up to provide light. The hole in the side of the ship was surprisingly large, opening up three floors like the lid of a can. Water was rushing into the bottom floor, barely being held back by the combined force of magic and auto vents. A piece of steel slid into place on the bottom of the hole, and was quickly welded into place by the earth ponies. An engineer grabbed Icescape by the tail, pulling him aside just before a piece of metal went flying through where he had been seconds ago.
“What do you think you’re doing, son?” Gear shouted at Icescape, “I saw you back in Manehattan! I know you’re smarter than that! Now get to work, we need all the help we can get!” Gear ran off towards the hole, grabbing a welding torch as he went. Icescape numbly did as he was told, levitating a large piece of steel towards the gash. As he settled it into place, a series of bright flashes lit the sky, causing a number of small black shapes to fall into the ocean.
Thorn looked up into the sky, sighting again. He’d already taken down three gryphons that had been stupid enough to get too close, but they were still coming. Just as he prepared to shoot again, bright flashes lit up the sky, and the sound of rolling guns hit him from behind. Bodies fell to earth, some smoking and twisted. As Captain Thorn readjusted his rifle, pulses of magic started shooting into the night. A wave of black caught a large group of gryphons, dragging them down, into the drink. Midnight stepped up to the edge of the ship, preparing a new blast to unleash on the unlucky foes. “Hello, Captain,” He said through gritted teeth.
“Hello, soldier,” Thorn replied, “I see you have already gotten to work. Good job,” Thorn said, shooting yet another gryphon out of the air. He quickly sighted again, taking another enemy down. Five down, he thought, and a few hundred to go.
Applejack looked out over the ocean towards the flames, seeing them slowly go out. The top decks were still burning brightly, but she was too far away to pick anything out, except the large number of shapes descending out of the clouds, and the cruisers guns booming. She looked around towards the carriers in the group in time to see the first wave of pegasi take off into the night. Hundreds of pegasi seemed to be heading into the sky, but for every pony that launched, three gryphons descended on the cruiser. And now blasts and booms were coming from outside of the column, causing flashes to burst into the sky from the carrier and its fleet. Applejack got back behind her gun, waiting for the hell to reach her. All she could do now was hope that everypony would be OK.
Twilight had been awoken by the first few explosions, the sound ripping her from her dreams. After establishing that her ship was fine, she headed up towards the deck, and the gun emplacements. She hoped they wouldn’t be necessary, but one never knew when ships artillery would be necessary. Seeing the flashes coming from multiple directions, she knew there would be combat before the sun rose. Her suspicions were confirmed as the destroyer turned to the port.
Bluebird took off, leading his flight group, chain gun strapped to his back. He headed for the cruiser just in time to see the first blast of enemy artillery hit home on the ships. But he had no time to concentrate on that danger, as the gryphons were quickly approaching. He bit down on his guns yoke, blasting many of them out of the sky. As his flight group started dog fighting, he picked a target, chasing them in a dive, pulling up just in time to avoid hitting the sea like it was cement. His prey wasn’t quite so lucky. The gryphon slammed into the ocean, and quickly sunk. He zoomed back upwards, pursuing a new target.
Twilight adjusted her artillery piece, letting off a barrage, which slammed into an enemy carriers deck. The havoc it wreaked was intense, stopping the gryphons from being able to launch another wave towards the cruiser. Though not badly damaged, the ship turned and started to head away. It’s protective detail started to follow, still launching shells towards the Equestrian transport column. This was a tactic Twilight had noticed from the enemy fleet in general. As soon as a ship, or group of ships approached, or launched an assault, the ships attacked would lay down covering fire and retreat. It was more as if they had been trying to lower the moral of the column than cause any real damage. Twilight shook these thoughts out of her head, adjusting her gun yet again.
Icescape lifted another piece of steel into place. He was foaming at the mouth, but this last piece would secure the hold against anymore incoming water, or so the engineers believed. When the sheet of metal was welded into place, Icescape collapsed to the ground, exhausted. Another unicorn, one he didn’t know, stepped forward, taking his place. Gear trotted up, dragging him out of the way. “Good job, kid,” the earth pony said, voice flat, “You were a big help there.” Gear gave him a cuff with his hoof, then headed back to do more welding.
Bluebird sent another gryphon down with a well-timed blast from the chain gun on his back. The gryphons had really thinned out, either because they had died, or because they had fled. As another Pegasus chased one of the last gryphons away from the cruiser, Bluebird came in for a landing, exhausted from the battle. He landed next to a dark blue unicorn, who was sending small concentrated blasts of magic into the sky every once in a while. After taking off his gun, Bluebird stretched out, falling asleep.
Applejack watched as the last of the gryphon ships departed, leaving the night dark, but for the fires still burning in a few places on the cruisers deck. She hadn’t even fired a shot. All she could hope now was that everyone on the cruiser was still OK. And that the ship wouldn’t sink before they could get to harbor. She slumped down in her seat, resigned to a long night on her gun.