Story
The cold grey skies looked heavy and dense, pressing down on the world like thick blankets. The black ocean below was unyielding, as inhospitable and impenetrable as obsidian.
A breeze ruffled Fluttershy’s pink mane as she stood in the bridge station atop the submarine’s sail. She peeked over the edge at the dark water streaming by below. The cylindrical hull of the vessel was mostly underwater, only a thin wake marking its passage towards the open ocean.
Two other mares stood with Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. All three were outfitted with heavy winter coats to withstand the frigid winds blowing across the water. The standard-issue Navy caps were also present as part of the uniform.
The mares carried binoculars, scanning the horizon to ensure the submarine would not run afoul of anything while it proceeded on the surface. Fortunately, that time was coming to an end.
“Skipper, we have four hundred feet of water below the keel!” sang a bubbly voice from the intercom.
Fluttershy pressed the button. “Thank you Ms. Pie. We’ll be down shortly.”
The mare took one last look around the bridge, glancing at the uninviting sky. Even as a pegasus, Fluttershy had never been at home in the air. She’d always preferred to spend her time at sea level. She smiled. Or below it.
“Clear the bridge and make preparations for dive, girls,” said Fluttershy.
“Aye, Captain,” chorused the other two ponies. They made their way below. Fluttershy descended the ladder after them, checking the watertight hatch. Once it was secured, she dropped down into the control room.
The compartment was rather cramped, as most accommodations aboard submarines tended to be. A periscope took up the center of the room, with the helm and a sonar station along the bulkheads. A pink mare sat at her helm position, steering and plane controls close at hoof. She grinned at the three new arrivals. A white unicorn primly sat with the sonar headphones over her ears, pausing in her task to nod a greeting.
Rainbow went forward through a watertight door to enter the torpedo compartment. Twilight took up station next to the submarine’s vital systems board. Fluttershy popped her head aft to check the engine room. “Hello, how are things?”
An orange earth pony raised her head from a set of complicated controls. “Everything’s just fine, Captain. The reactor’s runnin’ as smooth as can be.”
Fluttershy smiled, pleased at Applejack’s engineering skills. “Glad to hear it.”
Coming back to the control center, Fluttershy noted that Twilight had already begun preparing for dive. She looked up, waiting for Fluttershy's orders.
“Bottom’s dropping,” reported Pinkie. “The water is now seven hundred feet and increasing.”
“Ms. Sparkle, make our depth four hundred feet, please,” said Fluttershy. Twilight nodded and began flipping switches. Bubbles of air foamed around the steel hull as ballast tanks began to suck in water to make the submarine heavier.
A few seconds passed. Fluttershy glanced at the water level indicator, seeing that the bridge she’d just left had almost slipped beneath the waves. “Could we have ahead two-thirds power, please?”
“Sure thing, Captain!” called Applejack, edging the throttle forward.
“Ms. Pie, please give us ten degrees down on the fairwater planes and hold steady course.”
“Aye aye, ma’am!” called Pinkie, setting the submarine’s diving planes to push the hull down through the depths. As the angle down increased, Fluttershy felt the deck beneath her hooves begin to take a slant. Once the decent was set, however, Pinkie eased off and began making ready to find the designated depth.
“Nothing to report so far, Captain,” said Rarity, listening carefully to her sonar equipment. “Some biological contacts, but nothing big enough to be concerned about.”
Fluttershy nodded seriously. Fish could get clear of the submarine, but it certainly wouldn’t do to run into a whale.
“Approaching depth,” reported Twilight as the sub leveled off at four hundred feet below the surface. On the way down, the hull had creaked and groaned under the stress of water pressure, but that was normal. It was designed to withstand much more before failing.
Fluttershy adjusted her cap and stepped to the center of the control room. “All right girls, we have an important mission ahead of us. We all know how dangerous Sea Ponies can be. They used to be our allies, but it’s too bad they betrayed us. I want everypony to give your best effort, if that’s okay with you.”
The rest of the crew murmured in agreement, with the exception of Rainbow who whooped in joy. “Finally! I’ve been waiting to use these new torpedoes forever!”
Fluttershy did not like the more grim aspects of her duty, but recognized the need for it. It helped to think of enemy subs as merely machines that did not contain other ponies. Then again, they probably thought the same thing about her, and—
“Captain, we might have a new contact, approximate bearing twenty degrees off the port bow,” announced Rarity. “I assess that it is submerged, six hundred fifty feet below the surface, plus or minus thirty.”
That was not a perfectly exact location, but amazing for merely listening to headphones. Rarity was really very precise at her job. Fluttershy asked Applejack to ease the throttle to one-third and advised the rest to keep as silent as possible.
The turbines driving the sub’s bronze propeller slowed, easing off the speed. Applejack, sensing a conflict ahead, began turning down nonessential equipment but kept the reactor’s output up in case a burst of power was required. The nuclear fission inside its protected pressure container was much more a science than an art, but somehow the farm pony had become an expert. Fluttershy was still not sure how, and while she trusted Applejack’s word that their bodily radiation intake was actually lower than being exposed to sunlight, she was not completely okay with being aboard a small vessel with fission going on. She also wondered about potential ramifications involved with accusing Princess Celestia of causing cancer.
As the speed fell off, Rarity asked if it would be okay to bring the submarine to a new course to take proper advantage of its sonar hydrophone array. Fluttershy couldn’t say no, and ordered Pinkie to bring the wheel around.
“Captain, I recommend diving to six hundred fifty feet to check for a thermocline,” said Twilight. It was a good idea. Layers of different temperatures in the water could cause strange reactions with sonar.
The decent was slow and careful. Hull creaking now could make them a noisy target, as any enemy submarine would undoubtedly be listening to their own sonar. Twilight continually monitored the external temperature gauge. She pointed out a few readings to Rarity to help with the sonar efforts.
Regardless of the exact temperature, the water was chilly. Fluttershy bundled her coat a little tighter. Not only did the cold seep through the submarine’s steel hull, but the climate control didn’t help. The air conditioning was nuclear-powered, after all.
Rarity spoke quietly. “Positive contact, designate Sierra One. Bearing zero-zero-eight, range estimated at twenty thousand yards.”
Twilight began a chart to plot the contact. She marked a point eight degrees to the right of the sub’s bow and waited patiently for more information to update the track.
Minutes passed, and Fluttershy ordered another reduction in speed. By this point, the possibility of enemy action kept them all at bated breath. That was good—it made them even quieter.
Rarity finally gave a determination. “Contact Sierra One is probable Sea Pony submarine traveling at approximately six knots. Range is eighteen thousand yards and closing.”
“What’s the closest point of approach?” asked Fluttershy as Twilight hurriedly updated the chart.
After doing a few calculations, Twilight gave the answer. “They will pass within twenty-five hundred yards of this point if we stop now.”
Fluttershy nodded. “All stop. Helm, bring us to starboard to line up on an attack vector. Everypony please be quiet.”
The sub coasted to a stop, its bow pointed roughly where the enemy contact was expected to be. Rainbow actuated the controls that eased open the external doors on one of the torpedo tubes. The torpedo inside was busy warming up and getting ready to run.
All six of them stayed as still as possible, imitating a hole in the water. Fluttershy had much experience with silence. It was practically her second special talent.
The only sound was Rarity’s quiet whisper. Twilight kept updating the chart with sonar information. The data was relayed to Rainbow, who set up the torpedo with a targeting package.
The minutes ticked down. The torpedo could guide itself, but it was most efficient to launch it as straight as possible. As the moment approached, Rainbow slid her hoof over to the launching button.
“Fire!” squeaked Fluttershy.
A whoosh of air expelled the torpedo and its motors drove it through the sea. From such a short range the enemy submarine couldn’t help but detect its sound. Rarity reported the sub was turning away to run, but the torpedo was twice as fast. A loud explosion echoed through the ocean, loud enough to hear through the hull.
Fluttershy smiled. The Sea Ponies had paid for their treachery. “Yay.”
“I think she’s waking up.”
“No thanks to you.”
“Hey, how was I to know their silly foreign food would cause that?”
“I told you not to eat anything the Sea Ponies gave you.”
“But I thought it was just a little indigestion!”
The voices were strangely distorted. Fluttershy blinked, staring curiously up at the circle of faces around her. Each of them wore a gas mask. “Um, what happened? All I remember is a strange smell.”
Her friends looked at each other. “Maybe you’d like some fresh air,” suggested Twilight. “You passed out for a few minutes.”
They helped Fluttershy to get off the deck and showed her up the ladder to the bridge. The submarine was tied to the dock opposite a Sea Pony vessel that was visiting Equestria for a friendly diplomatic mission.
“Are we doing combined service chemical weapon drills?” called one of the Sea Ponies.
“Er, no!” answered Twilight, unstrapping her gas mask. “Just testing the equipment for fun.”
“Sounds great! We can come over and make it a party with another pot of our ten-bean chili.”
The six ponies aboard the Equestrian sub respectfully declined.
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Always knew Fluttershy had bit a vicious streak in her, quite and unassuming....perfect for the silent service. Wonder what her boat is called... Good job TnaB.
You know what....
That is awesome, downright awesome and, dang, I felt like I was right there watching the action on screen, just, dang, really good job. Really nicely done, saw no glaring mistakes and what not.
Hahaha, this was great, and might I add, dat ending!
This was great. I really enjoyed it, and I think that maybe there should be more to this.
Maybe another story, or a background article?
Or, if you wanted to be really creative, maybe you could do a ponyfication of a great submarine movie, Operation Petticoat.
2253172
"Archangel".
2256252
"Operation Petticoat"? Oh dear God that would be funny to ponyfy.
My stupid self thought of releasing gas.
Fluttershy; now voiced by Sean Connery. Have fun with that.
I didn't think it was about farts, that's for certain! encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSDa8knro6vdhHJIHYFsxxudFpB4MNrGbOKCN2Lf8tRfvEUr5GEdQ
The lengths some authors will go to just for a fart gag!
And this is not the first time I've ever seen the mane six subbed.
2258214 I request links.
I keep seeing Fics like this...I want to ask: "Why?" and that little bit of chaos in me whispers back: "Why not?"
Beautiful........
2258252
... subbed into French, in this case.
Oh. What did you think I meant? In a submarine? Closest I have is this underwater adventure: Filial!
The Hunt For Red October this fanfic remind me of it
And now I have the "SHOO BEE DOO" stuck in my mind.
Thank you, TnaB. Really, thank you.
Note to self: Let someone else handle the cooking if Fluttershy visits. I do not want something that adorable plotting my demise.
Also, I don't know how well this would apply to a live reactor on a sub, but this is a picture of how close you can get to spent nuclear fuel once it's been moved to a storage pool.
what-if.xkcd.com/imgs/a/29/pool_danger.png
Farts, I thought it would be about farts. Wait, that might have been a rhetorical question
I came expecting ninjas....
2258561From what I've been told, modern US submarines have reactors that are so well shielded, that when you're aboard the sub you actually get less radiation than normal because you're underwater and away from the sun. I stress modern and US
I love the 'it was all a dream' fakeout. I used one myself recently.
Well played, sir. Well played indeed
2258126
FlutterConnery...even manlier than Flutterguy, and twice as old
Most people ->
Me ->
Insta-fave'd!
I would have thought that Vinyl would have made a better sonar operator than Rarity
2258402
Also, this is probably one of my favorite parts from Synchronicity:
I couldn't help but hear Fluttershy's lines in the Battlecruiser captain's voice from StarCraft...
"Fluttercruiser, Operational."
I would totally sell my soul to see a Hunt for Red October MLP fic. Seriously.
I just gotta put this stuff out there for everyone. I'm a retired squid, and I really liked what you did here, especially not being a submariner yourself.
Got some gripes and compliments here:
Modern US subs have hulls made of 'HY80' or 'HY100' (special steel that can handle 80,000 pounds of pressure per square inch) which is a flexible metal that does not 'creak' or 'groan' when under the pressure of 800 feet or less.
You Fluttershy'd modern sub phraseology in her speech perfectly, actually they were all well done.
Submarine interiors are always cold, they only get colder at depth (600 +). The Air Conditioning runs all day everyday. Its the only source of cooling for all the electronic equipment onboard.
And on a serious note.
Farts are a big deal on a sub, yes there is air circulation and filtration, but they tend to linger longer on subs than anywhere else. I once encountered one rancid fart that had spread to most of the forward compartment. It was so bad we went to periscope depth and put up the snorkel to circulate it out. The A-ganger that did it got a (non-serious) ration of shit from the XO and got messed with for a few months after that. So yes, farts are a big deal on subs. Which is why this story is awesome, never would have imagined a war starting over bad gas.
Don't mind all that, short but awesome work. And I too would like to know the name of her boat.
And a word of advice for all non-Russians, don't trust Russian Chili. (No offence to any Russians)
2303162 Thank you, it means a lot. I'm still committed to help with your project in any way I can.
Coincidentally, it took me exactly as long to read this as the opening theme to Hunt for Red October lasts.
2259894
Maybe it was a prophetic vision
Upvote for the incredibly clever pun in the title.
I really liked the way Fluttershy was still herself but so definitely in command. Incredibly quiet but firm authority. And being world champion of sitting still and being quiet is good practice for imitating a hole in the water.
Had waaay too much fun reading this with Sean Connery voicing Flutters.
3136248 Funny, that's exactly how I wrote it.
I KNEW IT, I KNEW THERE WAS GOIN TA BE A FART JOKE!!!
What a lovely story, Shy Connery is best captain.
While I can totally by into colorful ponies commanding nuclear powered submarines - why would the sea ponies need one, aquatic as they are?
3356980 Uh, it's a reverse submarine. For venturing from the depths into the heights.
Finally read this one.
But I loled anyway.
"Bravo Sparkle....You knew when to shut up and enjoy the view. Most eggheads just want to talk it away. Your stock just went up a couple points."
Someone needs to make a whole story about this.
now im gonna have to download a submarine simulator. when I was young I use to play Tom Clancy: SSN and I loved it
3967904 If you like World War Two, I would heartily recommend anything from the Silent Hunter series.
3967915 thx. I was looking at the fith one but it has pretty bad reviews compared to the third. or is it something that's best to start with the first?
3967982 I only played 4, but I've heard good things about 3
Run Fluttershy, Run Deep
(Fluttershy is Silent)
2462559
Or how long the theme from crimson tide is for me.
Okay, I'm going to stop you right there, it is impossible for fission subs to be this silent, its why all Hunter-Killer submarines that are worth their salt are diesel-electric
9230130
I think you're trying to argue a point that was never made. I didn't say their nuclear submarine was less noisy than a diesel, I said they were minimizing the noise they made.