> Ponies, cannons, and war > by Fashionably Late > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1: Where am I? What's going on? And why am I a pony with cannons? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I like routine, perhaps a bit too much. From what I can remember I’d always wake up in bed and just lay there for a bit. Sometimes I’d try and get some more rest, sometimes I’d just stare at the ceiling or look around my room and think, sometimes I’d…probably shouldn’t mention that. Point is that I have a routine and I don’t like it when routine is thrown into disarray. I’d get angry at having it disrupted and confused and worried about what was going to happen and what I was supposed to do. Why am I bringing this up? Well, imagine being woken up to something that sounded like an explosion, having your head thrown up and opening up your eyes directly into the sun and having a curtain of cold water douse you. Yeah, needless to say I was awake, pissed and panicking. And, after shaking my head to get rid of the water and dancing white spots in my vision while being mindful of my glasses, taking a look around did not help. Once again, why? Well, that was because I was in the middle of nowhere. No, not just the middle of nowhere. I was in the middle of the fucking ocean! Am I crazy!? … Wait, I wasn’t sinking? … A look downward confirmed that I was standing on water. Like Jesus or Naruto. It was like being in a bouncy castle. The waves calmly bounce up and down as if someone nearby were jumping on the floor. It was almost relaxing how the waves were flowing around my hooves.…wait what? … I have hooves!? What happened to my hands, and why can’t I feel my toes!? “Ok, if there was ever a time not to be calm, this is it!” … “Ok, ok, just stay calm, or keep the panicking to a minimum. Take stock of the situation.” After trying to reassure myself, I raised my right hand, hoof I mean, to my head for a better look at it. I can see that it was covered in brown fur...or was it tanned? Rosy? Either way it looked like it was about the same, or if not similar, color/shade as my old human skin. Like if somebody turned my hand into a hood and covered the rest of the arm in fur. Oh, and there was a strange metal…gauntlet? Boot? Yeah, boot, I’m going with “boot” since I’m going to be walking with it. A metal boot that was grey on the top and bright red on the bottom, battleship gray and antifouling red said a small cheerful voice in my head. Looking at the bottom of the boot also showed that my hoofprint was almost a perfect circle. My left leg was almost identical save for my old silver(?) watch. I looked down at my legs…hindlegs to see whether or not they were the same as my forehooves and I could see that my hindlegs also had the same/similar armor and…either my…pipe was well hidden or life/the world/the universe/whatever decided that since I wasn’t using it that I clearly didn’t need it anymore. … I don’t know how to feel about that one. First I’ve been turned into a horse…pony…thing and now I’m missing a key piece of equipment that I would have liked to use at least once in my life! Wait, now I know what I feel about that one. I’m getting upset! … “Ok, calm down, calm down.” Maybe it was hidden really well. I wasn’t an expert in…whatever you call someone who cares for horses…ponies, I am going to refer to myself as a pony since my lisp/accent makes it sound like I’m saying a different word that sounds similar and I’m still not sure if I’m a stallion or a mare. … Finally looking over my shoulder to look at my back, where a weight had been since I woke up, I saw my…rigging? Was “rigging” the right term? Bah, it’s rigging. My rigging manifested like a pair of saddlebags, or at least I was assuming it was a pair set considering I could only see one set of two gun turrets in a superfiring position off my right side, starboard repeated the second resigned voice, at the moment alongside some casemate mounted guns and a pair of, what I had to believe to be, anti-aircraft guns. On my back was a massive yet squat construct of blocky metal that had to be my conning tower, and something behind the tower that was tall and lean. It was hard to get a good look at it without having to break my neck to do so. Instead, I looked to my left, port shouted that second voice, and saw an identical set of superimposed turrets, casemate and anti-aircraft guns and… “Oh dear lord, was that a cage mast!?” … Yep…yeah, that is a cage mast… … “What!? Why!?” Why was it a cage mast? Why did I have a cage mast? Oh god, that must mean that it was a cage mast behind the conning tower… … Ok, so that was the bad news. The good news, and I was grasping at straws here, was that since I knew a tiny bit about early 20th century naval history, which was either the reason I was stuck in this situation or just a minor and happy coincidence, I could identify the type of ship I was, and right now the biggest clue I had was those fucking cage masts! … Ahem. As I was thinking, those cage masts must mean that I was a 1910s American dreadnought battleship since no other navy used that style of mast…except maybe the American battleships built for Argentina. What were their names? Rivadavia class? Either way, most other navies used either tripod masts or some other design that I can’t think of right now and American battleships built during the 1930s did not have cage masts. Can’t be a pre-dreadnought or an armored cruiser, the superimposed turrets were a dead give away. Can’t be a heavy or light cruiser either, most used three gun turrets while those that did mount two gun turrets didn’t have the right number of them, the Omahas resembled armored cruisers with only two twin gun turrets, the Atlanta class had three superimposed turrets forward of the bridge with a matching set aft and the Pensacolas mounted a mixed battery of two twin and two triple gun turrets. So, that must make either a South Carolina, Colorado or a New York and the fifth turret was behind my head. “Hey!” Ok, now I know that I’m actually hearing things. Looking off in the direction that sound came from led to me staring at a chubby little doll-like creature with an oversized head for its body standing on a platform connected to my conning tower. Right over my shoulder. “Gah!” “Hey!” Ok, I could have reacted better than jerking off to the side and sending the “doll” tumbling into the side of my neck, but I scare easily. And it’s not like she was sent into the water. Small miracles, right? “Hey!” “Sorry, sorry. You scared me there for a second. Jeez, I wasn’t exactly expecting to see someone literally starting over my shoulder, ya know?” “Hey! Hey!” “So, who are you?” “Hey! Hey!” While at first I was going to entertain the idea of talking to the “doll” like it was my dog or cat, the fact that I literally understood it…her say “I’m your captain” tossed that idea aside. Because this was not a doll, but what I had to assume was a fairy. And considering I was currently walking on water with enough firepower to erase a town from existence, I had to be a shipgirl…er mare… “So, does that mean you know what sort of battleship I am? [Not really.] “What?” [Well, you’re not a New York class battleship. You only have four twin gun turrets, not five.] “Oh.” “Hey!” That…that wasn’t the captain. “Who was that?” [Oh, that was the artillery officer.] How many of them are there? “What did she say?” [She said that you have eight 14 inch guns.] …wait. “I’ve got 14 inch guns?” [Yes, does that help?] “That…no…kinda? I mean, South Carolina mounted 12 inch guns while Colorado had 16 inch guns.” [Oh, ok then.] “Hey! Hey!” “Who was that?” [That was the torpedo officer.] “...why do I have a torpedo officer?” [Because you have four underwater torpedo tubes?] “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!” “...who was that? [That was the recording officer.] “Recording officer? Oh thank god, please tell me she has my recognition diagrams, design drawings, or something.” [She doesn’t.] “...then what did she say?” [...she says you might be the love child of an American battleship and a foreign battlecruiser.] …what? “Hey!” “Gah!” Unexpectedly another fairy appeared beside my captain, startling me. [I mean no disrespect, but we need to find a friendly port to pull into. We are short on fuel and do not know where we are. It might be a good idea to try and solve both issues soon.] “Who are you?” [I’m your deputy-captain.] “Oh…kay. And do you know where we should go?” [No, I don’t. We left port without charts for some reason.] She stated while glaring at the captain as if it were her fault. “Sigh, ok then. Do we atleast have a compass?” [We do, yes.] She stated, looking back towards me. “Ok then. We go west.” [Why west?] “Why not? Unless you have a better idea?” [No, I don’t. But that doesn’t mean we should just wander aimlessly.] She snapped. “Well unless you’ve got a better idea then this is the best idea we’ve got! I’m not going stand here doing nothing when we could be heading towards civilization already.” I snapped back as she flinched. [Very well. I or rather the captain will have the navigation officer chart our progress.] She went back to glaring at the captain who snapped back into attention. [Right, I’ll have navigation track our progress.] “Good, now let’s get moving.” I said taking a step forward… …before falling flat on my face. “As soon as I figure out walking.” “Captain’s log…” “Hey!” “Nothing, it’s just something from TV.” [Oh, ok then.] Replied the captain. [If you’re going to make a log then it should be the ship’s log.] Stated the dispirited deputy-captain. “Look, I was just joking, ok? I wasn’t going to make a log or something.” [Would you like me to record your log?] Asked the recording officer. “...if ya don’t mind.” I hadn’t thought my little joke would’ve been taken this seriously. [Ok then. You can go ahead now.] “Ok, so where was I? Oh, yes! Ship’s log, number 1. It has been…how long has it been?” [Three hours.] Chirped the captain. “Three hours, really?” [Yes!] Roared the deputy-captain. [It took you fifteen minutes to figure out how to walk on all fours, an hour and forty-five minutes to build up steam and sail at full ahead without falling flat on your face and another hour to determine your maximum speed!] “Ok, ok, jeez. You don’t have to shout.” [...I apologize for my outburst. It just seems like no one is taking this situation seriously.] “...well, I haven’t realized the weight of the situation admittedly. But…” [But nothing! Our supplies are limited so we have to find a friendly port to resupply in.] “Ok! But that doesn’t mean you have to be at everyone’s throat about it. We will find a friendly port and will resupply. We will get through this as a team or not at all! Understand?” [...yes ma’am. I understand.] “Good. Now, as I was saying. It took three hours to figure out the ‘walking on all fours’ part, sailing at full ahead without falling on my face, determining what my maximum speed was and what ship I am.” [Really!] The captain interrupted excitedly. [What sort of ship are you and how did you figure it out?] “Well it’s simple really. As y'all are aware of from the aforementioned three hours ago, I determined that I was a 1910s American dreadnought battleship on account of the…cage masts and that I was armed with eight 14 inch guns, thank you artillery officer. ” [You’re welcome.] “And that…confused the hell out of me since that pretty much ruled out every single American battleship.” [What about the battleships you mentioned that were built for Argentina? The Rivadavias?] “Oh, them? Yeah, the Rivadavias mounted 12 inch guns in half a dozen turrets, a superfiring pair forward, another superfiring pair aft and a pair of wing turrets. Dunno why they went with that design since the Orions just came out and Argentina used their presence to reject the initial designs and force a redesign using the “best” attributes of the last batch of designs, but I’m going off on a tangent. The point is, I am clearly not an American battleship or any other battleship…I think.” [But I thought you said you figured out what sort of ship you were?] The captain asked in a way I’d swear included a head tilt. “Well, look. I’m still not one hundred percent sure, but I have a theory. An idea of what ship I am.” [And what is this “theory” of yours then.] Snarked the deputy-officer. “Well, the theory came to me after the sea trials showed that me design speed was thirty knots.” [You’re basing this just off your speed!?] “Yes, because that sort of speed in the 1910s could only be achieved by destroyers and cruisers. ” [Destroyers and…cruisers…] She trailed off. [Oh! So does that mean you’re a battlecruiser?] Excitedly asked the captain. “...yes, if you want to cut straight to the chase.” [You couldn’t have said that earlier!?...and with less talking?] Groaned the deputy-captain. “Well, look. I just want to make sure that I’ve covered my bases. I was so sure that I had to be an American battleship that was built, so being told about the number and caliber of guns threw me off. But with the speed I can reach? It’s so obvious that I’m a 1910s battlecruiser since a 1930s fast battleship design wouldn’t have cage masts and would either have more guns in three gun turrets or larger caliber guns. Ergo, I must be an early Lexington design from when Kongou was laid down.” It was all starting to make sense now, even if I had to condense my reasoning. [Huh, now that you mention it, you kinda remind me of the Hiei.] Pointed out the captain. “...Hiei? Not Kongou?” That…that was odd and didn’t make sense. I mentioned Kongou, not Hiei, so why mention Hiei at all? [I…I think so. Hiei’s tower was closer to Yamato’s rather than her sisters.] She replied haltingly. “But I still have the cage masts, so I still don’t know why you’re comparing me to Hiei and not Kongou.” Or even bringing up Yamato at all…oh god, running into Yamato would not end well, even if it was possible to outrun her. [I think…what the captain means is that we are more familiar with Hiei than Kongou.] Slowly explained the captain. “Why would you be more familiar with Hiei than Kongou?” … [...I’m not sure.] The deputy-captain admitted after a long pause. … Ok, this is odd. I mean, being turned into a pony/ship thing and left in the middle of the ocean was odd enough, but having a crew manning what seemed to be a battlecruiser that never existed…or atleast was never built by a nation that never fielded battlecruisers in the first place know more about Japanese battlecruisers enough to know the differences between two of them and not know anything, or at least not enough to prove otherwise, about battleships from the nation that designed the ship they were on in the first place? That was strange…or maybe they already crossed that line sometime ago… [Excuse me.] That…that was the recording officer. “Yes?” [Does that mean you really are the forbidden love child between an American battleship and Kongou!?] Gah! “Are you still recording this!?” [Yes?] “Cut the recording! Cut the recording! And captain!” [Yes!] “Tell me that we have some training munitions for our main guns!” [I think we have some, but let me check the munitions locker.] [Forty-eight.] “Huh?” That voice wasn’t one I heard recently…I think? It did sound familiar. [Forty-eight.] The voice repeated again. [We have forty-eight rounds?] Asked the captain. … [We have forty-eight rounds.] She repeated confidently. “Who was that?” I am getting blase about the voices in my head, aren’t I? Eh, at least they were talking back. That…was that supposed to help or not? [That was the artillery officer.] [Wait a minute! You can’t possibly be thinking about holding a gunnery drill now! Especially when we haven’t found a friendly port to resupply in!] And that was the deputy-captain interjecting after remaining silent for a while. “And that’s the problem.” [Huh.] “Not only do we not know where a friendly port is, but we don’t know if we’re in friendly territory.” … That seemed to catch their attention. [..do you think we’ll be attacked?] “I don’t know. At best, no, we will not be attacked. At worst…actually we’ll be attacked by submarines or aircraft, but if we are attacked by a surface force then I at least want to make sure I can shoot back without knocking out my own guns and actually hit them.” … [...ok, I’ll get some targets.] The captain responded momentarily. > Chapter 2: Sea trails and an ambush > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It didn’t take long to get the targets, but it did take longer to set them up at ranges in kilometers. After asking for and receiving the ranging tables for the various weapons I had aboard, I decided to set up targets at intervals of five kilometers starting at five kilometers and ending at thirty. I was surprised that my secondaries consisted of six inch guns. I always thought that five inches were the standard amongst American capital ships, but considering I was a Lexington design that might have been par for the course. What was concerning was my three inch anti-aircraft guns…all four of them. Yeah…so, in order of threat level, submarines were still threat number one. Outside of outrunning one or ramming into/shooting up one stupid enough to surface, my options were nonexistent. Threat number two was obviously going to be aircraft. One bad hit from a bomb could wipe out half of my AA and even a single torpedo hit could slow me down considerably. After that… I shuddered. The surface threat was the only one I could reliably counter whether they were ships or installations. And to do that I would need to actually hit them. Thus, gunnery practice. Aiming my guns took some time to figure out. Simply willing my guns to aim at the target saw them slowly aim at the target. Willing them to rotate faster had them do so and actually pass over the target requiring the guns to readjust. Same with willing them to elevate and depress. So I could designate targets, that was good. I could rotate the guns faster and elevate and depress them just as fast, but I couldn’t aim the damn things. That was bad. I mean, I wasn’t a bad shot from what I remember from back in highschool when I was in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. The problem was I wasn’t looking down an iron sight, but firing from the hip essentially and I didn't have a crosshairs to rely on. And even if I did my first instinct was always to aim down sights. This wasn’t a video game. I’d have to rely on my gunners to calculate the angles and actually hit anything. Same for my casemates and AA, though I wasn’t going to be including them in the trials. They should be quick firing guns, thus they don’t need to wait for the splashes in order to hit something either dumb enough to get into my range or slow enough that they couldn’t escape. Though if they were that slow… Ok ok, I can bitch and moan all I want, but right now I need to focus and actually fire the damn things. “Ok, let’s do this.” Remembering a certain excitable Royal Navy battlecruiser I pointed my right fore hoove at the target. “Ready, aim…fire!” Click. … What? Click. … “Did I not load the guns?” [Eh, you didn’t say to load the guns.] Responded the captain sheepishly. “...just load the guns already.” I said feeling like an idiot. [Ok!] She exclaimed while ignoring my sense of self-pity. Well looks like I didn’t have to manually load the guns…just had to tell the crew to load them. Hope that didn’t become a problem down the line. As the last gun breach closed and the guns were armed, I once again aimed them at the closest target. It was a guaranteed hit, or at least I’d straddle it. I knew the range and speed and heading were a non-issue. I braced myself, keeping my knees bent to absorb the recoil while I “aimed” at the target with my right hoof. “Ready, aim…fire!” BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! An explosion of smoke, flame and cordite fumes rocked my world. Waves from the air pressure crashed against my shins. The loud, roaring crack set my ears ringing, barely drowning out the sound of my shells crashing into the sea five kilometers away creating eight colossal pillars of seawater erupting into the sky. It was…spectacular. "Holy shit…" That…that was an experience. The force, the level of violence, that resulted from firing my guns I could feel deep in my bones. That was better than sex…not that I actually had any experience with that. It almost made me forget about missing the target. The huge columns of water had dispersed, revealing the target bobbing peacefully in the water. “What the fuck?” How the heck did I miss? How could I miss? It was five kilometers in front of me. Point blank. That should have been easy. I double-checked the angles of my guns versus the ranging tables. I should have at least bracketed it at 5 kilometers. Right? …right? I looked at the target and tried to estimate the range. It didn’t look like five kilometers to me. It looked more like six kilometers. Had I messed up the distances when I'd been setting out the targets? [No you didn’t.] Sighed the deputy-captain. “What? Then what happened?” [The target drifted while we were loading the guns.] She replied matter of factly. … “...it drifted?” [Yes, the current moved the target downrange while we loaded the guns.] The captain chimed in. … …huh, don’t that beat all? I didn’t think the target would move for some reason. Probably a holdover from JROTC. Well, let's try that again. I reset. I took the range, heading and speed, compensated for the wind, and let my guns set themselves at their loading angles while my crew got to work. This time, I had’em fire split salvoes. A and B turrets fire first, X and Y turrets track the splashes, adjusting as necessary, and fire their salvo. This way I didn’t have to wait for a minute and a-half for all of my guns to load. A minute and a-half to load my guns…that was a problem. I mean, I could deal some damage sure, but that required me to actually hit the target. And without radar that meant estimating the enemy’s range and guessing where they were going to be and using your misses to make better and better guesses until you hit something. And when you have to take longer to reset for your next shots, it makes it harder for you to get your shots on target. Until I got my hands…hooves on some radar I needed to increase my rate of fire and that meant my crew would be doing a lot of drills during the day. And that did not mean that I was going to have my crew store more ammunition in the turrets than necessary or ripping off the safety doors! I was not going to go down like Queen Mary if I could help it! The rest of gunnery practice went well enough, I suppose. I only managed half the targets before I ran out of training ammo and I wasn’t going to waste actual ammo on target practice. Not when I didn’t know when my next resupply was and definitely not when I didn’t know whether or not I was in enemy territory. The sun was starting to go down and I was still no closer to finding a friendly port, land or even a friendly ship. I grew more worried as it got darker. I even thought about turning on my searchlight, but I kept them off and allowed my crew to turn on the navigational lights. I mean, despite not knowing where I was I could very well not be in enemy territory and I was just worrying, that happens a lot. In fact, I could be in friendly/neutral waters and a friendly little merchant vessel would see me and tell me where I was and lead me back to port and we would all have frosty chocolate milkshakes! Ahahahahaha…ha… Frightening thing happen in the dark~ I like the night. I mean, what’s not to like? Can’t blind yourself gazing into the moon and it’s fun looking at the stars and finding the constellations if ya can. Although I’d barely recognized Polaris, the north star, and I wasn’t seeing it, or any other star, in this overcast which had rolled in shortly after the moonrise. And something something something, all the world will love the night and pay no mind to that garish sun, however that quote goes, Shakespeare was it? But the dark? Yeah, one of the curses of a brain that never shuts up is that despite having an imagination ruined by TV, I tend to invent things that go bump in the dark that shouldn’t really be there. Or maybe it’s because of internet horror that I imagine killer animatronics hiding behind the door frame, in my closet or outside my window. But I wasn’t at home and thinking about The Joy of Creation, I was at sea thinking about being ambushed by literal ghost/zombie ships from the abyss. The fact that the worst parts of my imagination might be right just make things worse. I hate it, I hate it so much. The captain tried to comfort me, numerous times in fact. But when you saw the person trying to reassure you that everything was fine was the size of your hand/hoof and shaking like a leaf and looking like they're about to puke from the nerves? Yeah, that didn’t feel at all reassuring and was just making us feel worse. I just ignored it, or tried to, and focused on keeping my eyes and ears open for anything, any potential threat. Or hopefully a friendly merchant vessel that would point me to port. Or better yet, land, sweet sweet land. Then I could just find a patch of grass and sleep till morning. Have some berries and nuts in the morning, that would be great. BANG! Flash! I turned my head to see where the sound came from when my vision went white. I threw up my hand/hoove in front of my eyes to block out the light. Then I heard the sharp boom again. Naval cannons. My stomach dropped at the thought as shells fell around me. I was bracketed, columns of water exploding around me. Alarms began to sound in my head, announcing general quarters to the crew. My heart hammered in my chest as they rushed to their battlestations. As my vision adjusted to the light, searchlights I didn’t even know I had came on and illuminated the origin of the searchlight that was currently illuminating me. I found myself staring at a misshapen mockery of a warship. It was covered in blackened, pitted, chitinous armor plating and looked to be falling apart, yet somehow managed to not to. My heart lurched in my chest. So that's what an abyssal looked like up close, a part of me thought. That’s not an abyssal, another part of me thought. Fire back I thought. I tried to get a good firing solution as I accelerated to flank speed. My gun crews worked furiously to get my weapons loaded. Too slowly it seemed, as the enemy got off their second shot before I could return fire. Tracking the muzzle flashes, I realized quickly that there were more than one of them out there. More of my searchlights lanced out into the night as more water was kicked up around me. I let out a cry of pain as two shells hammered into my side. Damage control sprung into action, assessing the damage. It was minor, thank god. Didn't change that it hurt more than I'd like it too. My searchlights found five more of them. I was facing half a dozen Abyssals(?) and there was only one of me, and they were far too close for my liking. Still, that meant that they were in range of my secondaries, and they were a lot faster to load and fire than my main guns. “Fire at will! Shoot at whatever you can hit! Weapon's free people!” I erupted in gunfire as my secondary battery opened fire. Most of the shots missed, but the crew was already loading the guns as fast as they could. The enemy responded with more shots that stung. One that scraped the back of my knee hurt worse than the others, and I nearly stumbled. We traded shot for shot for a few minutes. I kept my face low, trying to not get shot in the face. I was getting hammered even as my secondaries were starting to score some hits. DamCon reported a fire had broken out on one of my decks, and I felt a burning sensation start to form in my left hip. One of my casemates got knocked out. The breaches on my main battery guns slammed shut, loaded and ready. I took sight of the closest target, and started trying to get a bead on it. I aimed my guns, laying them so that the shells would arc into the target. I pulled the trigger. I missed, or rather I straddled the enemy heavy cruiser. How I knew that I wasn’t sure, and I had bigger things to worry about. My crew hurriedly loaded my main battery as my secondaries furiously fired. They were scoring hits on what I could only guess was a light cruiser. Apparently not appreciating being on fire it peeled off. I staggered under the next onslaught. The burning sensation was spreading up my hip to my ribs and down my hind hoof. Another burning sensation started on my left shoulder. Another fire. DamCon was already on it, but they were getting overwhelmed as my crew kept trying to fire back at the enemy. A heavier broadside, likely from one of the heavies, knocked out two more of my secondary guns. I was losing the fight. I needed to find some way to get out of here. Gain some distance. Otherwise I'll suffer a death by a thousand cuts. But the Abyssals(?) were already matching my speed. If I turn away, they'd just follow me. I need some way to try and keep them from following after me. [We have torpedoes! Let's use them!] Shouted a fairy. “Do it! Do it now!” I shouted back. I didn’t know whether or not they would work. I just wanted them gone before they caught fire. The pair of twin torpedo tubes rotated until they were pointing in the general direction of the Abyssals before, with a series of pneumatic hisses, four torpedoes were dropped into the water. They streaked into the night, vanishing into the inky blackness of the water. I let loose one more salvo from my main guns and turned to run, secondaries still blazing as new shells were lifted up into the turrets. Only one shell managed to hit the heavy cruiser. No discernable damage. A column of water exploded in front of the heavy cruiser and the rest began turning away, rapidly changing their course. I guess my torpedoes took some time to reach em.They'd given me breathing room and broken up any accurate fire from my enemy. I booked it. The Abyssals(?), once they were clear of my torps, turned and followed after me. And to my mounting horror, four were catching up. I turned and fired back once my guns were loaded. Unfortunately, the sudden maneuvers made my shot go long and to the right by a wide margin. Once again, I cursed my slow reload rate and vowed to get some radar for myself. Even if I had to rip it off an abyssal myself. They returned fire. Their first shots missed, their aim also thrown off by the recent maneuvers, but they'd eventually walk their guns onto my position again. They had the higher rate of fire, they could afford to. If I maneuvered, I could maybe keep them from gaining an accurate shot. But that would also mean that I'd throw off my own aim, at least for my main battery. My secondaries could maybe acquire a shot, but they weren’t doing enough damage. But if I didn't… death by a thousand cuts. I decided it was better to dodge. As much as I wanted to send them back to where they came from, I didn’t want to be dragged back with them. I moved, shifting my weight around, going into hard turns and sudden reversals at random. The only guiding principle was to not get too close to the Abyssals. I returned fire with my secondaries and - whenever they were loaded - my main battery. As expected my shots tended to go wide. Even the accuracy of my secondaries had degraded considerably. But the Abyssals were having trouble too. Their shots went wide, barring a few lucky shots that bounced off my armor. Eventually, my secondaries had a repeat performance and forced another light cruiser back. My luck must have turned because my next salvo at the other heavy cruiser ended with a massive explosion erupted from the cruiser. I saw what I guessed was an eight inch gun turret flying off to the right, flames licking at the turret ring. The remaining cruisers fell silent as they turned away, abandoning its comrade which now lies motionless on the water, burning. I shut off my searchlights and sailed away, slipping away into the darkness. Before I lost sight of the cruiser my radio crackled to life. “Somebody is always watching, always.” > Chapter 3: Meeting the natives and repairs > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Ship’s log number 2, day 2. I’m tired, hurt and hungry…yesterday I had gunnery trails and they went well…well enough, I only got through half the targets before running out of training ammo. Last night I was attacked…ambushed really. I think they shot a star shell before blinding me with their searchlights. They got the first shot in, I think. They certainly kept shooting afterwards. Shot after shot and what did I do? I missed my first shot and they just kept shooting. My secondaries and torpedoes did most of the work…my freaking torpedoes did more work to stop them than my main battery did. I want radar…I need radar. I would’ve had a better time hitting them, hell I might have seen them coming long before they attacked. I need that refit yesterday. I need to get rid of my cage masts, I need radar and I want to be faster. I don’t care that no American ships got faster after their refit. I need to be faster. Kongou and her sisters got another three knots after their second refit, so why can’t I!?” I was ranting. I didn’t care that I was ranting. Last night was a disaster, last night was hell. I didn’t get any sleep last night. I was too paranoid to do so. I wanted to keep steaming at flank speed, get away as fast as I could from them. Engineering shot that down hard. Didn’t want to push the power plant for so long and so hard. And my captain reminded me that my fuel stores wouldn’t last for so long under peak conditions. And now that it was morning? “Somebody is always watching, always.” I wasn’t relieved. Instead I was left scanning the water for torpedoes, the horizon for Morgana ships, and the skies for their planes. Morgana That’s what I was fighting last night. Not some zombie/ghost ship from the abyss seeking revenge against humanity. Not some delusional time traveling shipgirls from the future wanting to fight alien kaiju from deep beneath the earth. Morgana A fleet of warships controlled by strange mechanical women who mercilessly attack anything and anyone caught within their mists. And I know jackshit about them. I don’t know if I’d fare better against eldritch abominations. I don’t know if I could handle time traveling cryptics. But at least I’d have an idea on what I was dealing with. With the Morgana? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Stupid, so very stupid. I was supposed to be a kanmusu, a shipgirl. I was supposed to be fighting zombie/ghost ship eldritch abominations that, for the most part, were nothing more than mindless monsters. I’m not a belle, I didn’t just manifest aboard a ship to protect my crew from gas. I am the ship. I don’t know if I can do this. I had to do this. I mean, what was the alternative? Lay down and die? No, I had to keep going. Just…just keep…going. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. Summer Rain smiled as she stared off at the horizon from the bow of her ship, Clearwave. The Princesses’ sun was shining, they had an excellent wind blowing directly into their sails, and had seen neither hide nor hair of any pirate ship, creature from the deep, or even a Pegasus or Griffon attempting to fly across the sea who needed a place to rest. It was a beautiful day. They were four weeks into their month-long assignment to protect the trade route to the Griffish Isles from Fillydelphia. A route that, while normally peaceful, did occasionally attract a pirate ship looking for a quick bit. She had heard that the kingdom of Griffons had fallen on hard times recently and therefore it was entirely possible that the Equestria Navy would see an increase in piracy over the next few years. Even extending the patrol all the way to the shores of Griffonstone in order to protect Equestrian lives. With a heavy sigh, Summer Rain turned away from the railing to see her first mate waiting at attention. “Anything to report Mr. Squall?” “Nothing of any note ma’am. There have been no sightings of any vessels within our A.O. We are currently still on schedule for the final portion of our patrol.” Squall reported as they trotted towards the aft of the ship, Whitecap nodding in reply to each pony they passed that stopped to salute her. “Very good. If there’s nothing else, I will retire to my cabin for a time. Squall, you have the conn.” Squall saluted in response. “Yes ma’am! I have the-.” “Captain! You're gonna wanna come up here!” A voice interrupted from up above them, the two ponies exchanging a surprised look before galloping up the stairs to the helm. Both ponies skidded to a halt next to a thoroughly shocked looking earth pony. “Report! What is it?” Summer Rain ordered, hoping that the sternness in her voice would knock the sailor out of their stupor. Unfortunately, the earth pony’s jaw remained lowered as they turned to stare at the captain. “I…I’m not sure Captain. I think it's best if you see it for yourself.” The earth pony, aptly named Spy Glass, admitted as he hoofed over his telescope, the ponies who had gathered to see what was happening murmuring in unease as Summer Rain took the offered spyglass. “Its at about two o'clock, ma'am. Moving westward.” Closing an eye, Summer Rain peered through the telescope in order to try and find just what exactly had so startled the poor stallion, the captain's vision adjusting to the view. And after a few seconds of staring out to sea, her own jaw fell just as wide as Spy Glass’s. “Oh, Taco Bell, Taco Bell, product placement with Taco Bell. Enchirito, Nacho, Burrito!” I might be starting to lose it. Well at least I made it to day two. I could really go for Taco Bell’s baja blast though. And their two or three taco meal, maybe add in some of those cinnamon twists. Actually now that I think about it, I’m going to need a lot more than just three tacos, cinnamon twists and a large soda to feel full aren’t I? In the anime, shipgirls eat a lot of food. I seem to recall Akagi and Yamato eating so much food that they had a human sized rice cooker on standby…and they still ran out of rice… Welp, as a battlecruiser I shouldn’t need as much food as those two, right? Still, that would make eating and replenishment a tad difficult now wouldn’t it? Wait, eating and replenishment are the same thing…well that just means replenishment and repairs now does it? I mean, how do I even repair myself? Do I just jump into a tub and a magical timer will tell me how long I’m supposed to soak for? Or do I need a dedicated dockyard for that? I hope it’s not the latter. I don’t even know how to build one of those, I’d probably have to summon a repair ship for that. And I don’t even know how to summon a ship in the first place! Ok, ok, one thing at a time. First thing is to find land. I find land, I find a coast and I find a coast then I can find a city and if I find a city I find a port. Oh yeah, it’s all coming together. “Are you ok, miss?” “Gah!” And in my moment of absent mindedness I let myself get ambushed again. In the span of a heartbeat I dove away from where I had been trotting and turned my guns towards the enemy. … Or I had turned my guns towards a pair of pegasi hovering above the waves staring at me. … Huh, well don’t that beat all? A pair of pretty pegasi. Actually, if the bulk of the orange one was anything to go by then at least one of them was actually a stallion. The slim, lithe one with the snow white mane was probably a mare. Either way, they didn’t look like sunken eyed abyssals, mechanical morgana or even…well actually the white one did kinda remind him of a siren, just without the tentacle cannons. Still, considering they haven’t started shooting at me yet, I’ll play ball for now. “Sorry about that, I kinda had a bad time last night. Could ya repeat that again?” I asked standing straight while keeping my guns trained in their general direction. It seemed to work, more or less. I got their attention, but they were still leery of my guns. Either they knew what my guns were or they just didn’t like something strange pointed at them. “Dear Celestia! What happened to you? You look like you got into a fight with a dragon!” Exclaimed the mare, and it was a mare considering the voice, as she stared at the bruises and burns from last night’s engagement. “It was worse…” Before I could go on any further I paused when what she said just sank in. Dear Celestia… As in Princess Celestia. As in Twilight Sparkle’s teacher. Twilight Sparkle, the element of magic, one of six main characters of the show My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. I was in MLP! That…that…huh, that would explain the whole pony thing. The spin off Equestria Girls had a pair of portals connecting Equestria to a mirror world with humans in it and while one of those portals was created by Starswirl the bearded to travel to that world, thus the whole pony-human transformation would be built in, the other one was a natural portal, or at least not purposely designed and thus the transformation thing was…normal? Bah, I shouldn’t even be thinking about this, it’s not like I had a degree in quantum physics. I mean, I was wondering about that but I decided that figuring out how to walk, finding land and learning to use my guns were more important yesterday. Last night… Anyway, I was in a world full of colorful equines who dealt with a world ending threat every other…season? I mean, there was Nightmare Moon in season 1, Discord, Queen Chrysalis and the changelings in season 2, King Sombra in season 3, Tirek in season 4, Starlight Glimmer in season 5, and finally Queen Chrysalis and the changelings in season 6. No no nevermind, it was every freaking season. And that wasn’t including the “friendship problems” that could spoil into bigger problems like Nightmare Moon part 2 because Celestia and Luna hadn’t learned their lesson the first time and needed Starlight force them into spending a day in each other's shoes. And here I was fighting Morgana last night! Oh god, Equestria is not ready for this! “Miss, are you okay?” The orange stallion repeated his earlier question. “Yeah, it looks worse than it is.” “My name is Orange Drop and this is Snowstorm.” He gestured toward the white pegasus. “Our captain sent us to see if you needed any assistance. Our ship, the Clearwave, is doubling back to our location right now. If you need any medical aid we’ll be more than happy to provide it for you back on the Clearwave.” “I see.” This…this could work. “I’m actually lost right now. Do you happen to have a map on you?” “No ma’am. I don’t have a map on me, but our ship does. If you’d like to follow us back we can provide you safe passage back to Equestria.” “Yeah sure, I’d like that.” “Pony off the port side! Fast approaching! She’s easily making sixteen knots!” Shouted Spy Glass. Summer Rain along with most of Clearwave’s medical staff waited as four unicorns lowered the gangplank into the water and kept it steady so that they could bring the marooned pony aboard. Snowstorm had reported that Orange Drop convinced the mysterious mare to return to the ship with him and that they should prepare for her to embark. Summer Rain nodded at the pegasus and issued orders to that effect within seconds. Despite how surreal it was to see a mare skate across the waves as if it were an ice rink, Summer Rain had a duty to help any pony in need and immediately ordered Orange Drop and Snowstorm to the air and see if the pony needed any aid. After giving it a minute of thought she concluded that it had been a unicorn she had seen using magic to skate on water. A unicorn who had to be a passenger on a merchant ship that either got carried away with using her magic to skate on water that she lost track of her ship, was knocked off her ship by a rogue wave, or had just escaped from a rogue pirate ship and was desperately sailing towards Equestrian shores. “Permission to come aboard!” Shouted an unknown mare’s voice. Considering Orange Drop had just flown over the railings, Summer Rain could only assume their guest had arrived, but instead of rushing up the ramp as expected the stranger had requested permission to come aboard instead. “Permission granted.” She shouted back. From the looks of strain on the unicorns’ faces their mystery mare started walking up the ramp. As the mystery mare walked up the gangway, Summer Rain saw a tall thin tower of metal pipes criss-crossing every which way rising up with every step the mare took. The next thing she saw were four large metal blocks by the mare’s side that, alarmingly, housed eight long thin cannons that were on top of facsimiles of a ship’s bow and stern embroidered with even more cannons. How a unicorn could carry such large cumbersome “saddlebags”, Summer Rain didn’t know. The mare herself, stepping onto the top of the ramp, was plain by comparison. Rosy coat, brown mane and equally brown eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses completed the look. The only thing unusual about the mare, beyond her “saddlebags” was the absence of a horn that Summer Rain assumed was the secret to the mare’s ability to skate on water. That was cemented the moment the mare stepped aboard and the saddlebags disappeared in a bright white light. Magic? But how? She’s not a unicorn, so how did she cast a spell? Who is she? “Hello there. I am Captain Summer Rain, may I ask for your name?” My name? What…what was my name? It must have shown on my face since the mare, Summer Rain, looked concerned. “Are you alright?” No, no I wasn’t. I’ve been transformed into a pony ship thing, stranded in the middle of nowhere and ambushed at night by an unknowable enemy. And now I find out that I didn’t even know my name. I could remember other things about my life as a human, but not my name. And it wasn’t like I could take on the name of the ship I was. It was a paper ship, it didn’t have a name, and it wasn’t like I could come up with one on the spot. No, I was not alright. “I…I can’t remember.” I finally admitted. “You can’t remember?” She asked, confused. “I can’t remember my name.” “...do you remember why or how you were skating on water?” She asked, concerned as her crew began murmuring amongst themselves. “Skating on water?” “I and one of my spotters spotted you skating on water.” Oh, she meant sailing. “I was trying to sail towards land.” I said ignoring the how part of that explanation. “Do you know how long you were sailing?” “Since yesterday.” “Do you remember anything before yesterday?” “I don’t…I don’t know or remember why I was in the middle of the ocean.” I replied. “And did you have those…burns and bruises then?” She asked haltingly. “...” “I understand if you don’t remember how you got them. Do you want our doctors to look over your injuries?” “No, no. I’m good. I just want to take a bath and get something to eat.” I tried to change the subject. I did not want to explain having been shot up by morgana and what they were yet. “...if you’re sure?” At my nod she relented. “Snowstorm, I want you to take her to medical and inform them our guest wants a bath.” “Ma’am, are you sure you want to take a bath right now? It could aggravate injuries that we don’t know about.” A stallion wearing a doctor’s coat asked worriedly. “Yes, yes I do. Now could I get some privacy here?” I asked tiredly. The stallion made to interject before Snowstorm shoved him out the room. “Look, if she wants to take a bath after sailing for a day then she should. Besides, the captain gave the ok.” Looking over at me she nodded. “Enjoy your bath! Just holler if you need anything!” And with that I was left alone with a tub of warm water. “This better work.” I said as I stepped into the tub and laid down completely, leaving only my head exposed. It was rather relaxing, I thought. Hadn’t taken a bath in a long time, it was always a shower that was probably hotter than necessary. Except when I was in the Philippines and the water tanks hadn’t been installed. So many cold showers… Shortly after that thought, the crystal clear water started glowing a green light and my body really warmed up. A series of numbers appeared at the end of the tub across from my face and started counting down. “I’m going to be here for half an hour if ya don’t mind!” I hollered at Snowstorm as the timer started ticking down from 25 minutes and 30 seconds. > Chapter 4: Replenishment and pirates > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Half an hour later, saw me a new…mare…yeah, it was going to take some time before I get used to that…assuming I ever do. Anyhow it took 25 minutes and 30 seconds to repair the damage and about 3 minutes to dry off, or at least not track water everywhere. After that there was only one thing on my mind. Food! I haven’t eaten since…actually, I don’t remember when I ate. How far deep does this amnesia hole go? In anycase, I haven’t eaten since yesterday, and I wasn’t sure how I got this far without tripping on myself in a hunger induced coma. Must be a shipgirl thing. And so, opening the door I saw Snowstorm talking to Summer Rain, the latter of whom noticed me. “I hope you enjoyed your bath.” She said, interrupting Snowstorm. “Yeah, it was just what I needed.” I replied with a small smile. “Hey! What happened to your injuries?” Snowstorm pointed at where said injuries were. “I said I needed a bath and I needed a bath.” I shrugged. “Now Snowstorm, there’s no reason to badger her. She’s been out at sea for a day. Let’s head to the mess hall and get something to eat.” Summer Rain said, turning to walk to the mess while giving Snowstorm a look. We got to the mess hall without any interruptions. But the second Summer Rain opened the door, some ponies turned to watch the newcomers and became silent as they saw us. Others ponies who noticed the new found silence turned to find the reason why and shortly became silent themselves. Within moments the mess hall was silent. … …awkward… I did my best to ignore the silent staring until we got in line, and then the line stepped aside for us three. And while that would be a good thing since that gets me closer to eating, the problem is…I don’t know how to pick things up with my hoofs! Curse you lack of opposable thumbs! “Oh! It’s jackfruit curry day!” Snowstorm exclaimed happily. “Jackfruit…curry?” That…did I hear that right? Taking a look at where she was looking, I did see something that looked like curry, not that I had curry in the first place. Once in a while ma would make curry and I would be disappointed since it was Filipino curry and not Japanese style curry. I was a picky eater. Watching the captain pickup her tray with her hoof gave me a headache as I saw her bending her right hoof in a way that should not have been possible back home. Snowstorm just picked up her tray with her wings, lucky. With no options left, I just took the tray in my mouth and pulled it back far enough that I could put my right hoof underneath it and balance walking on three hooves while holding up the tray. Fortunately, no pony paid me any mind. The captain led me and Snowstorm to one of the few tables, ponies finally starting to go back to their own meals as Summer Rain led us to a table towards the center of the mess hall. A table that had a familiar face. “Hey, Orange! Mind if we sit next to you?” Snowstorm asked loudly. “Captain. Snowstorm. Ma’am.” Orange Drop nodded at us curtly. “Mou, you could be a bit nicer, you know.” Groaned Snowstorm as we all sat down at the table…like dogs…again, gonna need to get used to that. Thankfully the trio occupied themselves by talking about inane topics while I stared at the curry with the occasional glance around. A good chunk of unicorns were using magic to move utensils, some pegasi were using their wings as giant fingers to do the same and a few earth ponies pulled the same trick Summer Rain had done to hold her tray. The rest, mostly earth ponies, were sticking their muzzles into their food like animals. Welp, I haven’t eaten in a day and it’s not like I’m trying to appear elegant and mysterious, I decided. Leaning down, I took a bite of the curry. … Huh, tastes just like chicken. “...wow…I didn’t even know anypony could...eat that much curry…” Snowstorm uttered in a daze. “So much curry…” Orange Drop gazed listlessly into the distance. “That was some good curry.” I decided. “Anything to report Mr Squall?” Summer Rain asked, hoping to steer the conversation away from curry. “No captain. Despite our detour, we will still reach Fillydelphia within three days.” Squall stated, unaware of what transpired in the mess hall. I’m…not even sure how much I’d eaten down there. I’m not even sorry about that. I don’t remember the last time I’d eaten and I had spent last night getting shot at. I deserve some comfort food after that. After having eaten my fill in the mess hall, Summer Rain had led us above deck for some fresh air. “Ma’am?” Summer Rain turned to look at me. “Yes?” “So long as you don’t intentionally interfere with my crew you may explore the ship while under the supervision of Orange Drop and Snowstorm. Is that all right?” “Sure, sure. That’s fine by me. By the way, how come you have a bunch of pegasi hovering around the sails?” “It’s standard procedure when the wind dies out. If there isn’t a tailwind then we would create one ourselves.” Snowstorm said taking pride in the pegasi’s work. Huh, that’s…interesting…and novel. I mean it makes some amount of sense. A third of the population has wings strong enough to generate lift, why not have some of’em crew ships and create a wind for the sails when necessary. “Alright then,” Summer Rain turned towards the crew. “All hooves! Attention! All Pegasi are to change shifts in order to conserve energy! I wan-!” “Pegasus approaching off the stern!” Reported the crow mast’s lookout. Summer Rain froze for a second, before her blood ran cold as she registered the words. Pegasi did not fly out this far to sea without a reason, good or bad. “Orange Drop! Fly out and aid the Pegasus in landing! Mr. Squall! Get the medics up here right now! All pegasi, pause all wind production for now until the situation is understood! Everypony else, clear a landing zone for the Pegasus and somepony get some water!” Summer Rain ordered, the ponies of the Clearwave rushing to follow her orders. Five minutes later, Orange Drop guided an exhausted Pegasus down onto the ship, said pony falling to his hooves. Summer Rain rushed over, her crew making a path for her, as she knelt down next to the barely conscious pony. “What happened? Why are you out here all by yourself?” She questioned, the Pegasus barely opening one weary blue eye to regard the Captain. “Griffon pirates…attacked my ship…flew half a day…to find help.” The pony stuttered breathlessly. “My wife and daughter…the crew…please…help…them.” The pony barely managed to finish, exhaustion kicking. Summer Rain’s mind raced as the ship's medics rushed in to administer first aid. If what he said was true, then these griffons had captured a merchant ship and was taking the ponies as hostages, or worse. They could be anywhere between fifty to one hundred miles out from their current location considering how far the average pegasus could fly unencumbered, and they had quite the head start assuming their destination was the Griffonstone coast. Worryingly there was still no wind in their part of the sea, and the fact that most merchant ships were steam ships meant they could maintain speeds far in excess of what Clearwave could do. Finally, if she pushed her crew too hard to catch up, they would be in no position to apprehend the culprits…With all that in mind, the Captain of the Clearwave saw no reasonable way for them to save this pony’s family or the crew of his ship. “Helmspony! Turn us back around!” Not that it mattered. They were mares and stallions of the Equestrian Navy, and by Celestia they would give it their all to save the ponies. “Pegasi, I know I’ve been pushing you hard today, but there are lives on the line if we don’t manage to catch up to these criminals in time! I need all pegasi who can still feel their wings to get up there and get us moving!” “I can bring you to these griffons.” I asked Snowstorm why a pegasus would be flying around here. Shipwreck or pirates, she said. Prodding further told me that the pirates here also used wooden sailing ships although some attached large gasbags turning them into airships. Typically, pirate airships would suddenly drop in on merchant shipping while sailing ships would, usually when crewed by griffons, ambush merchant ships at night. I heard the pegasus like everyone else. His family and ship’s crew were taken hostage. I had no idea what would happen to them, but considering the mood aboard Clearwave it couldn’t be good. My world’s history also had bad things to say about pirates. And a part of me wanted nothing to do with this. So why? Why did I speak up? Why did I want to help some nameless pony? I was a coward by nature. I didn’t know this pony, I was an uninvolved observer. And yet, didn’t I have the power to do something? I was a shipmare, the physical manifestation of a warship. I was a warship, a battlecruiser! The Invincibles, the first battlecruisers, were designed to hunt down slower and weaker armed armored cruisers and protect commerce from raiders. And pirates only had a sailing ship! I didn’t even need my guns to sink em. My ship self, if built, could just ram 'em and take no damage while I could probably just smash through their ship’s hull like the Hulk or Kool-Aid Man! Oh yeah! “...Spy Glass said you were sailing at 16 knots, could you make that while towing Clearwave?” Summer Rain asked conflicted. “Easily, how fast could I tow Clearwave without ripping her apart?” I asked with a grin. “...I’m not sure, maybe 20 knots, but if you can tow Clearwave at 16 knots then it’ll greatly help us find the pirates.” “Then I can do that. Just tie a rope between me and Clearwave and I’ll bring you to the pirates.” "...ok.” Summer Rain bowed her head at me. “If you can find these pirates then Equestria is in your debt. Snowstorm! Get us a tow line.” This was it, do or die. As soon as the line was hooked up between me and Clearwave I leapt off over the Clearwave’s bow. My rigging rematerialized in a bright white light across my back and sides. I smiled at the familiar weight and the fact the tow line remained attached to me. Bouncing off the water, I turned my head to look up at Clearwave’s railing and saw Summer Rain, Orange Drop and Snowstorm leaning over the edge of the bow with their jaws dropped. “I will be beginning the turn now. You should yourselves ready for acceleration, and give me a heading!” Having hollered my piece, I began to accelerate to 20 knots and in no time at all the tow line went slack. I was pulling Clearwave. It didn’t take long to finish my turn and tow Clearwave in the direction the pegasus had flown from. Soon afterwards Snowstorm flew up towards me with a dumbfounded look. “Reporting in Ma’am! I have a possible heading.” She pointed off at the horizon and gave me a heading. “Good.” I changed course. “Return to the ship and tell everyone to get ready.” To my surprise she shook her head in denial. “Sorry, but I’ve been ordered to stay by your side from here on out until we sight the griffons. Plus, everypony is already prepared for the fight so they don't need me to tell them...uh, with all respect, ma'am.” “Ok then.” And so, I sailed in silence while she flew with me. … God I wished I had some floatplanes and radar. Half an hour later and the pegasus regained consciousness and gave us some more details. Apparently an airship crewed by griffons had gotten the jump on the merchant ship and threatened to open fire on the merchant ship. At cannon range the ponies agreed to the pirates' terms and were locked up in the pirates’ brig while some of the cargo was transferred to the airship. Weighed down by the pony crew and new found loot the pirate ship was being towed by the merchant ship towards Griffonstone. The night of the pegasus’ escape the pirates got a bit “rowdy”, accidentally setting off some fireworks that were a part of the cargo inside the merchant ship starting a fire from the inside and in the confusion he managed to escape. Not even two hours later, we found a wooden sailing ship flying Equestrian colors. “Hey look. A friendly sailing ship.” Boom! A column of water exploded between us and them. That…that came from the sailing ship, oh look! Griffons flying out of the ship wielding swords. “...it’s them.” Deadpanned Snowstorm. “...what…what do you guys have to stop them?” I asked, embarrassed at my earlier remark. “Normally we’d just use our cannons on them, but since they have hostages onboard us pegasi would have to subdue them.” Snowstorm said coldly. “I see. Please tell the pegasi to refrain from attacking. I’ll try and scare them into surrendering first and if they don’t…” I trailed off as Snowstorm nodded and left back towards the ship after saluting. While it was clear that the two sailing ships were out of range of their respective guns, the pirates were well within mine. After confirming an idea with my fairies, I took a deep breath and projected my voice from my PA system towards the pirates. “Attention griffon assholes! Stand down and surrender or die a horrible death!” … …and it looked like they weren’t going to surrender considering the jeers, insults and…huh so the bird was also a thing here. “Well then, gunnery crews put a salvo off their bow and stern. We don’t want to sink them, just put the fear of me in them.” I ordered, readying myself for a full broadside. After a second and a half, the shells were loaded and a targeting solution was made. I just had to smile. “Ready aim…fire!” I shouted pointing my right hoof at em. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! And like day one I could feel that in my bones. That was never going to get old. In a single moment the seas around the pirate ship exploded as eight plumes of water, each one easily dwarfing the wooden vessel, shot into the air and soaked everyone nearby. The silence afterwards was so complete that I couldn’t even hear the waves lapping against my hooves. No one was moving. Not the pirates, not the crew of the Clearwave, nor even myself. …at least my aim was getting better. “I ain’t gonna miss a second time!” I assured them and before I could even remember why I was bracketing them the flying griffons threw down their swords and produced white flags from who knows where and started having them frantically. A cheer erupted from the Clearwave as the ship slowly passed by my right. Looking up I could see a good chunk of the crew leaning over the railing cheering for me. Even Summer Rain was there saluting me silently with a smile across her muzzle. A salute I was happy to return. …although a part of me was disappointed they didn’t put up a fight. > Chapter 5: Round 2, fight! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I stared boredly at the griffons, and a pair of diamond dogs and a minotaur, being led one by one below deck where they would be imprisoned till both ships returned to Equestria. The first griffon glared at me until Snowstorm pointed out that I was the one who nearly shot them out of the water. After that, the pirates couldn’t look at me without shuddering in place. After the Griffon's surrender, the crew of Clearwave had been working on a number of tasks. A tow between the Clearwave and the pirate ship so that they could house the many captured ponies within without having to squeeze every creature on board just one ship. Cataloging all the contraband on board the ship. Treating the injured ponies that had been taken, and finally to get the pirates stowed away in the brig. Due to the amount of work needed to be done and the unexpected passengers, the Clearwave was going to sail to nearby Manehattan instead of Fillydelphia. The new route would take the rest of the day to traverse and we likely wouldn’t make it back till tomorrow. I offered up my help, but I was refused by Summer Rain and the rest of the crew. Everyone had claimed I’d done more than enough and they’d be failing their oaths, or something along those lines. In fact, I could feel them staring at me everywhere and everytime I passed them or they passed me they would stop and salute me like I was their commanding officer and we’d go off on our way. Heck, I even mentioned I could go for a drink and a unicorn galloped below deck for a glass of water so fast that I’d swear he teleported. And asking if there was apple juice saw a repeat performance with even more crashing sounds below. The liberated ponies were actually divided. Like the pirates some of them were shuddering everytime I looked their way. The others looked at me with awestruck expressions. A few had approached at one time or another, bowing their heads so low that their muzzles were pressed into the floor, and thanked me for my help. Some were even weeping as they did so, their weeping worrying me out. All in all, the new levels of respect and awe were weirding me out. So, until things calmed down a bit, I decided to relax by the railing till everything was sorted out. Unfortunately for me, life had other ideas as a quintet of ponies approached me. The first was the pegasus who alerted us to the pirate attack. He was still looking exhausted, but relieved at the same time. The second was a cream colored pegasus mare that stood slightly shorter than the ponies next to her. The third was a literal cream puff of a pegasus filly holding a blue doll standing behind the mare who had to be either an older sibling or the mother. “How are you doing ma’am?” Snowstorm asked as Orange Drop gave her a look. “Well enough, just waiting for dinner.” I shrugged. “Oh, hehe, I believe that.” She chuckled with a far off expresion. No doubt remembering lunch. “Ma’am allow me to introduce Mr. Balance Account, Mrs. Vanilla Cream and their daughter Cream Cheese.” Orange Drop introduced the trio, who bowed deeply. Of course their names are Vanilla Cream and Cream Cheese. Because why wouldn’t life be tempting me with food after a quick cruise and a disappointing pirate encounter. “A pleasure to meet you all.” I said dully. “Likewise, Ma’am. I apologize if we interrupted you, but my husband had something he wished to say to you.” Vanilla Cream replied ignoring the tone of my voice, a grateful smile on her face as she turned towards said stallion. “…Ma’am, while I'm sure other ponies from my crew have said something similar already, I wished to thank you for your actions today.” Balance Account said as he once again bowed his head. “I do not know how much you heard about what happened before you showed up, but I managed to break free from my bonds after the griffons captured us and tried to go and find help, but a part of me couldn’t help but think that I might never see my wife and filly ever again.” Balance Account looked up, his eyes shining with emotion. “And everypony I have spoken to about our rescue has said that it was because of you and your efforts that I, my crew, and my family are standing here today. So, thank you, Ma’am, thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you should ever require the aid of me or my family, you only have to ask, and I will do everything in my power to help.” He finished, Vanilla Cream nodding along with his words. “Thank you Princess Royal, it was really nice for you to come help us! Even if you sounded mean and terrifying.” Cream Cheese added sweetly, her parents looking mortified at her comment. But I could only snicker at the thought of being mistaken for HMS Princess Royal. Although I’d probably never see what I would have looked like as a ship, the cage masts and superimposed turrets would very clearly set me apart from the Splendid Cats. The Lion class had tripod masts and a Q turret mounted amidships, for some god damn reason. “Mean and terrifying eh? I could work with that, but my name isn’t Princess Royal.” I said, getting everyone’s attention. “And I’ll…try and remember your offer Balance Account. Though I would have helped regardless. Commerce protection is a part of my job description.” “Does that mean you remember your name?” Snowstorm asked, intrigued. “Nope, just enough to know I’m not Princess Royal.” I said with a shake of my head. “How about y'all join in watching the waves? It’s quite soothing.” I offered. “We would be delighted, Ma’am.” Replied Vanilla Cream. Time passed shortly afterwards with Cream Cheese curling up onto her mother’s back. Turns out school was on break and Vanilla Cream was a stay at home mother while Balance Account was a profitable merchantman. He’d be gone for weeks on end trading foodstuff that were abundant in Equestria with the local griffon population in the Griffish Isles in exchange for finished products that were difficult to produce without a unicorn’s telekinesis or a particularly dexterous pegasus’ wings. Thumbs man. As such the family had thought it was a good time for a family vacation. Good idea, terrible execution. Needless to say his business attracted the attention of Griffonstone’s less reputable entrepreneurs. Yeah, big shocker considering the damn place was literally falling apart…I was tempted to mention the library’s state to Twilight if/when we ever met and watch those fireworks. Balance Account had been receiving threats over his goods for years, but it was only now that somebody had gotten the jump on him. And because of some selfish assholes, Balance Account wasn’t going to be delivering food anytime soon, at least till purchase or commission a replacement ship. Vanilla Cream tried to change the subject by mentioning that she and Cream Cheese had a window seat when I and Clearwave showed up. Apparently, despite how mean and terrifying I sounded, Cream Cheese had this to say about me. “So pretty.” Vanilla Cream revealed with Cream Cheese nodding her head in confirmation. I’ll take their word for it since I haven’t had a good look in a mirror recently. Closest to one I had was the water and I was more concerned about having hooves instead of hands and feet, followed by how to walk and shoot my guns and the overall goal of finding land. “I also like your cutie mark.” Cream Cheese said while looking at my flank. Cutie mark? Oh yeah, the but tattoos that showed off a pony's talents and personality to an extent. Summer Rain’s was a rain cloud hovering below the sun, Snowstorm’s was a snowstorm, of course, and Orange Drop’s was an orange dropping orange juice, how that led him to being a sailor I’d never know. Balance Account had sheets of paper as his cutie mark, Vanilla Cream’s cutie mark was a bowl full of vanilla cream and…I’m sorry, what? I had a cutie mark? …what? How? I mean, I just got here and I hadn’t had an epiphany, right? If the Cutie Mark Crusaders were anything to go by I should have noticed being lifted into the air and a light show. It’s not like I’d gotten one in my past life if I was a pony. I was a NEET, I dropped…walked out of college without a degree to my name and I barely left the house outside of grocery shopping and the occasional volunteer work for a “free” lunch and whatever foodstuffs I could walk away with. Turning over my head to look at my flank I saw it. I had a cutie mark and it was me. I mean, I’d need a better look, but it had to be a design of a warship and considering what I was, it had to be a battlecruiser. “I’ve never seen a cutie mark like that.” I look over my opposite shoulder to see Snowstorm taking a closer look at… Wah! She was looking at my ass! I backed up quickly, tripping over my own legs to do so and stumbled onto my ass. “Could you not!?” “What? I was just looking at your cutie mark.” She looked confused. “At least ask me first to take a look at my but or buy me dinner or lunch at least!” “Lunch…dinner? Like a date?” Gah! That was even worse! I’m losing control of the situation, someone help! Thud. Surprised, we all turned towards the noise to find a pony sprawled out on the deck. What? Thud. That was another one. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. “Snowstorm, Orange Drop, guys? What’s going on?” I asked as my group fell to the floor. “I don’t…” Snowstorm started weakly trying to regain her strength. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Why is this happening!? Why’s everyone falling to the floor dazed? And when did this mist roll in? “Somebody is always watching, always.” That…that… [That wasn’t us.] My captain spoke up for the first time since…last…night… With that growing realization I bolted towards the stern of the ship and froze. Morgana cruisers. Two heavy with four guns in a pair of superimposed turrets and three light cruisers with the same number of guns. About twenty kilometers, and considering the gun flashes they were well within range of us. “What…what are they?” I looked to my left and saw Summer Rain stare in object horror. “Morgana.” I automatically said gaining her attention. “...morgana?” “...beings that will kill us all if they’re not stopped. I’m going to stop them, or at least slow them down so you can escape. I need you to get to Equestria and warn everyone of a threat from the sea.” With my piece said and without waiting for a response I jumped over the railing and summoned my rigging. Just as I landed, splashes started raining down on us, pushing the towed pirate ship off to the side. With no time to lose I shot towards the Morgana sending 6 inch shells downrange while my main battery loaded. “Remember me assholes!” I hollered from my PA system as my main battery finished loading and I sent a hastily aimed shot at the heavy cruisers. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Like last time I just straddled the heavy cruiser. And either they did remember me or they just didn’t like 14 inch shells being sent their way since their turrets began tracking me. “Does that make you feel better? It shouldn’t.” Gah! I will shove a 14 inch shell up her right up her stern! We had closed down to fifteen kilometers before the heavy cruisers began to split from the light cruisers. During the exchange I had shells bounce off my belt and turret armor or explode atop my deck and catch fire. It was brutal. The bouncing shells stung and the fires were messing with my concentration. All the while I managed to let loose another salvo or two that, in the evening light, dealt visible damage to the lead heavy cruiser’s superstructure. The heavy cruisers turned to port, my port, to unshadow their rear turrets while the light cruisers charged at me. My main battery tracked the heavy cruisers while my starboard secondaries traded shots at the light cruisers and the portside secondaries tried to do the same to the heavies. At ten kilometers I barely caught sight of torpedoes on the light cruisers launching into the water. Shit! I barely had enough time to let loose my own torpedo before turning hard to port. Missing most of the torpedoes. BOOM! Gah! I said most. One managed to clip my underwater belt, but it was holding…barely. After that mistake I turned towards the light cruisers and happily noted that the lead light cruiser was sinking by the bow. I let loose a salvo at the second light cruiser, and at ten kilometers? I couldn’t miss. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! It was beautiful. The second light cruiser was on fire and had holes by the waterline. She was floundering in the water, guns silent. The third light cruiser? It was charging the Clearwave. Oh no. I charged at it, secondaries roaring all the while. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! And that’ll teach ya to ignore me! Turning to face the heavy cruisers I got a face full of 8 inch shells. … “Ah, if only it would last.” I’m not sure how long I was out, but the heavy cruisers were off to my port side and sailing past me. Straight towards Clearwave. “Bite me.” I said from my speakers. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Scratch one heavy cruiser. The last heavy cruiser heaved heavily to port, trying to swing out of the way of its sinking comrade. I slowly stood up. When did I fall down? Ignoring the blindly firing cruiser, my gun crews loaded another round and plotted out my firing angles. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! And then…only I was left. Summer Rain was glad she hadn’t had dinner yet. She had been watching the mystery mare fight against ships far larger than Clearwave, far larger than any ship she had ever seen. It was all she could do considering how weak she, her crew and her passengers felt. No pony could stand, no pony could move at all and it was taking everything she had to remain conscious. All she could do was watch the mare and ships charge each other while shooting cannons that out ranged anything Equestria had. The sound of thunder echoing across the sea. When one of the ships began sinking she could feel some strength return to her as the mist weakened. It became easier to stand when another caught fire and became silent while the third ship sent to the bottom had Summer Rain unsteadily grab her telescope. She managed to look through it when the mare was hit by about eight cannons. Summer Rain’s heart dropped just as the mystery mare did and the remaining ships sailed past her and towards the Clearwater. “Ah, if only it would last.” She had thought it was all over. To her surprise, the mare shot the lead ship. The mare stood up and finished off the last ship and finally the mist was lifted. Everypony was up and Summer Rain turned to her crew. “Snowstorm! Orange Drop! Get a bucket of water and head east towards the mystery mare! Medic! We need a medic right now!” … “Ma’am!” Splash. “Huh?” “Are you alright?! There’s…there’s so much blood! I don’t…I don’t know what…” Snowstorm stammered. Why were Orange Drop and Snowstorm flying around me with buckets? … …buckets? “Where’s…Clearwave?” “Huh?” “Where’s Clearwave? “The Clearwave is right over there.” Orange Drop pointed and I saw Clearwave in the direction of his hoof. I started limping. Limping? “Where are you going?” “I’m…I’m walking to Clearwave.” “Ma’am! You can’t just walk back to the ship, that’s crazy!” Did Orange Drop just yell at me? “I will because…because I must. Also, I’m going to need a bath…when I get there.” “What?” Orange Drop uttered while Snowstorm, who’d been silent during the exchange suddenly zoomed off towards Clearwave. “Ma’am! By the princesses, please don't tell me that you intend to take a bath at a time like this? This will aggravate your wounds!” A stallion wearing a doctor’s coat shouted. Didn’t I…already go through this? “I do…because it’s the only way I…I can repair myself.” I stepped into the bath and laid down completely. In a few moments the water glowed green and the timer appeared. “26,32,16? What does that mean?” The doctor questioned, as I felt my consciousness fading. “Hours, minutes and seconds till I’m repaired.” > Chapter 6: Attack on Manehattan > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the stroke of midnight, a soft westerly breeze billowed in from the sea. Luna’s moon was quickly hidden behind a cover of clouds from the Manehattan fleet. The fleet silhouetted against the lights of Manehattan. Captain Stark Contrast stood and listened to the wind whistling through Sorcery’s rigging alone. His flagship's clean and ordered deck was a welcome respite from her sweltering belowdecks cabins, and he would take this chance to air out his quarters. He leaned out over the sea, looking east towards the kingdom of griffons. Word had only gotten to Equestria that Griffonstone had fallen on hard times and it sickened him. Odds were that the griffons would refuse any aid from Equestria and would instead turn to criminal activities. It would fall on the Equestrian Navy to bring law and order to the Celestial Sea. This in addition to providing aid to the hippogriffs meant that the navy would be soon stretched thin. As is the Equestrian Navy totalled 12 ships of the line with a theoretical 100 cannon carrying capacity, 60 frigates armed with the 60 cannons that the ships of the line usually carried, 108 highly maneuverable sloops and various other auxiliary ships. The Manehattan fleet itself was centered around the ships of the line ENS Sorcery and ENS Hope and supported by 10 frigates and 18 sloops, the latter of which were often on patrol duty such as tonight. ...- . -. --- -- -....- .---- / .-. . .--. --- .-. - / .... .- .-. -... --- .-. / .. -. ..-. .. .-.. - .-. .- - . -.. / . -. . -- -.-- / ..-. .-.. . . - / ... .--. --- - - . -.. / .---- ..--- / ... .... .. .--. ... / ..- -. -.- -. --- .-- -. / -.-. .-.. .- ... ... / -.-. --- -. -.. .. - .. --- -. / --. .-. . . -. - .-. . / --- .--. . .-. .- - .. --- -. / -.-. --- -. ..-. .. .-. -- / --- .--. . .-. .- - .. --- -. / -- .- -. . .... .- - - .- -. -.-. .- .-.. .- -- .. - -.-- / -.. .. ...- .. ... .. --- -. / .---- / -.-. --- -. - .- -.-. - BANG! Flash! Captain Stark Contrast threw up a hoof to block out the lights that had suddenly spawned above the fleet. A second later more lights flooded in from the open sea, illuminating the fleet. The sharp boom sound began repeating like the clack of a steam train punctuated by flashes of lights. Any thought of a surprise fireworks display faded when columns of water shot out from around the fleet and the sound of breaking wood was heard. Confusion gave way to mounting horror. His ships, his fleet, the Manhattan fleet, and Manehattan and Equestria itself was under attack. Warning sirens in the naval base began wailing and ponies rushed to and fro. Sorcery was in chaos as Stark Contrast attempted to coordinate a response to the attack. The fact that the pegasi were needed to generate tailwinds for their ships bottlenecked communications and those who were sent out to deliver reports were getting lost in the dark and were either late in reporting, reported to the wrong ship or not at all. A number of ships, including Sorcery, quickly had their sails unfurled and pegasi gathered to generate a tailwind to engage the enemy fleet and keep it from reaching shore. Of those that didn’t, most were either sinking in harbor or set ablaze, Sorcery’s sister Hope was unfortunately among those currently on fire. From his place at the helm he could barely see the shapes of the ships firing upon his fleet. What he could see only served to confuse him. Focusing on a grouping of cannon fire revealed a short, slender figure that combined with the flashes of four cannons meant that it was an unrated ship, either a brig or a cutter. Further analysis of some of the other ships revealed that they shared the same design. Confoundingly he could not make out the masts on the ships let alone the sails nor understand how such small ships could outrange the entire fleet. Whatever flags they flew he could not see. It aggravated him that he could not identify his attackers. Griffonstone did not have a navy and it seemed improbable that a group of pirates would come together and attack any Equestrian coastal city let alone Manehattan which stationed one of three permanent fleets in the Celestial Sea. It was the Storm King invasion all over again. Stark Contrast shook his head. The Royal Guard did nothing when Canterlot was invaded by the Storm King’s forces, but the Equestrian Navy will not allow this fleet of criminal scum to set one hoof on Equestrian soil. -.-. .- .-.. .- -- .. - -.-- / -.. .. ...- .. ... .. --- -. / .---- / -... .-.. .. - --.. -.- .-. .. . --. Stark Contrast watched as the burning frigate, Morning Sun, drifted off to port as another frigate, Moonwatch, was engulfed in explosions, a victim of concentrated fire. He pounded his hoof against the railing. Brave ponies were dying out there and here he was waiting to get into range. What good was having more cannons than the entire enemy fleet when they outranged you? How did anypony consistently manage to hit a moving ship at 7000 meters? Who was attacking him? Mutters erupted across the ship, his officers sending furtive glances at each other. A glare silenced them all. He had enough trouble with commanding already without mutinous whispers worming their way through his staff. It only took a second for them to return to their duties, but he held his gaze for a while longer to make sure none of the others got ideas. If they didn't do something soon the entire fleet would fall apart and then any chance of success would be well and truly gone. There was a bang as a shell punched a hole in the deck and cloying smoke filled surrounded the ship. Stark Contrast coughed hard as he got a lungful of the heavy fumes. His age was not helping with this, but adrenaline soon took hold. Off to the port Mountain View took a massive hit and gouts of flame erupted from her casemates as she lit up. Her burning hull kept moving forward, but it was clear that the frigate was finished as her bow began sliding deeper and deeper into the waves. The flash of light left spots dancing across his sight, but even above all the noise he could hear the crew gasp at the sight of longtime friends possibly dying. He swept the horizon, mind churning over the scattered reports layered with the scattered flashes of firing guns. The view gave him a rudimentary picture of how the battle was playing out, and he had an idea of how to continue. -.-. .- .-.. .- -- .. - -.-- / -.. .. ...- .. ... .. --- -. / .---- / . -. . -- -.-- / ..-. .-.. . . - / -.. . ... - .-. --- -.-- . -.. - .-. . / -.-. --- -. ..-. .. .-. -- / -.-. --- -- -- . -. -.-. . / .--. .... .- ... . / ..--- / -... --- -- -... .- .-. -.. -- . -. -