Ponyville
Twilight Sparkle was deep in a Political Science textbook. There had been talk all over Equestria about a possible war, and it had sparked her curiosity about politics and world affairs.
The purple unicorn knew that war was a terrible thing, and most of her interest in the looming conflict was vested in trying to prevent it.
Her young dragon assistant, Spike, rolled his eyes as he watched her read. It was her third book of the day.
Twilight’s friend Rainbow Dash flew in through the open window. “Hey Twilight, I saw something strange beyond the Everfree Forest.”
“You mean the Equestrian Sea? What was it, Rainbow?”
“It was a giant ship!” Dash gestured with her hooves. “It sailed out of a storm. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Whose ship was it?” asked Twilight.
Dash shrugged. “I didn’t see anypony on board. I was going to get closer, but it sent out this flying machine.”
“A flying machine?”
“Right. It made this buzzing noise and flew over the forest for a while. It wasn’t very fast, at least not compared to me.” She gave a self-satisfied nod.
“So it just flew over the forest?” asked Twilight. “It didn’t do anything else?”
“Yeah,” said Dash, scratching her head. “It flew for a while and then went back to the ship. Maybe it was scouting the land?”
“Scouting?” said Spike. His eyes went wide. “Are we being invaded?”
That possibility hadn’t occurred to Twilight until then. Although Rainbow didn’t seem too concerned, she decided that Princess Celestia should know about this.
“Take a letter, Spike.”
USS Wisconsin
There had been whispers going around the ship since the storm had ended. Captain Mittal knew that it was only a matter of time before word got around to the whole crew that they were lost. He also knew that too long without information would begin to create false rumors.
He picked up the microphone for the 1MC, the main address system for the ship. “This is your Commanding Officer speaking. As many of you have already heard, we’re having navigation difficulties.” There was a low murmur heard throughout the ship. Mittal thought he heard someone say, That’s putting it mildly.
“As many of you are also aware, we’ve encountered unusual wildlife.” There was another hum of voices, somewhat louder this time.
“We’re going to keep working to make contact with society and figure out what happened. In the meantime, remember that you men are professionals, and together we’ll get through this.”
That wasn’t as strong a finish to his speech as Mittal had wanted, but it would do for now. He hung up the microphone. The sun was beginning to set, so he went to his cabin to get some rest. He left orders with the Officer of the deck to wake him for any reason.
Canterlot
Princess Luna had finally convinced her sister to go to sleep. Celestia had lowered the sun earlier, but had been still fretting out the situation in Zebrica. The dragons had ignored another peace offering, and the United Lands were one step closer to war.
Luna stood taking in the moonlight. It was a rather quiet night, and the stars were clear. A letter suddenly arrived in a swirl of magic. It was addressed to Celestia. Luna briefly debated whether to open it or give it to her in the morning. Deciding that it might be urgent, she unrolled the scroll.
It was from Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s student. A friend of hers had spotted an enormous ship sailing in the Equestrian Sea. As Luna read further, her brows knit in concern. She didn’t think Equestria was about to come under attack, but they couldn’t afford to make that assumption.
Luna asked herself what Celestia would do. She would want to know more. Deciding to let her sister sleep, she wrote back to Twilight, asking her to investigate.
Sweet Apple Acres
An orange pony awoke to a tapping on her window.
“Hey Applejack!” called Rainbow Dash.
“What in tarnation…” muttered Applejack, slipping out of bed. She opened the window.
“Twilight wants us all to meet at the library. Princess Luna wants us to go check out this ship that’s sailing just off the coast.”
“It’s the middle of tha’ night, Rainbow!”
Dash got in her friend’s face. “Well excuse me! I just don’t want to have to tell the Princess that we didn’t go because somepony wouldn’t get out of bed!”
“All right,” grumbled Applejack, “I’m comin’.”
As quick as she could, Applejack got ready to go, leaving a note for her family. She ran to Ponyville, arriving ahead of everyone except Twilight and Rainbow.
The two of them filled her in on the situation. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie arrived, followed by Rarity, who complained about missed beauty sleep.
“It’ll be just like a sleepover!” said Pinky. “Except we’ll be walking instead of sleeping, which I guess would make it a walkover. This is going to be so exciting, I’ve never been to a walkover before! I brought cupcakes.” She punctuated her last sentence by flourishing a tray of baked goods.
“All right girls,” said Twilight. “We’ve got to track down that ship and see who it belongs to. Rainbow, didn’t you say it was headed north?”
Dash nodded. “If it kept the same speed, I bet I know where it is now. It shouldn’t be too hard to find.”
“Are they friendly?” asked Fluttershy quietly.
“We don’t know,” said Twilight. “That’s something else we have to find out. The Princess is counting on us. Let’s go!”
USS Wisconsin
Apparently, nothing interesting happened all night. Mittal was almost disappointed. The battleship had sailed slowly on, hugging the coast and watching for signs of life.
“How’s the weather?” Mittal asked the current Officer of the deck, a different man than it had been the day before.
“Clear as a bell,” answered the OOD. In a different tone, he added, “I didn’t recognize any star constellations last night.”
Even the night sky was different. Mittal didn’t want to admit it, but it appeared that Wisconsin and her crew were no longer in the Atlantic, and maybe not even on planet Earth.
With that somewhat terrifying thought, he went to get some breakfast. Several minutes later, he was almost finished when a young officer came to find him with news from the bridge.
“Sir, we’ve spotted some more wildlife.”
Mittal dropped his fork and followed the messenger. Upon his arrival on the bridge, he grabbed a pair of high-powered binoculars and gazed out at the distant coast. His eyes found six small multicolored spots. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be vaguely horselike. The sky-blue one may even be the same animal that teased the Pioneer the day before.
“Make us stationary and drop anchor,” Mittal ordered. “Get a landing party ready to go.”
Canterlot
After Celestia had finished raising the sun, Luna told her sister about the letter from Twilight Sparkle.
Celestia nodded. “You did the right thing, sister.” She smiled. “I appreciate you letting me sleep. I have a full day ahead. First, I’m meeting with Chief Thunderhooves, and later I have to compose a letter to Queen Beak.”
Luna nodded, knowing communication with the various countries in the United Lands was important. Chief Thunderhooves, leader of the Buffalo Nation, and Queen Beak, the ruler of the Griffon Kingdom, were important supporters of the UL’s quest to get the dragons out of Zebrica.
“If Twilight writes again, I trust you to answer if I’m not here,” said Celestia. “I should be going now.” She made ready to leave.
With the moon down, Luna’s duties for the day were over. She decided to stay awake a while longer in case Twilight and her friends found what they were looking for.
Shores of the Equestrian Sea
Based on Rainbow Dash’s description of the ship’s course, Twilight gathered her magic and teleported the six of them to a spot Rainbow suggested. There was nothing to be seen but Luna’s moon setting over empty water.
“Maybe I overestimated,” said Dash, sheepishly.
Nopony had a good idea of how to find the ship, so they decided to walk south and keep their eyes open. The moon slowly disappeared and the sun took its place. Twilight realized that she’d spent so much time in the library in the past few days, that it had been a while since she’d been able to appreciate a sunrise.
It was Pinky that spotted it first, a low grey shape on the horizon. Rainbow flew ahead and confirmed that it was the same ship that she’d encountered before. It was coming closer.
As the ship drew near, Twilight realized just how big it was. Perhaps Rainbow hadn’t exaggerated enough. The bow was sharp and trim, with the number 64 painted in white. Above the hull, the bridge and other structure was blocky and utilitarian. The decks were crowded with long tubes. Cannons? Twilight wondered. Was it a warship?
The ship seemed to be slowing down, and soon stopped near where the ponies watched. An anchor on a chain slipped from its chock and dropped into the sea.
A few more minutes passed. Twilight thought she could see some kind of creatures moving along the decks of the ship, but it was too far away to be sure. She noticed a small boat being lowered over the side.
While the ship lay at anchor, the boat sliced through the small waves and headed for shore. As it came closer, Twilight made out several figures inside. All of them seemed to be wearing the same blotchy, earth-toned clothing.
The boat pulled up on the beach a short distance away. Fluttershy made a small noise.
USS Wisconsin
Mittal put the binoculars back to his eyes. They were heavy, and he was getting tired of holding them. The boat with a small group of Marines aboard seemed to have made it to shore.
Shortly, the radio crackled to life.
“Wisconsin?” The speaker sounded a little shaken, and had forgotten proper radio procedure.
Mittal picked up the microphone. “Captain Mittal here. Go ahead.”
“You’re not going to believe this sir, but…they speak English.”
Author note:
Thanks for the kind words. FIM Fiction sure knows how to make a person feel welcome.
I'm still looking for editors/prereaders
For all you fighters instead of lovers, fret not. Wisconsin will get a chance to deliver some ordnance before the end of the story.
223517
This is fiction. Tom Clancy never used real people.
Thanks for the link. I've been tripping all over myself trying to keep things historically accurate, yet still get a freaking battlship to Equestria.
*Glasses Off* Shit just got real.
224107
Of course he did! They just had a tendency to be conveniently become irrelevant or die before the fictional characters got involved in events.
Fire the 16inch MOAR Battery
5
4
3
2
1
FIRE
MOARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
MOARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
MOARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
DIRECT HIT SIR
I'm literally laughing out loud at some of these comments.
I have a suggestion. Maybe you could make it that a few more ships got pulled through, but turned up in other areas of the storm.
I can just tell Rarity must be horrified by a Marine's uniform. Waiting for the next chapter, comrade.
Is this based off of the Destroyerman series? If it is, then this will be so awesome.
224198
I probably won't. Stories are all about conflict and the struggles to resolve it. With the rest of the battle group to support her, Wisconsin would turn into one giant steel Mary Sue. It would be too easy, and then the story would end early. I don't want that, and I'm sure you don't either.
224292
I actually was planning something like that.
224422
Never heard of the series before you mentioned it. I might have to check it out.
Poast more, sleep less!
Srsly, can't wait to get past this horrible cliffhanger!
...I got nothing else.
Dayumm. USS Wisconsin will deliver some serious fire if anything fucks with them.
Tracking.
224107
You're welcome. I suggest checking out that site and others for more information on the Wisconsin, maybe even asking the curators of its historical society some questions, in order to be as accurate as possible.
Also, this is indeed very good so far. I'll be tracking to see how this develops in the future.
You have most definitely caught my attention, good sir. This is wunderbar so far!
I eagerly await the next update!
I'm interested in this solely because of the Battleship USS Wisconsin...
Technical quibble with regard to not recognizing the constellations: At the very least, Equestria canonically seems to have Orion in its night sky (name-dropped by Twilight complete with the right number of belt stars in, IIRC, "Suited For Success"), which is one of the most prominent and easily identified constellations in real life as well. There may for all we know be more matches.
Oh gawd, Ponies + Navy? ALL OF MY WANT!!! I'm not a big fan of humans in Equestria, but this sure as hell has my attention. Keep up the great work!
SPOILER ALERT!!!
A friend of hers had spotted an enormous ship sailing in the Equestrian Sea.
-Twilight would have specified "Rainbow Dash"(When giving scientific or military data, the source can be important as far as the ability to accurately report what they observed) and Luna would probably know who that was, based on the fact that she recognized Twilight in "Luna Eclipsed".
This can only end awesomely...
Only two chapters in, and I already know I'm spending the rest of my day away from society.
Meh, they never had warships end up in magical lands anyway.
So awesome!
'Bout time I started on the Battleships universe. It's even better than I expected! Luna getting screen time is awesome, and as long as aliens don't trap the Wisconsin under a giant dome and start firing pegs at it, this looks like an awesome tale of 16-inch deployable diplomacy.
Also, the typo pointed out in Chapter 4 by Sketchy Markss is still there.
2081238 "16-inch deployable diplomacy."
nice
2081339 But what about MY battleship? 1,140 ft long, 300 ft wide, IDK how tall but:
Belt armor: 4.5 ft, an it torpedo bulge 5.
Deck:3 ft.
Turret 2.5-3 ft
Superstructure: 3.5-4
Citadel: 6 ft.
Main guns:
9 turrets, 4 in the front, 2 in the middle (mostly for AA. Yes these guns can aim that high. 80°), and 3 in the rear, 3 24-in guns in each.
2ndary. 500somodd guns, 4-12 in caliber.
AA:4500.
Plus:
4 mini sub's
8 fight aircraft
And 40 torpedo tubes, 20 on each side, and have a 150° aiming area thing.
BTW, it's SO BIG that it has a SECOND SUPERSTRUCTURE.
FEAR ME!!!!
224517 No shit, I thought having 9 guns that can launch a 16inx(I'm kind of guessing where)68in shell 10 miles 2 times a minute was weak.
2081238
Let's hope not, if so though...
We've got a battleship
Hehehe, another damn fine chapter!~ Ooooh how I long to see this ship decimate some fools.
Good show!
6937658
16 inch (406 mm)/50-caliber Mark 7 naval guns