//------------------------------// // Unknown Waters (The Grey Pegasus) // Story: Nearing the Edge // by Eagle //------------------------------// Baltimare Harbor, Eastern Sea January 1, 1013 0400 Hours Gulls were cawing. Bells of the coastal and maritime sort were ringing. "Dammit, Tide, why the hay does it have to be us?" Captain Starry Skies was not usually an irritable mare, especially when it comes to orders. Especially when it comes to orders supposedly directly from the Princesses. Frigate captains in general were not usually irritable ponies. Whether paradoxically because it came from the Princesses or just because she hadn't had any sleep after a rare bout of fantastic drinking to celebrate the new year, it wouldn't matter, because the dark blue pegasus was going to sail out whether she liked it or not. At least she had her lieutenant to drag her to the ship. "I don't know, Star," Lieutenant Low Tide replied, rolling his eyes. "Maybe it's because we're in a strategic position on the eastern seaboard and you're the captain of the R.E.S. Constellation, the fastest and most heavily-armed frigate in the Royal Navy?" "Don't remind me," Skies groaned. The duo of officers continued walking briskly along the docks, headed for their own. The majestic ships of gracefully curved wood and woven sails were the finest in the Royal Equestrian Navy. Skies wished they'd put some steam ships to use though. After all, they had trains. Why not steam ships? Nonetheless, Equestria more than managed with their sailing ships. And the two had reached their own, barely visible in the lantern light. Painted with the hues of the deep blue sea and ocean skies was the R.E.S. Constellation, one of six of Equestria's latest frigate class. It wasn't really much of a frigate by older ratings, being considerably heavier armed than older frigates, but it wasn't a ship-of-the-line from ages ago either. It was a nice balance that allowed Equestria to sufficiently project their power with utmost haste when necessary. As the two stopped before the gangplank, Tide looked over to the mare. "Well, if you don't want me talking, here's the letter itself." The blue earth pony took an envelope from the inside of his coat and handed it over to his commanding officer. Most of her weariness from the previous hours shaken off during the walk, Skies headed up to board her ship just behind her second in command. "Captain on deck!" Tide called once she had stepped into view of the sailors. The crew saluted their captain on the call. "At ease. Return to your work." With that, Skies headed towards the captain's quarters in the rear, where she would at once begin her work begrudgingly. "Lieutenant, manage the sailors, get us on a course out." "Aye, captain." Tide separated from her and went about his task. Skies, meanwhile, closed the door behind her. Her quarters, lit by only light coming in from the row of windows at the rear, was not at all lit in the early winter morning. Lighting a lantern with her dragonfire lighter, Skies sat at her desk and read the message. To Captain Starry Skies of the R.E.S. Constellation, Although it is early in the morning and no doubt celebrations of the new year are going on, we believe that all have felt the odd occurrence this morning. While my sister, Celestia, coordinates with her student on what they might find out, I have been put in charge of actively searching for answers through everything at our disposal. Strangely, I do not feel the same connection with the moon any longer. Therefore, I will not risk observing the world through it. Alas, I can not divulge any information about our land that you may already know of, nor any information that will aid your mission. I will, however, warn you that we have felt strong magic at work. Should there be trouble or danger beyond Equestria's borders, the task has been placed upon you, as well as other ship captains, to patrol the waters that you are ordinarily assigned to. Take a small squadron of ships and sail out immediately. As you may have ascertained from the directness of this message, there being no time to pass through the petty procedures of the Admiralty, this matter is most pressing and I place my trust in all of our captains to take upon this task to the best of their capacity. To you, specifically, Captain Skies, as a commander of one of Equestria's six most important frigates, I understand the weight of the task I have placed upon you, but I shall wish the best upon you. I hope that, if anything should occur, you shall not find yourself in danger. Best of luck, Princess Luna "... Fantastic." ::::: The January air was cool, and it would be even colder once they set out. Skies stood at the helm. "Lieutenant Tide, what ships are available to join us on our patrol?" "Sister ship Equestria, 36-gun Vanhoover, and 24-gun Timberwolf. That's Equestria over there," Tide pointed to another ship, light flames appearing on deck. "Looks like they're trying to keep warm" "Let's do the same. It'll be cold, at least until the sun comes up." Unicorns flashed signals to each other, and soon, the four Equestrian ships were sailing out of Baltimare Harbor. The crews aboard all the ships were busy as they managed their boat. The sailors worked fervently as they worked the sails, managed supplies, and even just checked the cannons. No one was expecting to be sent out that particular night. Only after sailing for a bit did the sailors get a break. "Lieutenant, remind me of our ship's armament after our refit at Buckston?" "We managed to pack 52 guns onboard the last time I checked, Captain. Somepony managed to pack two 32-pounders up there." He motioned towards the bow. "Enough to give trouble a run for their money." "Mm," Skies hummed in agreement. The ship rocked in the sea, waves crashing against the sides of the boat. Wind washed across the deck. "Somehow, I don't recall the sea being this rough so close in." "Feels like we're already far out in the Eastern Sea." "How strange..." The mare paused as she thought about her mission again. "Lieutenant, this might seem a bit crazy, but... about that magic... do you think it did something to the world?" "Uh, pardon me, Captain?" Skies leaned on the wheel. "In the detailing of our mission, Princess Luna mentioned very strange magic acting throughout Equestria. How much do you think it did to the world? What strange disaster do you think awaits us?" "I'd... rather not think of it." "Imagine, if suddenly, because of some crazy magic, the world just changed around us." Tide was naturally bewildered at the suggestion, and although he didn't want to entertain the thought, he wasn't one to put off his captain's normally reasonable, good judgment. "Do you think that's the case?" The captain shrugged. "We've got a whole patrol to find out." ::::: When the sun came up, nopony expected it to suddenly get considerably warm. Not amazingly hot, but considering it was still January, it still seemed a lot warmer than it should have been. Tide noticed his captain shifting strangely as she held the helm. "Captain, something wrong?" "I've been sailing since I was a filly, Lieutenant. This isn't the Eastern Sea." The lieutenant was taken aback by such a bold statement. "Isn'?" he emphasized. "Are you sure?" "Completely." "Then... where are we?" "I don't know." Tide began looking at the ocean around him ominously, unsure of both Skies's statement and what to do next. "So... now what? Should we tell the others?" "Yes. Immediately. Inform the other ships that I don't believe we are actually sailing in the Eastern Sea. Remain on alert for anything strange." Tide did as he was told, delegating the task to a few pegasi. They flew off to the other three ships with their captain's message and returned with a mix of doubt and agreement. "Have the gun crews start drilling. I want to be prepared if we encounter anything dangerous," Skies ordered. Her lieutenant again left her to delegate the task. Meanwhile, she stood silently at the helm, thinking about her own statement. If this was not her sea, then where were they? Did they sail out of Equestria, never to return because of some strange portal? Did the world around them just change, and instead, be attacked and not return for incapability to fight back against whatever did? Perhaps the griffons across the sea were also on edge, and strange things should occur afterwards. Truth be told, if her best case scenario involved finding griffons, things were very strange indeed. Not that she had anything against griffons—one of her father's close friends was a griffon. But hoping for griffons in some ponies' eyes were incredibly unusual indeed. Not to mention hostilities between them always seemed to rise. "Captain, anything else?" Tide had returned from his task. Amidst the creaking wood of the ship and the ruffling of the sails, she could her the gun crews on the deck below preparing to begin their task. "Check our stunsails. If trouble should find us, I'd rather run." Again, Tide left her to send her message to the sailors. It was at that moment that she looked up and saw a strange shape flying far above. She thought she heard some sort of thunder-like clap as it passed by, but she wasn't sure about it between the sounds on the deck of the ship and her own nerves possibly imagining things. On the lieutenant's return, Skies immediately left the helm to him and began asking around if anyone else saw the object above. She received confirmations from her own ship, and again from crews of the other ships she flew to. Aboard the Equestria, the captains had a meeting. "What do we do?" Equestria's captain said, putting up the most obvious question for all to answer. "Unless we're all somehow hallucinating, it's headed for Equestria, and we don't know what it is or what it intends to do." "We'll send a report," Skies said. She placed her dragonfire lighter on the table between them. "Then we'll continue our mission." "What about encounters? I'm worried about the capability of our ships to handle any aggressors. I fear the case where we won't be able to," the Timberwolf's captain said. "Then we'll have to hope we can approach them diplomatically," Vanhoover's captain answered. "But in the case of that happening, which one of us would want to take upon that task?" "We could have some dice tell us." "Aye." Equestria's captain put his face in his hooves as he leaned on the table. "A fine idea, but too reckless. We need a pony fit for the job, not randomly picked from the lot." "Then the question is which of us would be the best to handle such a diplomatic meeting," Skies said. "Indeed it is, Captain. We shall discuss each of our traits now and come to a decision afterwards." For Skies, it already felt that the task was laid upon her. As a filly, she was exposed to the griffon culture through her father's friend, as well as visiting the land a few times. It wasn't much, but it was the fact of dealing with another race that meant something. During her life in the academy, she pursued the study of other cultures. As an officer in the Equestrian Royal Navy, she would doubtlessly encounter others in her work. There was also her first assignment as a lieutenant. Aboard another frigate, Pranceton, she had traveled to Saddle Arabia with Princess Celestia on board, no less. She remained aboard that ship for a while, traveling again to Saddle Arabia on numerous other occasions. Sometimes as protection for merchant shipping. And battle, whether skirmishes with another navy or pirates. She'd had a few brushes with them as well. Constellation had endured its share of combat, its strong construction proving its worth every time. And lastly, she was the only pegasus. To her, she felt that the result of who was going to be chosen was inevitable. ::::: Somewhere in the Ocean January 1, 1013 1812 Hours Messages were coming through to them through dragonfire. There were already strange reports of new beings. They were now, most assuredly, dropped into unknown waters. Skies wondered where their easterly heading would take them. "Ship sighted!" One of the lookouts had finally brought them to the moment they were all waiting for. Skies flew up herself to take a look through a telescope. What she saw jarred her. It was a metal ship, not unlike one of the newer steam ships being proposed. Except even sleeker. It did not appear to carry cargo, but instead its deck remained mostly clean, bar a single white object sticking up from its bow, a superstructure that seemed to blend with the ship, and what seemed to be smokestacks. It had a flag on a mast, and Skies could identify the colors of red, blue, and white. She presumed it was the flag of its nation of origin. Another meeting was called on Equestria. "Captain Skies, I believe it is almost time for your task," one of the captains said. "Yes, yes, I think so. We should see if the ship will respond to signal flags." "Equestria is the closest ship. I'll have it done right now." He sent for a pony to attempt communication. "We'll need to approach this with caution. Should we send along unicorn marines or leave it to pegasi?" "If hostilities should erupt, I don't know what you will encounter. Unicorns would be good, however, if you shall need to retreat, they will slow you. Unfortunately, that would leave you with the pegasi, in the interest of minimizing casualties and expediting our squadron's retreat." Skies nodded. They shouldn't get overconfident about the abilities of magic. Not in a tenuous situation as such. "Captain!" a sailor called out. The unicorn ran up to them. "Or, rather, captains, the ship seems to have responded with our greeting. We have informed them that we don't seek hostilities, and they have said the same. What shall we do next?" The three other captains looked to Skies, and she looked back at all three of them. "Never before have I felt such fear," was all she could say. She turned to the unicorn. "Have you introduced ourselves? Have they introduced themselves?" "Not yet. Shall we?" "Do so," Equestria's captain ordered. "Send, 'This is the Royal Equestrian Navy ship Equestria, 52 guns, shall we send one of our own with assurance of safety?" The four captains watched as signal flags were brought up and down, sending their message. The wait was tense. There was a pause as the other ship seemed to think over its message. They received the reply shortly. "This is the United States Navy ship Hopper. Then another pause. "... guided missile destroyer, we will receive one of your own aboard to open talks." "... What in Equestria is a guided missile destroyer?" "A warship, I presume." They turned to Skies. "It's up to you now." Understandably, she was hesitant, but it was her duty, and she flew back to Constellation to prepare to board the other ship.Tide approached her. "What should we do in your absence, Captain?" "Prepare the stunsails, just in case. Get the gun crews ready, although I don't think it would do much good. Get me some marines to accompany me." When they set off, the sun, no longer able to assume it was Celestia's, was nearing the horizon. As Skies flew closer to the ship, she could begin identifying some recognizable features, which were essentially just smokestacks and windows. There was a large '70' painted on the bow. Everything else was so alien. Even the new beings on board. They were like minotaurs, but thinner. Primates, it seemed. Yet so much more advanced then them. "Please come aboard on our stern deck," a loudspeaker instructed her, jolting her in surprise. She looked to the stern, where there was a large open area. White lines were painted on like rune lines for a spell. Skies saw that the meeting party was congregating there. Skies and her few marines hesitantly stepped down close to the edge of the stern deck. They faced their other-worldly counterparts quietly. In both groups, members were shifting glances at each other, unsure of what to think. They were all shocked to silence. The one in charge stepped up first to speak. "I'm Commander Peters of the United States Navy. On behalf of my crew, I welcome you to the U.S.S. Hopper." Skies stepped forward to reply. "I'm Captain Skies of the Royal Equestrian Navy. Thank you for receiving me." Peters knelt down and held his hand out. Skies lifted her hoof up, and the man slowly grabbed it and shook it in greeting. First contact was going over swell. Both crews, however, seemed like they wanted to break the ice first. Or glaciers, as it may have felt like. "Our race is identified as humans. What about you?" "Equines," Skies answered. "Then, within those, we have pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies." The Equestrian party received considerably more stares after that statement. Peters nodded slowly. "Are there any... other beings we should know about?" "On this route, we would normally encounter griffons, in the land to the east of us." The human nodded again. "But according to our satellite information, the only land east of here is the North American continent. Directly east is either the United States or Canada." Skies fell silent. The world she knew was no longer. Peters could see the shock on the Equestrian's faces, which were strangely as expressive as humans. "Should we... talk about something else right now? Until you feel comfortable enough to begin discussing the overall situation?" Skies nodded in response. She sent off one of her marines to report back that everything was going well so far. Then she began trying to converse casually. "The ship that hailed you was the Equestria," Skies said. "However, I'm the captain of its sister ship, Constellation." "We haven't encountered sailing ships in our world for nearly a century and a half," Peters replied. "At least, not as naval vessels." "We still have Constitution, sir," one of the human crew members said. "She's still commissioned. That's got to count for something." "It's a historical ship," Peters explained. "Constitution is the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world. She's just over two hundred years old right now." "That is... impressive. Constellation is just barely three years old." Peters looked at the squadron of four sailing ships in the distance. Hopper was closing the distance quickly. "I'm not sure you're going to be needing them much longer." "I got a buddy that went on Constitution's first sail in a while, three years ago," the same sailor from before said. "Said the experience was like nothing other. You said your ship was one of those bigger ones?" Skies nodded. "Equestria is the one closest, but Constellation is essentially the same ship. They're the best heavy frigates we have, which is why they sent us to patrol the waters." The humans started talking amongst themselves. "You think Old Ironsides could best one of them?" "Don't know. They look exactly the same." "Any sailing ship is going to look the same to us these days." "Maybe to you. You ever actually visit Constitution? She's also a heavy frigate, and looks exactly like it." "No. But I know we have a U.S.S. Constellation sitting in Baltimore." "That was the one they weren't sure if it was the original Constellation, right?" Skies was getting confused listening to the argument. "Wait, what ship in Baltimare?" Everyone's conversations stopped dead in their tracks. "No, Baltimore. It's a city." Skies nodded incredulously. "Yes, well, Baltimare is one of our cities. We just left there this morning." The humans started talking between themselves again. "Baltimare. You've got to be kidding." "You sure they scrapped Constellation?" "What are you talking about?!" Skies said. She understood that everyone was on edge, and they were just relieving it in casual conversations, but it seemed that it was having strange results. "Nothing," the sailor chuckled. "We're just wondering if you happen to have one of our old ships." "Well I watched my ship get built on the Baltimare dry docks... so I'd say no..." "... Baltimare dry docks? Are you sure? Do you have, say, any ships built in some place called... Fillydelphia?" the sailor suggested, still trying to grasp that this was all real. "Equestria was built there. The first ship of our type was built in Buckston. Anything else?" "... I'm done." "I'm sure I'll see more interesting ships get built in our docks after this..." Skies looked to Peters. "Speaking of, Commander, what exactly is a guided missile destroyer?" "It's one of our modern warships," he answered. "They're sort of similar in role to your frigates. Hopper is part of a new class that's not even a decade old. She was commissioned herself just three years ago." "I suppose I should just wait until later to understand your ships." "Considering our ship in service named Constellation is a massive aircraft carrier, I think it would be best that you did. Should we use this as a transition into discussing the situation at hand? I've been getting reports here and there about contact with your kind, and I think we should add our own meeting to it soon." "It's only our future that rests on these impressions. Let's begin." ::::: R.E.S. Constellation, Western Pacific Ocean January 1, 1013 CP/2000 AD 2005 Hour Skies was settling back in her quarters. Tide was leaning against the wall. "So all went well?" "We didn't make any enemies." "I guess that's good." "For encountering a warship, which, by the way, is incredibly lucky, we also didn't have any shooting break out. Everyone kept their heads straight." "That's also good." "I was given a brief overview of their world. It's amazing that we ran into a warship in the first place, instead of, say, a commerce ship. Actually, the entire situation is amazing." "How so?" "Well, considering a large landmass of completely new beings just appeared in the middle of the ocean of a world with a single dominant species, I'm frightened of the geographical, ecological, sociological, and et cetralogical ramifications of the situation." "Everyone really has it bad, don't they?" Skies looked around her room. "I don't think we're going to be seeing much more of this in the near future." "We're shoved out of the age of sail. They're introduced to magic. Some things will stay the same though." Tide walked up to his captain and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "I'll stick around with you. Equestria will always need a good navy and good sailors." "And should other things stay the same, Equestria might need to put them to use. There was a report of a griffon skirmish with an Equestrian ship earlier. The humans told me." "And we received a message confirming it. But don't worry. Sail or steel, you've got your crew and that'll never change." "Maybe the gun crews. Not sure what the rest of them will do. Probably have to go back for a few years of training." Whether Skies was being humorous or serious, her tone didn't hint at it. "As long as they give us a shiny new ship made with Equestrian hooves, I think we'll be fine."