Ghosts of the Sea
It was one of the harshest winters on memory, and it had come earlier than expected. With the extreme cold and the snow came the fog, thick, rolling blankets of it that drowned the harbour in mist and made it very hard to see. This may not seem like much, but at the time most ships lacked radio or RADAR so they were entirely reliant on lighthouses and lightships for navigation. The poor visibility combined with the intense cold caused the eyes to play tricks on oneself, and many old sea stories were being dredged up by the boats of the harbour, with some claiming the ghosts of lost ships were seen and the voices of mariners lost to the ocean's cold embrace audible on the winds.
One night, Big Mac was returning home. His work had run long, as dredging had taken longer than expected. He had been working with Diamond Tiara, who had been telling him all sorts of strange stories about what you could see when the mist rolled in. Big Mac was going past some derelict buildings. In the fog, they took on ghostly shapes and appeared to groan and wail as if alive. Big Mac looked about him. He heard what he thought was a voice, and jumped. "Ah gotta get outta here!" he shouted, and blasted off as fast as he could for base. When he reached a junction where another canal came in, he stopped, and froze in fright. "What is that?"
Passing in front of him were five white tugboats, glowing with a ghostly energy. Each of them was a paddle steamer, and all of them went ominously by.
"Help!" Big Mac cried. "It's the Ghost Fleet Diamond Tiara were talkin' about! Ah gotta get outta here!"
Throwing caution completely to the wind, Big Mac put his engine to full and charged through the fog at maximum speed, blasting his whistle repeatedly as he went on his way. Before he knew it, he was back at the docks, and he skidded to a halt in front of the other tugs.
"Slow down!" Blueblood said. "You're going far too fast for this weather."
"Are you feeling alright?" Mistmane asked, showing concern for her friend. "You looks as though you saw a ghost!"'
"Well, Ah, er, um, I saw... ya know what, forget about it, ya won't take me seriously anyways."
"We will if it's serious," Blueblood replied. "We will listen to whatever you have to say."
Big Mac sighed, and cleared his throat. "Ah've seen ghosts. And these ghosts match Diamond Tiara's story!"
"Which one?" Blueblood asks. "She tells several, including one she swapped with another crane as his story works better with her accent."
"The one about the ghost tugs!" Big Mac went on, in full flow. "These tugs were lost in the Great Storm o' many years ago when they tried ta navigate the Foal Mountain Canal in the middle of a thunderstorm! Their remains were never found, and it is said that they room the waves as a warnin' for others to not be so foolish!"
"I'm confused," Sky Beak said. "That canal is so shallow only paddle steamers can get up there. How would they not find them?"
"You're not taking that story seriously, are you?" Skystar asked, a mirthful grin on her face.
"The details match too well!" Big Mac retorted. "The prescence of five tugs, them all being paddle steamers, it's too close of a match! Ah'm not leavin' dock until the fog lifts!"
"I never thought I'd ever hear you say that, Big Mac," Blueblood scoffed.
Silverstream, on the other hand, took a more cautious tone. "You know," she said, "Big Mac might have seen something out there. Legends often ring with truth, you know, as stories to teach us lessons."
"You've been talking with Elinor again, haven't you?" Sky Beak said. Upon seeing the confused looks on the other tugs faces, he quickly explained. "She runs the Dunbroch clothing factory."
The next morning, the tugs all set off on their days, as they all had their own orders to carry out. All of them were giving Big Mac a hard time over his alleged 'ghosts'. "Ah should never have brought it up," he grumbled.
"Our eyes play tricks on us all the time," Mistmane replied. "Just keep an eye on your work and your speed and you should be fine." As she steamed away, she noted something to herself. "Five paddle steamers. That sounds oddly familiar."
"Looks like Mistmane believes me," Big Mac sighed.
That evening, Sky Beak was guiding a formation of shrimpers back into port. The fog was far thicker than normal, and Salty's Lighthouse was only able to provide so much help as the light could barely penetrate the gloom. As a result, the shrimpers were using Sky Beak as a navigation guide to get back into the port safely.
"Sky Beak?" one of the shrimpers called. "Are you sure you know where you're going?"
"I certainly know where I'm going," Sky Beak replied. "I know this harbour like the back of my propellor, and if we were about to hit anything, I'd kn- LOOK OUT!"
Sky Beak had forgotten about a thick, heavy sandbar that stuck out of the water, and saw it when it was only a few yards ahead of him. He swerved violently, and missed it. The shrimpers were not so lucky, and there was a scene of utter chaos as they crashed into the sandbar and each other.
Sky Beak, however, was completely oblivious to what had happened, as his eyes had been drawn forward into the mist. Steaming into the fog and mist were the shapes of five ghostly tugboats. Each of them was a paddle steamer, and their headlamps glowed a sickly white as they steamed past.
The big tug panicked. "It's the ghosts that Big Mac saw!" he cried. "I hope they didn't see me!" He threw his engines into full reverse and backed away as fast as he could, narrowly avoiding colliding with a rocky bank and holing his hull.
Elsewhere, Thunderhooves was trying (and failing) to get into port... again. He figured that if he tried it when the fog was up, he would have no issues whatsoever.
Tempest pulled up as he was raising his anchor. "What are you doing?" she said. "Trying to sneak in without a tow again? That didn't work for you the last time."
"These exhorbitant rates are what prevent me from entering this port," Thunderhooves replied. "Back in the day we didn't need tugboats to get into the harbour. These waterways were open before in the time of my predecessor, and his predecessor before him, and his predecessor before him, and his predecessor before him, and his predecessor before him..."
"And his predecessor before him, I get it," Tempest finished. "You'd be wisest staying here until the fog lifts." And she steamed off. "Honestly," she said to herself, "that Thunderhooves never learns. Besides, I imagine there are a few distress calls out there today. Fog always brings a couple of those."
She steamed onwards into the fog, the ghostly shapes all around. Owing to their diesel engines and onboard electric generators, the Storm Fleet were fitted with electric lighting rather than the older kerosene lamps. Even so, her light could barely pierce the gloom. Even so, she soon saw some ships ahead of her. "Hello?" she called. "Do you need help?"
Her jaw dropped as the vessels approached. Five paddle steamers puffed past her, all a ghostly white with no response or even engine sound coming from them. "Ghosts?" she asked quietly. As they passed her, she shut her engine off and floated until they were gone. Once they had left, she cranked her engine open to full power and swung back around, encountering Thunderhooves again.
"Are you here to reconsider?" Thunderhooves asked.
"I'll bring you in for free!" Tempest said suddenly, clearly shaken.
Mistmane was returning from sea. She had just escorted a pair of tramp steamers out of the harbour and was looking forward to getting back home again. On her way back, she decided to take a shortcut through a section of the docks where old machinery was kept, not yet worth scrapping but at the same time no longer in working order. The fog lent everything a disturbing atmosphere, with every light and the lack of clarity playing tricks on the old paddle steamer's mind. A light kept flashing on and off in the distance, and she could clearly hear the sound of an engine working.
"MISTMANE!" a voice called.
"Can this be Diamond Tiara's ghosts?" Mistmane asked. She was getting nervous. "It can't be! But if it isn't, then who is speaking?" She abruptly swung to one side as a crane seemed to move towards her. "How can there be a working crane out here?"
Suddenly, a familiar dredger lifted its arm. Mistmane stopped to see Diamond Tiara calmly sitting there. "Oh, hello Diamond Tiara!"
"What are you doing down here so late at night?" Diamond asked. "We're dredging this canal, and weren't expecting a tugboat down here! You scared us!"
"Sorry," Mistmane replied. "I'm just trying to get home. Is the way ahead clear?"
"Wait here," Diamond advised. "There's been another sighting of the ghost tugs."
Mistmane was about to speak, when suddenly she saw five ghostly paddle steamers steam past her, sickly white light pouring from their lamps as they headed into the mist.
Her eyes opened in recognition. "Wait a moment," she said. "I know those tugs!"
Blueblood was making his way through another section of the port. The canal had reopened following repairs to the bridge, a disaster that Blueblood had helped avert a few months earlier. As he passed under the bridge, Scootaloo passed on a goods train, blowing her whistle loudly.
"Ah!" Blueblood cried out. "What is that noise? Oh, it's the train." Once the smoke had cleared, he continued on his way through the canal. "I never thought I would get so jittery, but yet I am. And worse still, my path is blocked up ahead by these boats! Whatever is going on?"
He stopped between the two boats as he saw the five ghostly tugs steam past in the mist. "Good heavens!" he cried. "The ghosts are real! Hopefully they haven't seen me!"
Suddenly, the tugs looped back, much closer to him. Blueblood backed up into the dock and moored up. "I'll rest here for the night," he said. "They won't know I'm here, so I'll hide here until daylight."
One job that still needed doing was getting extra fuel to Sunset Shimmer, even in thick fog. Skystar and Silverstream had been given this important task, but had gotten lost in the fog.
"Where are we?" asked Silverstream. "I have no idea where we are, and furthermore how on earth are we going to find Sunset in all this?"
"I don't know," Skystar said, her face the image of worry. "Mistmane said something about keeping the wind on the same cheek, but I can't feel a breeze out here. There's also no waves."
"Something's wrong," Silverstream admitted. Suddenly, there was a loud cracking noise up ahead. "That sounds like ice!" she said. "But it can't be, can it? Sea ice wouldn't drift this far into the bay, would it?"
"Slow down and move as little as you can," Skystar instructed, her eyes darting about for the slightest sign of danger. They came to a complete stop as they saw five white tugs sail past.
"It's the ghosts!" Silverstream cried. "They've come to get us!"
But that wasn't the only thing that was making noise. As the fog cleared, the water started to bubble. From the briny depths, a galleon suddenly surfaced from underneath the waves, and began to bob about erratically as a massive lightning storm erupted overhead. On the ship, behind the wheel, the shadowy figure of a man appeared. His face was duplicated in a cloud above the ship. And he bellowed with laughter.
"You summon me at your peril, Starswirl!" he shouted. "Once I, Stygian, defeat all of you, this realm will embrace the darkness as I did so long ago!"
A series of loud explosions echoed in the distance. "All ships, circle round and ensure he can't escape!" shouted a voice. "We did not come here to defeat you. We came... to contain you."
Skystar and Silverstream, now riven with fright, took the opportunity to flee, dragging the heavy fuel barge with them as loud bangs, lightning, and explosions continued to echo as the galleon opened fire.
Safe to say, not a single tug slept very well that night. The early morning sun burnt off the worst of the fog, and operations could resume as normal. Gallus woke Blueblood up by spitting in his face.
"STOP IT!" Blueblood cried. "Don't hurt me, ghost! I'm-" He opened his eyes. "Gallus?"
"What are you doing all the way out here?" Gallus asked, confused. "And what's all this about ghosts?"
"I got lost in the fog and moored here."
"You're only 500 yards from home," Gallus joked.
Blueblood's face fell. "Oh."
As he steamed in, Mistmane greeted him. "Let me guess, you've seen ghosts too," she said.
"I most certainly have!" Blueblood exclaimed. "Big Mac, let me apologise for mocking you about this whole ghost business."
"Apology accepted," Big Mac replied. "Mornin', Ocean Flow!"
Ocean Flow came to a stop outside the dock. "Hello, boys. What's all this about ghosts?"
"We saw ghosts all night," Skystar explained. "Five white tugs and a galleon."
"I saw them too!" Sky Beak added.
Ocean Flow laughed. "You're all going crazy. Here they are to explain it to you."
Moments later, five paddle steamers made their way up the estuary with the galleon in tow. The first of them was painted grey with white lining, the second blue with orange and brown lining. The third was painted orange with red lining, and the fourth pink with two tone blue lining. The final one was painted blue with two tone red lining.
"Pull harder, will you Rockhoof?" shouted the orange one. "I'm doing all the work here!"
"No you're not," 'Rockhoof' replied. "If anything, you're the slacker, Flash!"
The lead tug came to a stop alongside the others. He looked over. "Mistmane?" he asked.
"If it isn't Starswirl!" Mistmane exclaimed. "A long time ago," she began to explain, "I worked alongside five other tugboats, and we were called the Pillar Fleet. We searched for and recovered things that were floating dangerously through the waters and took them out. But I thought you sank in the Great Storm!"
"That was just a cover story," said the pink one. "I am Somnambula."
"Meadowbrook," said the other blue one.
"We have been hunting this galleon for a while," Starswirl explained. "It is the Ship of Shadows, and it was captained centuries ago by an evil pirate called Stygian. The vessel sank off the Hollow Shades and was encased in sea ice, so we tracked it here where it melted in warmer waters."
"Why white though?" Silverstream asked.
"That's a smokescreen system we use to avoid recognition," Flash told them. "That's why we look like ghosts when we're on the move."
"And the explosions?" Skystar enquired.
"The blackguard Stygian fired off his cannons and tried to sink us!" Meadowbrook told them. "It were fortunate fer us the cannons weren't loaded. Of course, we also use our own equipment to contain the threat, and we'll be puttin' this in a vault where Stygian can hurt nobody!"
Starswirl spoke up. "Mistmane, if you ever wish to join us once again, there is a place for you."
Mistmane sighed. "As much as I would want to work alongside you again, my home is in Hippogriffia Port," she replied. "But I wouldn't mind the odd voyage every now and then."
"Come on you lot!" Rockhoof shouted. "Let's stop chattering and get this boat moving!"
"All engines full ahead!" Flash called, and the five tugs and their cargo sailed out to sea. They would laugh and joke about it later, but the tugs of the Seaquestria Tugboat Company never forgot the fog that nearly drove them completely mad.
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Heh... good use of cutting off his own sentence. ^^
10696740
It's a very old trope, after all.
This was very nice. And I conquer on how this story builds fear and tension.
And I loved the characters chosen for the 'ghost' tugs
10697246
The original episode also plays with the conventions of horror writing from the time period in which it is set. The show takes place in the 1920s, and a standard convention of horror back then was a revelation that all the spooky stuff had a perfectly legitimate explanation. In The Ghost Train, for example, it is revealed that the 'ghost train' of the title is actually a cover for a smuggling ring.
10697266
Wow!
Besides, I think jumpscares are too damn cliche these days.
10697267
Or stories deciding to settle on scaring the viewer by dumping gallons of blood and gore over the set. I blame Herschell Gordon Lewis.
10697270
Aye.
If anything, one of my favorite horror films is Bone Tomahawk. A western with a horror theme. And for many bits of the horror part, they don't use music scores
10697272
Music is a cheap way of scaring a viewer, usually with musical stings. One of the few effective uses of musical stings is in FNaF.
10697284
Aye.
10697286
This video is a good explanation of how to use sound in horror.
10697293
It most certainly works
10697304
Indeed. As Ghosts demonstrates beautifully.
10697323
Quite right.
Say, you ever see Thomas videos made by Shunterproductions?
10697330
Who? Apologies, I get a lot of the fan creators mixed up.
10697337
Shunterproductions. https://www.youtube.com/user/ShunterProductions
He's created many scary thriller stories with Thomas Trainz. Infact several of them scared me when I first watched them
10697338
Thanks. I'll be sure to give them a watch.
10697355
Very good, and most of his other stories are also cool story arcs, there's even one about the Olympics Torch
10697356
2012 was a good year.
10697377
Quite right