Chapter 9
“That’s right, we need magical containment, Spellbreakers, a security team wouldn’t hurt…” Shining had finally gotten something to eat to make up for his skipped lunch, but now he was missing sleep. In the hours since the takedown of the fishing boat, the frantic activity had continued.
Dealing with the prisoners was the least of their worries. When the full situation had been realized, a C-130 loaded with SEAL paratroopers hadn’t been long in coming. They had swept the boat and rounded up all hostiles. Shining was told a tug was on the way to bring in the disabled vessel.
Cushing had stayed for security and would leave as soon as the tug showed up. All those aboard were worried about the mysterious magical object buried in the destroyer’s keel.
Meanwhile, Shining was on the phone. Equestrian assets were mostly on the other side of the dimensional doorway and would take a while to mobilize. His task was made more difficult by the communications equipment. For whatever reason, it seemed to be developing more and more static.
“Sorry sir, didn’t catch that,” said the voice on the other end.
Shining drew back a hoof to smack the radio console in anger, but resisted. It might make the stupid thing stop working completely.
“The destroyer’s going to go back to Yokosuka,” the stallion said. “It’s not far. The Japanese have already been informed about the situation, and they told us that we are not tying up to the pier. Can’t blame them. There’s no telling what this thing is capable of.”
He was about to go on talking about preparations to anchor out in the harbor, but there was no response from the radio. Shining regretted not hitting it. Heturned to a sailor. “Can you fix this thing?”
“It’s some kind of interference, sir. Could be atmospheric.” The man glanced up. “Could be magic.”
Great, thought Shining. He went topside. The tug had arrived, and Cushing was maneuvering to depart the area. The sun had almost set, and night was coming on. He decided to go see what Commander Delgado was up to.
In his stateroom, the senior officer aboard the destroyer sipped coffee and listened to his chief engineer describe a recurring problem. “It’s strange sir, we keep having breakers trip. We reduced the electrical load, and that helped, but it seems to be a traveling problem. Every system is affected differently.”
The Commanding Officer nodded. “Very well. Do your best, and keep me informed.”
The unicorn, Giga Watt, came in, looking at Shining and Delgado. “Good, you’re both here. I really need to speak to you. There’s good news and bad news.”
“Go ahead,” said Delgado.
“The good news is that the Nightmare is not aboard.”
“You’re sure?” said Shining.
“Believe me, I was very careful in coming to that conclusion,” said Giga.
Shining nodded, but then frowned. “Where did it go?”
Giga threw up his hooves, upset. “I don’t know! I tried to track it, but the trail faded quickly. You might get some better ponies out here, but by then all the evidence will probably be gone.”
Shining knew that magical remnants often disappeared quickly. “I’ve got some some Spellbreakers on the way. You don’t have a single hint where the Nightmare might have escaped to?”
The other stallion sighed. “No, not a one. Outer space, for all I know.”
“Is that the bad news?” asked Delgado.
“Um, no.” Giga took a breath. “The Nightmare may not be here, but that…thing down in the bilge is still pretty serious. It’s not a personality or a consciousness, it just sort of is. There’s still a lot of magic there, though, and I think it might have a self-preservation instinct.”
“Is it going to attack us if we mess with it?” Delgado had read a little about magic, but had never heard about anything like this.
“It might,” said Giga. “We can’t just leave it there, though. I think it has a spreading tendency and might be technology-adaptive.”
“What’s that mean?” asked the man.
The unicorn looked at him. “Picture this: your warship gains an evil sentience and learns how to fire cruise missiles all by itself.”
The three of them were silent for a moment. Finally, Shining asked, “What are our options?”
“We might be able to set up some kind of containment on it,” suggested Giga.
“Like a force field?” asked Delgado.
“Something like that.” Giga paused. “Or…we could scuttle the ship.”
Delgado jerked back as if slapped. “No. Not while I’m in command. Besides, what if it doesn’t want to sink?”
As if agreeing with him, the overhead lights flickered just a little.
★
By this point it was becoming clear to Princess Celestia that something big was happening. Shining sounded worried, and communication from him had been abruptly cut off. She didn’t want to overreact, but…
The phone rang. Celestia lifted the receiver to her ear. “What is it?”
“Princess, it’s a call from the American President.”
“Put him on.” Celestia was reminded of an old human joke. How do you know you’re living in an action movie? The phone rings. It’s the President.
The conversation got right to the point. “Do you have any idea what’s going on in the Pacific?”
“I could ask you the same thing. I’ve temporarily lost contact with the ponies out there.” Celestia hoped it was temporary.
“Princess, I understand that this is the kind of thing you have more experience with, but I don’t recall asking for help.”
“Begging your pardon, Mr. President, but I didn’t think you were adequately protecting my little ponies.”
“What am I supposed to do?” he demanded. “The ships are adapted to shield from from nuclear, biological, and chemical attacks, but that doesn’t cover magic!”
“Then it’s a good thing that I have teams of experts headed out there,” Celestia told him. “I think you’ll agree that this needs to be resolved quickly.”
“We have a couple of options,” said the man. “The ship was about to be decommissioned, so destroying won't cost us much.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” The conversation appeared to be over, so Celestia said goodbye.
Instead of putting down the phone, she dialed the communications center. “Has there been any more contact from Shining Armor?”
“No, Princess, we’re still working to establish communications.”
Celestia put the phone down, worried.
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Yeah, that seems bad.
1320582 Indeed it does. That would be entertaining though.
Yup... Things are getting so much more clear.
And I just noticed the President saying that the boat was about to be decommissioned. Wow. The actual year of decommissioning. I guess ponies haven't really impeded much historical events, eh?
Theoretically, couldn't you just physically disable a part of the ship? Like, clog the barrel, or removing the firing pins, or even unloading the ship?
1320582 ...Nooooo... That's pretty freakin' awesome. I mean... A SENTIENT WARMACHINE. Holy shit, that's awesome!
I wonder, if the ship gained sentience would it be a U.S. Citizen or an Equestrian one?
1320862
Yeah, the whole "Nightmare in space" thing, I figured we had to set things up for As the Sun Rises, So Do We
I've toyed with the idea of changing history up a little. In fact, with these interdimensional portals since the early 1990s, why do we need airliners? Hence, in my head-canon 9/11 went a little differently. I have yet to mention that in one of my stories, because, well, I don't have the balls to screw with something like that. In Wings of Gold I just say that we're in Afghanistan for some reason. In fact, Equestria has troops there, as Apple Bloom is a veteran in The Covert Mare Corps.
1321110
I...I never considered that.
I have to tell you, if the story was going to have a happy ending, it would give me something to think about.
1321264
I just remembered something. Do they have interdimensional portals that can transport ships and other large things? Because the whole thing was started by a ship being transported, so I think it'd be sensible.
1320582that would be quite funny actualy. like if it decided to shoot jellyfish out of the water cannons (yes, all navy ships have onboard water cannons to help extinquish other burning vessels)
1321287
I've kind of hand-waved that. Remember, Wisconsin got back through the efforts of both princesses and a bunch of unicorns working in a carefully prepared location.
As of this story (2005), a destroyer-sized ship can't go through (and that will play a part later in the story).
In Troublemaker (2016), "large yachts" can go through.
At first, I thought the rogue boat's crew getting their asses handed to them last chapter was a bit too easy, but now I see that this problem is much larger than some "Smith" and a few humans and ponies...
1321110 I think it would be a citizen of the nation known as "Kick your ass and murder all of your friends."
1321874 Okay, that made me laugh.
Finally caught up and loving it so far. So the ship could gain sentience? Are we finally getting our "battleshipping is magic: battleships in love", story?
Cushing x Wisconsin is my new OTP.
1323444
ಠ_ಠ
1323987 Hey it was late and I may have been the tiniest bit inebriated on various pumpkin beverages.
1323444 YES!!
scranton.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw129_1301271437530.jpg
1323444 Go Big W! My dad served as a grease monkey (his words) on her during Desert Storm, and my grandpa was a gun captain on her during WWII. My great-great-uncle, on my mother's side, was gun captain on the Iowa in the center gun room of Turret Two during WWII. I have relatives that have served on ALL Iowa class battleships.
1321343 In what story did the Wisconsin get back?
2834561 the first one.