MLP FiM: Kingdom on the Other Side…
Twilight was up in her (new) castle's library. Every other hour, she always hoped more and more books could fill the shelves. But it would take time and sadly, many of the books that were destroyed were irreplaceable. 'Stupid Tirek,' she thought to herself. 'Did he really have to destroy it?' On the plus side, she still had her friends and Equestria was kept safe from a magic-stealing enemy.
There was a knock on the door. She opened the door with her magic and all anyone could see was a stack of books with a pair of stubby legs under it.
"I got some more books for ya, Twi." Spike, Twilight's dragon assistant, said. Then the books suddenly floated in a purple aura. They all flew above Twilight's head as she sorted them out.
"Thanks Spike," She said. "So did Princess Celestia send me anything?"
Spike suddenly froze. "Actually….funny thing you should mention her."
"Spike?"
"Well, ya see." Then a bright flash appeared and Celestia showed up.
The princess's mane was ruffled and her eyes were a bit bloodshot. Her nose kept flaring open and closed as she breathed. Her regalia needed a lot of polishing and her muscles looked tense. To sum up, she looked like she was pissed…
Royally pissed, one could say. (dun-dun-tsschh)
Twilight instinctively cowered in fear. She looked up and stuttered, "P-p-princess?"
The princess trotted dramatically to her former student followed by a unceremonious plopping down with her head landing on said pillow. The princess turned her head to look at Twilight. She smiled a little.
"Hello, Twilight."
"Princess? Is everything okay?"
"I'm afraid not. Tirek's rampage caused a lot of political squabble."
There is a knocking on the castle's balcony that rudely interrupts them. Celestia looks at the door with a lethal glare. Then she turns back.
"Excuse me." She gets up and trots to the mail pegasus. "Is there something I can help you with?" The pegasus bows instantly.
"Telegram for you, your Highness." He flies off before Celestia can say anything else. Celestia reads the message and her face grows shocked.
"This can't be…" She sits down and rereads the message. The message read:
RES Celestia sunk STOP
1,100 souls on board. STOP
600 in lifeboats. STOP
Approx. 400 missing. STOP
Celestia's tears watered.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Twilight asked.
"Yes…Can you have Spike bring us some tea?" Then, as if Spike already knew the routine by now, brings in a tray with tea cups and a kettle. He sets it in front of the two princesses and bows respectfully.
Twilight couldn't help but giggle. "Sometimes, Spike, I wonder what I'd do without you."
Then as Spike tried to leave the alicorns alone, he felt something surge from his stomach. He clutched his belly until it reached his mouth. When his mouth couldn't hold it in a green ball of fire came out, along with a scroll. Spike grabbed it before it dropped to the ground. It was rolled up and had a seal that had a crescent moon on it. He turned back to the alicorns with the message in his claw.
"It's a message from princess Luna!" He exclaimed.
The scroll was surrounded by a golden aura and was pulled towards Celestia. She opened it and it read…
"Dear Sister,
We require that thou bring thyself into the City of Manehattan. There's not a moment to lose."
Celestia couldn't believe it. First Tirek, then news of a catastrophic shipwreck, now THIS?
Twilight asked, "What is it? What's going on?"
Celestia turned to her former student. "I'm needed in Manehattan at once." She takes to the balcony and flaps her wings. She flaps and flaps until…FLASH! She disappears. Twilight grabs Spike with a wing and sets off for Manehattan…
Manehattan Harbor
It's a well known fact that Manehattan is the most populated city in all of Equestria. Naturally, it required a good harbor to bring in shipping from all over the world. All sorts of sea-going boats came in, from great steam-powered ocean liners to private yachts to merchant ships to naval vessels.
An Equestrian frigate, R.E.S. (Royal Equestrian Ship) Fillydelphia, was a mile or two off shore on its standard patrol. The ship itself was impressive. She was over 400 ft. long, had a 58 ft. beam, propelled by both sail and steam, and made out of wood with 4.5" of iron plating for armor. It also had cannons…lot's of them…40 of them to be exact. The shells for them weighed between 40-100 lbs, depending on the caliber of the round. It required over 550 sailors to keep the ship running. Either way one looked at it, the ship was a massive armed fortress. No pony would dare approach it.
The captain of this ship was Sea Worthy…a grayish stallion with a dark mane that was starting to gray out. He was at the stern of the ship looking over the starboard side, observing the ocean. The seas were calm, the skies were free of clouds, and the winds were still. Standing out here was the captain's way of relieving stress.
Several hours earlier, a merchant freighter, the G.K.S. (Griffon Kingdom Ship) Arnea, appeared in the harbor, carrying hundreds of ponies with blankets. Seeing their sullen expressions put many a chill in their spines. Once it was in port, the news of the sinking spread like wildfire with gasoline poured on it during heavy winds. Newspaper companies were rolling out their special editions like mad, and their reporters were gathering information from the survivors to make sure the stories were accurate.
The official story was that the ship was traveling through foggy weather at around 11 pm which even with a weather team's worth of pegasi on board, could not clear it. They DID slow the ship down but no one could see or hear the iceberg in front of them. By the time the lookouts saw the mass of frozen water, it was too late. It made a 300-400 ft. gash into the port side of the ship. The ship gained a noticeable list when the captain gave out the order to abandon ship. The list made many of the boats unusable and the quick sinking didn't provide much time. A lot of the passengers ended up in the freezing cold water. But then the story got weird.
One thing that was strange was the fact they all reported seeing a mysterious ship come out of the water like a whale or a dolphin. The thing was described as looking like a box with fins on top of a large tube. (And by large, it was GIGANTIC. It was rumored to be bigger than most RES Navy vessels.) It had some bright lights on top of the tower that signaled them all towards safety. Now it got weirder.
A hatch opened and some creatures came out. Some say it was less than 20, some say it was more than 30. The creatures that came out of the tower, however, were all bi-pedal and wearing uniforms that said 'H.N.' on it. Well, whatever that meant, they were clearly the ones saving them. All of these bipeds were directing the ones in the water to the thing's stern where the dip was the shallowest and therefore easiest to climb. From what witnesses say the unicorns were picked first so they could help lift others out faster. One by one ponies boarded the mysterious vessel with looks of concern. Moreover, the ponies in lifeboats were told to wait for another ship since, according to one of the bipeds, "You guys in boats can wait." After a while, the giant ship disappeared into the water. Then the merchant ship picked up the lifeboats.
No pony knows where that ship is now. Wherever it was, the hopes of hundreds rested with their appendages.
Author's Note
Feel free to constructively criticize. And by that I mean tell me what I'm both doing right AND wrong.