Harmony 6: The Coming of Nightmares

by CopperTop

Chapter 4: Ship of Tears

“The ship’s name?”

“Dominance.”

“Hull?”

“Iklwa-class cruiser. Laid down in twelve-thirty-four at the Saltsbury Shipyards. She has a top flank speed of twenty-five knots and her armament consists of eight six-inch guns, three mounted on each side and one each fore and aft. Plus four three-pounder guns in her secondary battery.”

“That is…correct.” Major Rarity announced after looking up from the notes that she was consulting in order to verify Twilight’s answers and flashed her superior a wry smile. “Am I supposed to be awarding you extra credit for going beyond the scope of the questions I’m asking you?”

The slightly smaller purple unicorn flushed. “...This isn’t for a grade,” Twilight Sparkle insisted huffy…and with only a tiny hint of disappointment. “I just want to be sure that I know who I’m dealing with. As Harmony Fortress’ commander, I should know something about the ships that visit the ports. Next question.”

“Mm-hmm. Very well, let’s see…” The alabaster-hued executive officer skimmed over the file that had been provided to them by the Zebrican Embassy, as required by fortress regulations. While most cargo ships were free to come and go without giving advanced notification—although that was still considered to be ‘best practice’, if only to ensure that sufficient dock-hooves were available to tend to the ship’s cargo loading and unloading needs—it was a wholly different matter where bona fide warships were concerned. The other nations of the world were free to send naval vessels to Harmony, whether to resupply them with fuel and provisions, or simply shore leave for their crews, they just simply had to tell somepony first that a ship bristling with guns was going to be appearing over the horizon.

“The name of her captain?” Rarity finally posed.

“Kapteni Trafalgar. He assumed command two years ago. Prior to this assignment, he was the executive officer about the cruiser Shark. Prior to that, he was the chief gunnery officer on the battleship Volcano…” The next was added under Twilight’s breath, almost as an afterthought. “...including while she was in Manehattan Harbor.”

Twilight had been there too.
She remembered how the battleship’s guns had sounded—like thunder bursts in the night.
How the flashes had illuminated what remained of the city.
The feel of the impacts of those one-ton shells as they hit—

Major Rarity was not sure how—or even if—she was supposed to offer comment on her senior officer’s last statement, and so she elected not to. The pair walked in silence on their way to the fortress’ main port for a while under the greatly sobered mood until Twilight finally took a breath and shook her melancholy off.

A lot of zebras had taken part in the invasion of Equestria. A lot of those zebras were still serving in the Zebrican military. Ten years wasn’t really all that long. After all: Twilight was still serving too. She was bound to meet zebras that she’d encountered before during the war. She was sure that she would continue to do so in the future.

The past is past; so let it pass…

“Next question.”

The pair of unicorns continued to engage in their exchange until they finally came within sight of the pier that they were heading to. Twilight’s eyes immediately darted to the massive gray hull which had anchored itself beyond the fortress’ harbor. Dominance was far too large to properly dock along one of Harmony’s piers, which had been—perhaps mistakenly, given Harmony’s purpose—primarily around accommodating pony-designed hulls. As it stood, the zebra cruiser was the next best thing to three times the length of the average Equestrian cargo galleon.

Even if Dominance hadn’t been though, it would have been a ‘waste’ of dock space to take one up with a ship that wasn’t either bringing in or departing with cargo. Crew and supplies would instead be ferried to and from the warship on smaller cutters and pinnaces which could easily dock within the fortress. A zebra-built tender was already moored alongside the cruiser to restock the warship’s coal bunkers.

Twilight returned her focus now to the docks, and the specific pier that represented their destination. She could already see several zebras standing around at the far end. The unicorn recognized two of them. Or, rather, she recognized the massive stripped stallion that she’d met during her dinner with Zecora last week and was logically deducing that the mare he was closely shadowing was the Zebrican ambassador. She didn’t know any of the other three zebras though, she was pretty sure.

The striped ambassador was the first to notice the approach of the pony delegation. She broke off her conversation to turn towards Twilight and Rarity, waving a bangled hoof in greeting. “Ah! Colonel, thank you for honoring my request.”

“Of course, Ambassador. Anything to help build the bonds of friendship between our races.” Twilight’s words weren’t—quite—strained, but there was no denying that the small purple unicorn didn’t feel just a little wary of the zebra. Learning that she’d been subjected to something of a diplomatic ‘trial by fire’ had not done a lot to ingratiate the ambassador into Twilight’s good graces. In her opinion, there were other ways to have demonstrated to the rest of the delegates that the unicorn officer truly believed in Harmony Fortress’ mission of peace. She had chosen not to press the matter though. Their dinner last week had at least gone amicably enough once they started actually eating.

Since that first meeting, at least, the Zebrican Ambassador had been considerably more willing to offer her experience to Twilight in mitigating other disputes that had arisen during future meetings. The two of them actually seemed to be on the path of developing a productive working relationship.

Which was why Twilight had been amenable to being part of the welcome party for the crew of the Dominance. As the unicorn understood things: the residents of Harmony were likely to see a lot of the Zebrican ship for the next several months, as the cruiser was tasked with performing anti-piracy patrols in the vicinity of the Moonfall Archipelago.

Zecora inclined her head in an acknowledging bow before turning to introduce the three new zebras standing with her on the pier. She first indicated an older stallion whose stripes looked to be just starting to fade. The deep blue coat, whose shade was not so very far removed from Twilight’s own, marked the stallion as being a member of their navy, and the trio of four-pointed golden stars on his left collar identified his rank as: captain—‘kapteni’ in the zebra’s language. Translated across branches and nations, the older stallion’s military rank was approximately on par with Twilight’s own.

“Colonel? May I introduce: Kapteni Trafalgar, commanding officer of the Dominance,” Zecora began. “Kapteni? Colonel Twilight Sparkle, commander of Harmony Fortress.”

The eyes of the other two new zebras widened. Trafalgar’s acquired a slightly amused glint even as they narrowed slightly. The corner of his lip curled upward into something that could—if one was inclined to be very generous—be called a ‘smile’. He raised a leg and extended it towards the purple unicorn in initiation of a polite hoof-bump.

“It is a privilege to finally meet the illustrious ‘Stripe-Bane’ face-to-face.”

Twilight, who had been in the middle of extending her own hoof to meet the stallion’s, hesitated. All of the equines on their part of the pier seemed to freeze in place for several long seconds, if for different reasons. The other two newly-arrived zebras continued their semi-awed stare at the purple pony. Zecora’s expression was close to a glare as she looked ready to rebuke the ship’s captain for being so direct with his crass statement. Rarity looked confused, appearing to wonder if she were missing some context that would let her in on what she suspected was some odd variety of zebra joke.

The purple unicorn finally reached across the remaining divide and met the taller stallion’s hoof with her own.

“I had a nephew in White Tail,” Trafalgar stated in something that could have passed for a conversational tone in most other contexts. His eyes were fixed on Twilight’s.

She met his gaze with matched intensity, though her tone was slightly less unassuming. “I had an uncle in Manehattan.”

The silence which followed was deafening.

It finally broke when Zecora quite loudly cleared her throat, her turquoise eyes still boring into the naval commander. He didn’t seem to notice, his attention was still fixed on Twilight. Kapteni Trafalgar chuckled and dropped his hoof away from the unicorn’s. “I look forward to exchanging stories of the war with you, Kanali Sparkle.”

He took a step back and then diverted Twilight’s attention to a mare about Twilight’s age standing just behind him. She was wearing a uniform similar to his own, but with only two stars pinned to her collar. “My second: Kammandi Gagasi.” The mare said nothing, offering only a courteous nod. Her eyes had at least returned to their original size since hearing Twilight’s name spoken aloud.

Next the older stallion indicated a younger zebra dressed in the brilliant crimson coat denoting a member of their marine corps. A silver spear was pinned to his jacket collar. “Luteni Khanisa, the head of my ship’s marine detachment.”

The zebra—who looked more like a colt to Twilight—bowed his head slightly towards the unicorn. “Your reputation is known,” the young marine officer said in heavily accented Equestrian with a note of reverence as he inclined his head in greeting. “I am honored to meet so great a warrior as you.”

Twilight stiffly returned the bow with a slight incline of her own head. The unicorn hadn’t been particularly receptive to the praise for her ‘heroics’ when it had been her own government heaping it upon her. Being commended by former adversaries for killing so many of their comrades was considerably more disconcerting.

“Welcome, all of you, to Harmony Fortress.” Twilight decided that the best thing she could do was to simply begin the speech that she’d prepared to greet their new arrivals. “We’re grateful for your and your crew’s efforts to keep the waters around the island safe. This is my executive officer, Major Rarity—”

“Charmed.”

“—She’ll be your point of contact here on Harmony if you have any concerns.” Twilight’s horn began to glow, wrapping a binder that she had prepared earlier in an amethyst aura. She floated it towards the ship’s second-in-command, whom she was sure the responsibility for reviewing the contents would fall to anyway. “This contains a list of all the establishments that your crew might enjoy while on the island, as well as marking areas of the fort which we recommend that you tell your crew are off-limits.”

Kammandi Gagasi took the binder in her hooves a heartbeat before the telekinetic field dissolved and began to leaf through it. She glanced up at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “Oh...I see it’s color-coded.”

A smile touched the unicorn’s cheeks as she interpreted the observation as a compliment. “I also took the liberty of listing the restaurants in order of customer satisfaction reviews—highest to lowest—then, from there, they’re organized by cuisine, price, and name in alphabetical order. There are also maps with suggested routes to each one from the pier, with options for the shortest route, least crowded route, and routes with the fewest turns.”

The cruiser’s executive officer had been sifting through the packet while Twilight described it. The marine officer at her side craned his neck to see the contents for himself. He cocked his head, his gaze shifting to Twilight. “You used the symbols for land maneuvers? The zebra symbols?”

Twilight cleared her throat. “I wanted them to be easy to understand, and I knew that you were all military so…”

“This is very thorough,” Gagasi finally said, closing the binder and tucking it into a satchel at her side. “It must have taken you some time to put this together. We appreciate the effort.” Khanisa straightened back up and nodded.

“So much time…” Rarity sighed under her breath.

“Why are our movements restricted, Kanali Sparkle?” Trafalgar broke in, gaining the attention of the others as well. “Are we not allies? Does Equestria not trust their Zebrican brethren?” The non-smile was back on his lips as he looked down at the smaller purple unicorn. “...Or is it simply Stripe-Bane who does not trust?”

Twilight’s mood instantly soured again as she turned to meet the older stallion’s challenge. She didn’t take his bait though. “As I said: we recommend that you keep your crew away from certain areas. It’s not about ‘trust’; it’s about their safety. Areas of the fort that are undergoing maintenance and repair, the armories, the cargo transfer points, places that aren’t going to be of much benefit to somecreature trying to enjoy shore leave, and could actually be dangerous to visit if you don’t know what dangers to even be aware of in the first place.

“If you want to wander around the East Tower, Kapteni, be my guest!” Twilight waved her hoof in the direction of one of the towers abutting the fort’s main spire, one which was presently ringed by scaffolding while it underwent renovations to accommodate additional foreign embassy suites as other races expressed interest in establishing Missions on Harmony. “Just don’t come crying to Major Rarity when you’re crushed to death by a falling sack of stones.” There had already been a lethal accident since the renovations had started. Which was actually better than was typical for work of that scope…

“The colonel is being perfectly reasonable, Kapteni,” Zecora finally broke in, eyeing the broader stallion critically. There was a slight edge to her tone, and Twilight saw the ears of the ship’s captain pin back upon hearing it. “You would tell any visitor aboard the Dominance not to venture into the magazines and boiler rooms, would you not?” He nodded, clearing his throat and wincing. Twilight thought he almost looked like a foal who’d been reprimanded by their mother.

“As a visitor to Colonel Sparkle’s fortress, you should be more respectful. She is the ‘kapteni’ here, Trafalgar,” the ambassador admonished, and not very lightly.

The captain actually kneeled towards the ambassador now, bending a foreleg as he did so. “Nsamehe, Holi-Khulu—”

“Speak Equestrian!” Zecora snapped suddenly, and with considerably more bite in her tone that Twilight had even thought the striped mare was capable of—let alone had ever heard. Not even when speaking with Ambassador Gilda. The ambassador had actually sounded almost angry…and the purple unicorn was finding it difficult to fathom why.

Sure, Trafalgar was being a bit of an ass, but it wasn’t anything that Twilight hadn’t encountered before. In the unicorn’s own experience, a lot of zebra veterans from The Great War—or, as the zebras called it: The Equestrian Campaign—weren’t huge fans of hers. It wasn’t anything new to her, and she expected the treatment to endure for quite some time into the future.

“...And use my proper title, kapteni,” Zecora said. Twilight almost missed the brief shift of the ambassador’s eyes in her own direction as she spoke to Trafalgar.

The cruiser’s captain swallowed. The other two zebras standing near him had visibly paled in the aftermath of Zecora’s earlier command. They bent their foreleg and knelt now as well. “Your forgiveness…Ambassador.”

Twilight privately decided that she needed to do a little more research into the finer workings of the Zebrican government. The naval officer had just uttered Zecora’s title with a much more reverent inflection that Twilight ever would have if she’d been speaking to one of her own government’s political appointees. The unicorn was mostly certain that zebra society didn’t have a noble class or anything similar…

Admittedly, it wasn’t like she’d studied a lot of academic sources on Zebrican society prior to the war. In her defense, there hadn’t been any. Not in Equestria, anyway.

“Your trip was a long one, and you are doubtlessly tired as a result,” Zecora said by way of excusing the lapse in courtesy on the ship captain’s behalf. “Which is why you are here to partake in shore leave,” she concluded for him.

“I think you would do well to return to your ship and finalize the rotation of your crew, kapteni. You and I will have an opportunity to speak again later. In private.”

None of the three still-kneeling zebras looked up to meet Zecora’s gaze. Twilight saw Trafalgar swallow again. Zecora turned her attention now to Twilight, her expression soft and the familiar gentle smile on her lips. “Thank you for your help in accommodating our sailors, colonel. I greatly appreciate your efforts.” The ambassador issued a polite nod of her head in Twilight and Rarity’s direction and turned to depart from the pier. Her attendant, Grevy, followed in the ambassador’s wake, giving the two ponies a wordless nod as well.

Only when they had left the pier did the officers rise back up onto their hooves. Gagasi and Khanisa reopened the binder that Twilight had given them and stepped away to start discussing its contents in their own language in low tones. Trafalgar took a slow breath before turning to regard Twilight once more. The next words looked like they had needed to be physically pulled out from his throat.

“I am…sorry…for my words and…behavior, Stri—Kanali Sparkle.” It took him another moment to bring himself to say the next words. “I am tired. My tongue outpaced my thoughts.” The other two zebras were very determindly looking like they were not paying attention to the exchange. Sometimes their ears were even facing in the proper direction to not be listening in on it.

There was a lot that Twilight could have said to the old stallion—a lot that she wanted to say—in light of his earlier rudeness. However, she’d never been in the habit of kicking a surrendered opponent during the war; and she wasn’t about to get into it now. “Your apology is accepted, Kapteni Trafalgar. I hope that you and your crew find suitable rest on Harmony.

“Enjoy your stay.”

Twilight turned and started departing the pier as well. Rarity fell in at her side. “Well…that was certainly a ‘thing’; wasn’t it, colonel?”

The purple unicorn saw what her XO was attempting to do, but Twilight wasn’t up for being distracted right now. Her mind was too occupied with trying to solve some of the new variables that had been presented to her. “I need you to go to the library.”

“Pardon?”

“The library,” Twilight repeated, “in The Citadel. I need you—or for you to send somepony—to go to the library and pull every book and scroll we have on how the zebra government is structured. Some language books too. I want to know what ‘Holi-Khulu’ means.”

“Whatever for, colonel?”

“Did you see how those zebras were kneeling back there?” Twilight’s streaked tail casually flicked in the direction of the uniformed zebras behind them. “Not ‘bowing’—kneeling! I’ve never seen zebra officers kneel like that—especially officer’s of Trafalgar’s rank—not even to generals.

“Zecora’s an ambassador—some government appointee. They acted like she was royalty.”

“We’ve seen griffons act that way towards government officials,” Rarity felt compelled to point out.

“Most griffon government officials are members of the nobility. They aren’t given that level of respect because of their position in the government; they get given their positions in their government as a sign of respect,” Twilight absently corrected her executive officer, her thoughts still swirling with explanations for what she’d seen…and coming up with few that stood up to more than a second of scrutiny. “Zebras don’t have a noble class—or at least I’ve never heard of one.

“That’s why I want you to find the books we have on the subject.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll get on it once I’m back at The Citadel.” A brief pause, then, “If I may, colonel: why do you seem so set on this? So what if Ambassador Zecora has some level of social status in zebra society that gets her a little extra respect or grants her some authority that a regular Equestrian ambassador wouldn’t have; what does that really matter?”

It was a fair question, Twilight knew; especially since she was giving her second-in-command a decent bit of extra work because of her concern over this matter. Twilight probably did owe the other unicorn an explanation. “I want to know how far her authority goes with other zebras. She has enough clout to put a senior naval officer in his place; what about a wealthy civilian trying to circumvent cargo handling duties? Can I go directly to her to get it sorted out, or do I need to send a scroll all the way back to Roam for results?”

Twilight simply hadn’t felt comfortable giving Rarity the real explanation…

The purple unicorn’s thoughts drifted back to the dinner that she’d shared with Zecora—the conversation that the two of them had had about the Council meeting. The words that had been used—

She said that she ‘knows me’, but insists that we’ve never met…
No…she insisted on the phrase: ‘never formally introduced’.
That’s not the same thing.
Zecora and I have met before, she just won’t tell me where or when.
I hadn’t met many zebras before getting picked to command Harmony
Or, rather: I hadn’t ‘been formally introduced’ to many zebras.
I ‘met’ a lot of them during the war…

Did that mean that Zecora was…?

—Ambassadors, by their profession, were very particular about the words that they used. They had to be. After all, there was a world of difference between: ‘being belligerent’ and ‘being a belligerent’. And only a single word of difference.

Zecora was hiding things. Usually that wouldn’t bother Twilight all that much. The zebra was serving as an ambassador for her government; she was supposed to hide things from the other representatives as part of her negotiating tactics—Twilight was hiding things!

The striped mare hiding secrets about her government’s interests on certain sensitive matters was one thing though. Twilight could let that slide.

But Zecora was hiding things about Twilight, and that was a different matter entirely.

“I see. I suppose I can see what you’re after,” Rarity said. “I’ll have somepony drop off the books I find sometime tomorrow, I should think.”

“Thank you, major; I appreciate it.”

“De rien, colonel; think nothing of it.” Rarity smiled and issued a small dismissive wave of her hoof. “Is there anything else you’d like me to look into?”

“No, I think that should cover things.” Twilight glanced up towards the nearest clocktower. “I have a meeting with Captain Applejack I need to get to. She’s going to brief me on the weapon emplacements on the bastions.

“Carry on, major. I’ll see you at the evening briefing.” Twilight exchanged a brief salute with the ivory unicorn before trotting off to meet with her military police commander.

---

Harmony Fortress was a truly massive installation; unprecedented in her size—at least where pony history was concerned. The island was ringed by literal miles of protective fortifications. dozens of smaller individual bastions protruded out into the sea in concert with its six primary points, providing the fort with interlocking fields of fire from thousands of the large cannons which made up Harmony’s shore batteries.

To properly mare every gun simultaneously required ten thousand or more ponies. Such a force would have been an army all its own. Keeping those soldiers fed and housed would have required just about the entirety of the island’s imported resources and available space, leaving hardly any room for the workers and infrastructure required to sustain its trading capabilities. Harmony would have truly been nothing more than a military installation in such a case.

So, in the interests of maintaining Harmony’s status as a viable trading hub, and cutting down on the cost to the Equestrian government to operate the fortress, there weren’t enough trained ponies to operate every gun that made up her batteries. All told, there were enough members of the island’s artillery section to reasonably operate approximately five percent of the available guns simultaneously.

This didn’t sound like all that many at a glance, Twilight conceded; but when compared to the total number of guns available, it still represented hundreds of pieces being operated all at once. Against even one of the zebra’s more advanced and well-armored warships, that would prove quite a daunting amount of firepower to face off against.

Though the marepower disparity did mean that the island’s defenders would be hard-pressed to fend off coordinated attacks from a multitude of angles. At a glance, that too would have looked like quite the oversight. Of course, the reality was that any naval force which arrived in sufficient numbers to surround Harmony Fortress would also have had more than enough ships to outright blockade the island anyway. Realistically, such a hypothetical force wouldn’t even need to engage Hormany’s defensive batteries. They could just anchor out at sea and wait for the inhabitants to run out of food.

In a way, Harmony Fortress’ defenses were more performative than substantive. The island couldn’t be left entirely undefended, obviously; otherwise they’d inevitably be raided by pirates looking to acquire some valuables with little risk to their vessels. Of course, installing any defensive emplacements which were obviously capable of demolishing the odd pirate ship or raiding flotilla would never end up being used for such a purpose: the would-be pirates would turn around the moment their lookout counted their way past the hundredth canon and realized they were still looking at the same projecting bastion!

Barring a genuinely suicidal pirate crew looking to die in a blaze of glory and cannon fire, Harmony’s shore batteries would never fire a shot in anger. Which suited Twilight just fine, if she was being perfectly honest.

Of course, there was something to be said for knowing that the fortress could repel a hypothetical attacker to great effect which let the installation’s commander sleep a little more soundly at night.

“—An’ we’ve managed t’ wallop targets out ta three whole miles with these new guns!” Captain Applejack said as she and Twilight watched the gun crew finish up loading the piece that they were preparing to fire for the demonstration.

The purple unicorn shifted her attention out to sea, where a small raft had been towed and anchored into position about two miles from the island’s shore. It was a rather simple construction: some lashed-together logs which supported a sturdy section of wall meant to replicate the hull of a ship. Twilight noted that the wall in question had steel sheeting fastened to wooden framing, much like would be found in the construction of griffon steamships.

Twilight idly wondered how Ambassador Gilda would feel if she found out about that. She also wondered if the reason that Applejack hadn’t opted for a mock-up of a zebra ship’s hull was due to the presence of the cruiser anchored in the bay.

If so, then the unicorn applauded the security mare’s discretion.

The gun crew completed loading their round and aiming the weapon at the—mostly—stationary target. They passed Applejack a hoof signal that they were ready to fire and the orange earth pony gave them a nod. Twilight used her telekinesis to make final adjustments to the formed wax stopper that she’d placed into her ears as the gun captain for the crew gave an earth pony holding the firing lanyard the signal to pull.

It felt to Twilight like every part of her body vibrated with the sound of the blast. Several seconds later, out at sea, the purple unicorn saw the spout of water as the projectile bounced off the surface…about two ponylengths to the left of the raft that the crew had been aiming for.

Honestly, Twilight didn’t think that it had been a bad shot under the circumstances. The crew had certainly gotten the range and elevation right. Had the target raft been as broad as an actual cruiser or battleship, the vessel would absolutely have been impacted by the shot.

That didn’t mean that Applejack was satisfied with the performance of one of her gun crews though. “Reload!” the sturdy earth pony mare bellowed. “This time try aimin’ at it with both yer eyes open, Caramel!

“If y’all ain’t on target this time, Ah’mma have ya swim out to it an’ knock it over, y’hear?!”

Twilight heard the chorus of muffled acknowledgements as the ponies scrambled to pull the gun back from the wall on its carriage and began to swiftly reload it. As Twilight eyed the bags of pre-measured powder being carried towards the bore to be loaded she leaned closer to Applejack so that the earth pony could hear her through her own plugged ears.

“That’s a little harsh. They came pretty close, all things considered.”

“‘Close’ is for tossin’ horseshoes,” the orange mare scoffed in reply. “Ain’t no ship e’er been sunk by a cannonball lan’in’ ‘close’ to ‘em!”

“That target out there is a lot smaller than a ship,” the unicorn tried once more to excuse the unsatisfactory—to Applejack—performance of the gun crew.

They were loading in the shell now. It was no ‘cannonball’ as the captain had alluded to, but rather one of the newer conical explosive-packed munitions that had recently been developed. They didn’t quite pack the same punch as those employed by the zebras—Twilight understood that they used something with a little more ‘pizzazz’ than simple gunpowder for their charges—but they were more than capable of causing massive damage to a target.

Supposing that they actually hit it.

“A ship’s broadside maybe,” the other mare conceded, “but what about’a bow profile? Lahk when a ship’s common’ right at us? That right there’s about the size of a frigate makin’ an approach.” This time it was Twilight who was forced to concede the observation with a nod.

“Now, maybe a ship ain’t gonna be doin’ a lotta shootin’ at us like that—certainly not at two miles out,” Applejack continued. “But Ah can’t see no reason to let’em get close enough t’where they’re comfortable shootin’ broadsides at us.

“Better we sink’em before they get that close, I reckon. We got an elevated position and a sturdier firin’ platform,” the earth pony stomped her hoof on the stone flooring of the bastion. “Ah aim to capitalize on it.”

Now the mare’s emerald eyes narrowed at the gun crew—specifically their captain. “An someponies better aim period! Caramel!”

The amber earth pony—whom Twilight assumed was the stallion in question—winced beneath the felt glare of his superior officer as he climbed up to check the muzzle’s sighting. Then he checked it again. Then a third time. He moved to climb back down…then he hesitated and took another sighting.

Applejack apparently decided he was taking long enough. “Today, corporal!”

Caramel jerked and hopped down from the gun. He took hold of the readied lanyard in his teeth, checked the positions of the rest of his crew around the breech of the weapon, and gave the rope a firm yank. Once more, the mighty gun bucked and roared. Once more, Twilight turned to peer at the distant raft.

It erupted in a geyser of water, splinters, and twisted metal sheeting. Most of the gun crew cheered at their success. Caramel’s hind end collapsed as a wave of relief visibly crashed over his features.

For her part, Captain Applejack looked genuinely satisfied…for about half a second. She had managed to mask the expression by the time she’d turned back to regard the gun crew, shooting them all an annoyed glare. “Now why couldn’t y’all’ve done that the first time? Makin’ me look bad in front of the commander by not gettin’ it in one, like Ah know y’can?” She chided, jabbing a hoof in Twilight’s direction.

“Report to the docks,” she snapped at the group. “Y’all’re gonna help the carpenters there make a dozen more target rafts. Then y’all’re gonna be up here at dawnbreak shootin’ at ‘em until ya don’t need to resight a target. Caramel.”

And with that, the collective cheer of the gun crew had been thoroughly quashed. The six-pony crew released a collective groan and went about standing the gun down. Twilight heard a few comments being muttered in the direction of their gun captain, and none of them were particularly flattering. The unicorn and earth pony officers turned and resumed the tour of the fortress’ defenses.

“I wish we’d had guns like that ten years ago,” Twilight said with a sigh, her magic plucking the wax from her ears before helping the commander of the military police company remove hers. “They probably wouldn’t have won us the war, but they’d have made the zebras hurt a little more…”

“Might’a kept ‘em at bay long enough to evacuate more ponies,” Applejack said. The purple unicorn walking beside her silently nodded in agreement.

The two mares said nothing for several long minutes as they continued their walk along the wall, occasionally pausing to check that guns had been properly stowed, their muzzles plugged to prevent seebirds from trying to make a home of their barrels. Twilight made notes of instances of rust that she saw. She penciled a reminder to herself to have an inspection off all the gun carriages conducted to replace bearings which were showing signs of corrosion.

“Y’all got any family what survived the war, colonel?”

The question surprised Twilight, both in its appearance and its subject matter, so it took her a moment to form her answer. “My parents. They were in Canterlot.”

“Lucked out, Ah guess.”

“Yeah. I guess.” Several long moments of silence. “You said you were from Dodge Junction? How about your family? Were they…you know?”

“Some,” Applejack confirmed stiffly. “Apples are a big family. We’re all over Equestria.” A grimace followed by a sigh. “Well…were, at any rate. Brother and sister both survived. They’re both here too; I relocated them to the island with me.

“Brother tends to the gardens. Mah sister…” The earth pony mare’s eyes narrowed as she turned to survey the interior of the island, as though searching for something. Twilight couldn’t imagine what the mare was looking for though. Not much was visible from where they were. A little bit of the more ‘lively’ part of Ponyville, but other than that…

“...She mostly causes problems.”

The mare’s ears lofted forward, seeking out distant sounds. Applejack maintained her stare for some time before finally relaxing and resuming her leisurely walk along the wall. “Not at the moment though. Shockin’ly…”

Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle. She recalled being something of a hoofful herself, in very specific ways. “Siblings; we love to hate them.”

“Yeah,” the orange earth pony sighed in agreement, a wistful smile curling the corner of her own lip. “We do at that.”

Applejack lifted her head, peering up into the air. Then she glanced over her shoulder towards Twilight. “Fancy an early supper, colonel?”

“I could eat,” the purple unicorn decided after a few moment’s thought. She hadn’t eaten a lot for lunch. Her relatively recent interaction with Trafalgar had left her appetite wanting at the time. Now though, she’d put it far enough behind her to feel like she could eat a proper meal this time. “Have a place in mind, captain?”

“Ah know a little place, sure. Follow me!”

The two mares descended from the wall and headed towards the fortress’ interior. It wasn’t too long after midday, and the streets were still filled with creatures going about their errands and getting in a little shopping like they usually did. If there was anything different about today, it was that Twilight spotted a few more uniformed zebras than she was used to seeing. Most were wearing the blue or red uniforms of the Zebrican navy and marines; almost certainly members of the Dominance’s crew.

They traveled mostly in pairs or trios, from what the unicorn was seeing, with few groups being much larger than five. Judging from the sections of the markets that they were concentrated in, most of them were availing themselves to the fresher fruits and vegetables for sale in the markets than what was available to them back on the ship. There also seemed to be a good number of them patronizing the local bars and taverns.

“It’s right over here,” Applejack said, directing the purple unicorn towards an otherwise unassuming stall which had a couple of tables out in front of it. The sign above it read: ‘Windy’s’, next to a painted sign depicting a young grinning mare with her mane done up in a pair of braids. “They’ve got the best soyburgers on the island,” the earth pony insisted. “Decent enough hayfries too.”

The pair placed their orders for two of the specials and then relaxed at one of the tables. Twilight found her mind wandering as she watched the activity around her. Ponies, zebras, griffons, minotaurs, and a menagerie of other creatures all wandered the streets, browsing wares and ordering food. The sight brought a smile to the unicorn’s face. The various creatures of the world, going about their day in the company of one another. Existing together…

It was…nice. It gave Twilight hope.

Well, the illusion of hope anyway, the mare supposed with a bitter thought. There were more variables at play than might immediately occur to the casual observer: for one, the population on Harmony didn’t consist of anything that might even be charitably considered to be a ‘random sample’. The island’s inhabitants weren’t just any old collection of creatures: they were all on Harmony because they wanted to be on Harmony. These beings wanted to live among other races. Whether to facilitate business, to learn, because they had a fascination with ‘the foreign’—the reasons might be their own, but the result was the same:

This was ‘artificial’ harmony. Harmony of coincidence.

Twilight knew that, if she went back to Canterlot, she wouldn’t find many non-pony races outside of the diplomatic enclaves. The same would be true for Roam, Griffonstone, Smog…the overwhelming majority of creatures had no interest in living among other races. They preferred their own kind—the familiar.

Harmony Fortress was an anomaly. In many ways, it was even an experiment.

One with a lot of variables—

Applejack was the first to pick up on the disturbance. Her ears perked up, turning in concert to face the direction from which the subtle shift in atmosphere appeared to be originating. Twilight picked up on the rising emotions in the air a few seconds later when she noticed that a lot of other creatures making their way along the road were slowing their pace and turning their heads in one particular direction.

Silence began to descend.

It allowed both mares to more easily pick out the yelling.

Both ponies were out of their seats and moving at a gallop, their half-eaten meals forgotten, the moment they heard the sound of breaking glass.

“So help me…if those two are at it again—!” Applejack was snarling as she raced ahead of the smaller purple unicorn. Twilight did her best to keep up with the faster mare, but it was always hard to match an earth pony’s raw physical attributes. Twilight did silently share the head of security’s sentiment though: she really didn’t want to have to deal with the aftermath of one of Gilda and Ember’s fights right now. Not after what she’d gone through with Trafalgar this morning.

Much to the two mares’ surprise—though by no means their relief—neither ambassador appeared to be present at the site of the disturbance. Indeed, while there was genuinely a fight going on in the middle of one of the district’s more narrow streets, there wasn’t much of a sign of any griffons or dragons being involved in it.

The belligerents in this instance were limited to ponies and zebras. The former wearing blue uniforms that were similar to Twilights, while the latter wore scarlet.

Oh no…

If Applejack was struck by the parallel between this fight and The Great War, the broad-shouldered orange earth pony gave no sign. She simply leaped into the middle of the fray and started bucking combatants away from one another. Several other ponies, dressed in the gray vests which identified them as belonging to the fortress’ military police, soon arrived on the scene and quickly charged in to try and separate the equines as well. However, with the melee already in full swing, the ponies and zebras involved were effectively oblivious to anything beyond their immediate opponent.

She tried to use her telekinesis to haul ponies and zebras apart from one another, but it was difficult for her to manage holding multiple targets like that simultaneously. Likewise, her shouted orders for the ponies nominally under her command to withdraw were going unheeded. Nopony was listening to her, and Twilight couldn’t yell loud enough to get their attention.

Twilight ground her teeth in frustration. Her gaze darted towards more crimson-coated zebras rounding a corner. There was little doubt in the purple mare’s mind that the fight would escalate if it wasn’t stopped completely; and soon.

The unicorn’s magic lanced out towards a nearby stall that was peddling in cheap jewelry, snagging an opal pendant. It wasn’t a particularly high-quality stone. In fact, in Twilight’s own opinion, even the suspiciously discounted price was far higher than the quality of the gemstone justified. However, poor quality or not, the purple mare judged that it would suffice.

She focused her magic and cast her spell. A moment later, Twilight whipped the now-glowing opal into the air above the mass of brawling equines.

In a technical sense, the result was an ‘explosion’. However, to have described the event as such would have doubtlessly conjured an image in the mind that far exceeded the actual spectacle Twilight created. To borrow an expression used by the diamond dogs: the blast was ‘all bark and no bite’. Loud yes; but not destructive to any noteworthy extent. At least, beyond the temporary damage that might have been done to an eardrum or two.

Twilight’s efforts had the desired effect though: the sound of what could forgivably be mistaken for a grenade detonating above their heads made every combatant pause. Punches and kicks alike froze mid-delivery as all eyes went skyward. Yells and curses died in slack jaws.

There was silence.

Then Twilight was shouting: “Stand down!” Ears, both striped and pastel, pinned back as heads turned in the direction of the uniformed purple officer. “Break this up; now!” Ponies and zebras each tentatively released their opponents and started to back away. Those who couldn’t stand up were dragged by their comrades. Those who weren’t moving fast enough for Applejack’s liking were ‘helped’ along by her security ponies. The zebras likewise started to police their own.

For the most part, anyway. Twilight’s gaze was immediately drawn to one part of the mob where a pony and zebra pair looked to still be trying to continue the fight. Fortunately, each was being held back by their fellows. “I said: this fight is over!” the unicorn snapped, irritably as she stomped her way over to where the snarling equines were still trying to get at one another.

The Equestrian of the pair, a soft pink earth pony mare whose uniform sleeve bore the—now mostly torn off—chevrons of a sergeant, snapped back at Twilight. “This bitch killed Sage Brush!”

The unicorn mare stalled. Her amethyst eyes darted to a forest green stallion laying on the ground nearby. One of his comrades and a gray-vested security pony were already looking him over. However, even from where Twilight was standing, she could see that the bloodied stallion was dead. She’d seen enough death to recognize it easily.

Her eyes now turned towards the snarling zebra mare that was still struggling to get free of the stallions straining to hold her back. While it was hard to spot on her crimson uniform’s coat, the blood splattered across her face and dripping from her shoed hooves was easy enough to spot.

“Alinishambulia!” The striped mare spat, unhelpfully. Her repetition of the word didn’t aid Twilight with its comprehension.

One of her companions, at least, appeared to know some Equestrian. Or, at least, was calm enough to bother to speak it. “Pony attack!” He yelled in Twilight’s direction, clearly having deduced that she had authority over the ponies. “Pony attack!” He jabbed his hoof at the dead stallion before pounding his own chest. “Zebra defend!”

“Horseapples!” The pink mare snarled back. “You lying stripe! Sage didn’t do shit to you!” Her tear-filled sapphire eyes locked onto Twilight now as well. “They started it, ma’am!” At least somepony finally recognized that Twilight was an officer, the unicorn thought to herself. “They tried pushing us out of our bar!”

The mare’s eyes returned to the zebras now, glaring with rage. “That’s all stripes know how to fucking do: push ponies out of their homes!”

“Remember Palomino!” A pony within the mob that Applejack was rounding up for questioning shouted out, rekindling the familiar warcry that had been used early on in the war. A few other ponies echoed it. Once more, Twilight could feel the air becoming charged with hate.

“At ease!” Once more her authoritative shout was enough to bring about silence. “Captain Applejack, round up everypony here and take them to the stockade. We’ll figure out who did what from there—”

“Kanali Sparkle!” Twilight’s head turned towards the source of the yell. The origin proved to be the small party of zebras she’d noticed approaching earlier. At the head of the group was a familiar young stallion that she’d met that morning. Khanisa strode up to the unicorn, his gaze only briefly flicking to the nearby zebra marines who were all stiffening to attention upon seeing him approach.

“Kanali, I cannot allow you to take my zebras into custody. They are not Equestrians. You have no authority over them,” the officer, much more junior than Twilight, insisted.

The unicorn frowned. “Whether they are Equestrian citizens or not, this island is, Luteni; I enforce the laws here against anycreature.”

“The Zebrican Conclave does not recognize the authority of other governments over our citizens,” Khanisa reiterated. “Regardless of whose territory it is.

“I cannot allow them to be imprisoned by you, Kanali. I am sorry.”

For what it might be worth to Twilight, the young stallion’s final words at least sounded sincere. Regardless, it was clear that Applejack didn’t seem to care for what the marine officer was saying any more than Twilight did. “Now hol’ on there a minute! A pony died here; an’ Ah need to investigate that. Which means that Ah need access to all the witnesses an’ suspects,” she waved her hoof around to encompass all of the uniformed equines. “Zebras included!”

“We will question our own,” Khanisa affirmed.

“An’ Ah’m just supposed to take yer word for they tell you—?!” Applejack nearly spat back.

“Captain…” Twilight didn’t quite growl in warning at her subordinate. The orange earth pony shot her superior a quick glare before snorting and turning her attention back to at least sorting out the detention of all of the ponies involved in the fighting.

The purple unicorn took a breath before continuing her discussion with the marine officer. “Luteni, while I can appreciate the position that you feel you’re in as their commanding officer, I can not allow suspects in a murder investigation to walk around free.”

“They will be held aboard the Dominance,” Khanisa assured her.

“Having them aboard a ship that can leave at any minute is hardly an improvement!” Twilight shot back tersely. “Whether you ‘recognize Equestrian authority’ or not, I assume that zebras still treat killing somecreature as a serious offense, don’t you?”

“Only so long as the killing was not justified.” The stallion nodded in the direction of the bloodied mare. “My marine says she was attacked by the pony.”

“She’s a lying bitch—!”

Twilight ignored the outburst which sounded to have come from the same pink mare from earlier. “My ponies say that your zebras were the aggressors. Until we have conducted a thorough investigation and questioned all of those involved, we can’t know who is lying.”

“My marines do not lie!” Khanisa snarled, charging a step closer to Twilight fast enough that the unicorn briefly wondered if he might actually make contact with her. While the lieutenant didn’t actually touch Twilight, the unicorn got the feeling that he very much wanted to. “Live, fight, die; A’Skari do all things with honor!”

“What ‘honor’ was there in burning Dodge Junction to the ground?”

Twilight heard the orange security head’s low growl. The flick of Khanisa’s ear suggested that the zebra had too. He seemed to be willing to let the remark slide without comment though. His gaze never left Twilight’s. “If my marine says the pony attacked first, then it is so, and his death was his own folly.”

“Why you little—!”

“Captain Applejack!” Twilight called out, not diverting her own attention from the marine commander. “Get these ponies to the stockade. Now.”

There was no immediate move to comply with her order. “...And the zebras, colonel?”

“We will deal with our own.”

It wasn’t Khanisa who spoke this time though. A new voice entered the discussion, if a familiar one. Twilight turned to see Zecora approaching them. She almost missed the aborted attempt by the marine lieutenant to kneel.

“Ambassador Zecora, as I was explaining to the Luteni,” Twilight said with audible strain in her voice. She wasn’t looking forward to arguing with the Zebrican ambassador in public. “This is an active investigation; we can’t allow suspects in a murder to leave the island.”

Zecora said nothing for several moments. Her gaze wandered the surrounding section of market, taking in the bloodied zebras and ponies, as well as the dead stallion lying on the street. When those turquoise finally returned to Twilight, they were unyielding. “The zebras will be held aboard the Dominance.” Before Twilight could reiterate her objection, the striped mare held up a hoof. “The Dominance shall not leave her anchorage until this matter is resolved.

“You have my word on this. I will make this stipulation clear to Kapteni Trafalgar.”

Twilight frowned. She looked back towards Applejack, who wasn’t looking particularly swayed by the assurance of the ambassador. However, she did at least nod her head in reluctant acceptance before she turned her full attention to getting the involved ponies into custody. Presumably somepony was contacting the clinic about collecting the body of the dead stallion.

“Fine,” the purple unicorn relented. “But Captain Applejack and her investigators will be granted access to the suspects for questioning whenever they request it.” It was not a request; it was a condition. Zecora’s nod suggested that she would indeed treat it as one. Twilight then returned her gaze to Khanisa and nodded, stepping aside to let him collect his battered marines.

“I appreciate your understanding on this matter, Colonel Sparkle,” Zecora said.

“I don’t understand, ambassador; not really,” Twilight countered, an edge present in her voice. “But I am trusting you.”

The striped mare inclined her head slightly. “Then I appreciate your trust,” she corrected gently. The pair stood together for a time as Applejack cleared out the uniformed ponies and Khanisa cleared out the uniformed zebras. It wasn’t long before the two equines were standing with the body in relative seclusion. A number of the fortress’ security ponies had established a perimeter around the scene to keep other creatures away.

Somepony was on their way to get word to Doctor Fluttershy about the fatality. The pegasus would arrange for the collection and autopsy from there.

“Ten years.”

Zecora said nothing.

“We only managed to go ten years without a zebra killing a pony. Soldiers, no less.” Twilight’s scoff couldn’t have been more derisive at the thought.

“Equestrian and Zebrican soldiers, fighting in the streets—killing each other…

“...We haven’t made any progress at all, have we?” Twilight turned now to look at the zebra standing beside her. She idly wondered if she was hoping to find answers to her question. If she was, none were apparent on the impassive striped face of the other equine.

“Milia haibadi mara nyingi majira.” Zecora stated solemnly. At Twilight’s questioning look, she elaborated: “‘One’s stripes do not change as often as the seasons’.”

The unicorn frowned. “I was under the impression a zebra’s stripes never changed at all.”

The corner of the ambassador’s mouth twitched slightly as she nodded in acknowledgement. “The ones on our bodies do not,” she conceded. She reached up and touched her hoof to her head. “But, up here; those stripes can shift. It is just slow.

“It takes words, and action, and time—a lot of time.”

Zecora put her hoof back down and shrugged. “Perhaps you and I, Colonel Sparkle, will never see a world where ponies and zebras stand flank-to-flank in sisterhood.” The twitch at the corner of her mouth finally broke free into a smile, if only a wan one. “But, I hold out hope that our foals might know such a world. Or, if not them, their foals after them.

“In my heart, I believe the world will someday know peace.” Her eyes returned to the body. The smile melted away. “Just not today.”

“No,” Twilight agreed with a heavy sigh, “not today.”

Author's Note:

Can't we all just get along!

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Comments

[Javarod]

12002341
Fully agree, I think Sinclair was a bit of a dead end character, Sheridan proved far more versatile.

Definitely, the studio didn't like him, but I'm sure Strakzynski would've fought to keep him had it been an option.

So far, now that I've gotten to the latest chapter, I'm enjoying it so far, I think you've done a good job, I'm really curious who Pinkie is an analogue for.