[Story/Chapter Tester]

By the Princess's Orders

By: The Grey Pegasus

RES Constellation

Eastern Pacific Ocean

[Month-day], 2005

0949 Hours

Ocean waves crashed by outside.

Wooden timbers creaked quietly.

Captain Starry Skies looked around herself. Wooden walls. Wooden frames.

Every time she examined her surroundings, she became irritated. Five years ago, she had wistfully looked upon the walls, expecting a new ship in her future. A new ship that she would have grown accustomed to and eventually became at home in, just as she had with the Constellation.

Except it never happened. And for the past three years, she no longer felt comforted by her familiar ship. She was frustrated. And at times afraid. Equestria's enemies were milling about outside their borders with technology from the humans. The enemy had spared nothing in the attempt to wipe out the Equestrians, but they had not done the same. Instead, she sat inside the heavy frigate, once the pride and glory of the Equestrian Royal Navy and now... technically still was, with no true way to fight the enemy.

Sure, the navy had bought a few patrol vessels for border purposes, and even that was accomplished through extreme pressure on the Princesses. But for any true combat ships, Equestria had done nothing. At most, they had upgraded the wooden ships with some modern modules and barely adequate armament.

"Captain Skies, you are requested up on the deck."

The midnight blue pegasus sighed as the message came through the intercom, one thing they had bothered putting in the ships. Dropping a hoof and her weight onto the intercom's button, she replied a weary, "Acknowledged."

Slowly, she dragged herself off of her cot and onto the wooden floor. Her hooves landed with a solid thud. Putting on a coat, she made her way to the door out of the captain's quarters.

Exiting the door, she was still under a roof. With all of the new things the Equestrians were inevitably learning, the navy had requested that roofs be built over the mid deck and most of the stern deck, where she made her way to. It was an abomination, she thought. The ship was beautiful once, but now, now they were trying too hard to cling onto the past while trying to deal with the present.

Or rather, the Princesses were. Most officers with functional brains had wanted to switch over to modern ships for the past few years, after the sentiment for their canvas sails had worn off. Even the Admiralty were leaning towards modernizing, for the logical reason of it being the only way they could continue to perform their work as a navy.

"Captain Skies."

Skies blinked. It was Lieutenant Low Tide, standing around a chart table. Around the makeshift room there were a few other ponies, notably a few working radios. "Yes, what is it, Lieutenant?"

"A patrolling pegasus notified us of an unidentified, unscheduled ship passing by here," the blue earth pony tapped on the map on the table, "heading with a bearing west. Reported to be a private vessel. We're the nearest ship in the area and they want us to intercept and investigate."

Skies just sighed again. "Alright. Get it done. How long until we close the distance?"

"Given the last reported location and heading... forty minutes."

Skies nodded. "Notify the gun crews. Ready a boarding party."

Tide leaned on the table and looked at his CO, and evident from his relatively bored expression, as he had done a few times in the past. "Same routine?"

"Same routine."

:::::

Patrols were nothing new for them. Patrols for pirating and smuggling were nothing new for them. Even when they first arrived five years ago, it was nothing new to them. But in the new world, it was just so... unfulfilling. But she swore to serve the Princess, which was a swear to serve her ponies, and if this was how she was to perform that duty, then she had to live with it.

Skies was below decks, wandering in the first gun deck. About half of the cannons had been removed. The other half of the gun ports were taken up by new artillery pieces. They were modified surplus field pieces bought from the Americans when the Princess finally caved to upgrading the wooden ships' fire power to something remotely usable. Much care had gone into designing recoil mechanisms as to not wreck the ship upon firing.

For Skies, the new guns were probably one of the only things she didn't mind about the upgraded Constellation. The ship was a weapon, plain and simple, and if this is what it took to up-gun the ship, then so be it. The gun decks were also made more livable, with heaters and better insulation.

She wondered how Equestrians had managed to even stomach having to upgrade the Constellation like this. Sometimes, when the ship creaked, Skies imagined that it was speaking to her, asking to let it stop sailing and be removed from active duty. Maybe even be restored to its actual former glory. Not the convoluted mess it was now. The ship performed as best as a wooden ship could in the age of guided missiles, and Skies could never be happy as long as she commanded the Constellation. She loved the ship with all her heart, but it was being pushed much farther than it should have ever been.

Pegasi of the boarding party were coming up from the lower crew decks, readying themselves on the top deck. Skies received nods of acknowledgement from them as they passed by while she blankly stared on. After the last of them came, she gave the same basic instructions she had given time after time to the gun crews. Be prepared to fire warning shots, then be prepared to fire to sink.

:::::

The relatively small ship calmly tumbled through the Pacific Ocean. Starry Skies stood on the open front deck feeling the sun's warmth. It was not Celestia's sun, but she had grown to love it as she had their own.

"Star?"

Slightly off guard, she turned to her side, finding her lieutenant. "Low."

"We're going to be within range in five minutes." Tide held up binoculars to his eyes. "There it is, out over there." He offered it to his captain and pointed.

Skies took it and searched the seas. She found the boat miles away. "Have we made radio contact with them yet?"

"We began ten minutes ago. We suspect that they're smugglers." The lieutenant took the binoculars back as he answered.

"Suppliers of the black market from the Americans? Pony or human?"

"Equestrian, we know so far. I don't remember ever encountering a human on these patrols."

Skies nodded. "Those ponies like to do deals at sea. The humans ship it out, meet up with an Equestrian ship, and do their business. Reduces interspecies issues that may be encountered in port."

"If they happen to be working for the black market, they should be loaded up with contraband, since they're headed for Equestria" Tide reasoned. "Unlucky day for them."

"Lieutenant Wintergreen, set off at once."

"Alright, fellas, you heard 'em, let's go!"

"Or a lucky day for us." Skies watched as a few pegasi took of from the deck, readying to confront the other ship. "Let's see what this is about."

:::::

Constellation had positioned itself alongside the vessel. It was another wooden sailing ship, and by how weathered it appeared, was from the olden days like Constellation. Given Equestria's penchant to isolate itself from the rest of the world, these merchant vessels were just other relics in use, since acquiring any modern ships required ludicrous hoops to jump through; after all, if small items in the black market were forbidden, what more were ships?

And being an older ship type, both sides knew how the game went. Navy pegasi in one group, crew members in the other, and a civilized talk on the deck behind the main mast.

"Sir," one of the crew, an earth pony, greeted. "I am Captain Clipper, welcome aboard the Ocean Breeze. We were told that we were sailing through these waters without permission?"

The commanding officer of the boarding party, a green pegasus, stepped forward. "Exactly that, Captain. Under Equestrian Navy procedures, we'll need to see your shipping manifest and you will have to consent to a search of your ship. That wouldn't be a problem, now, would it?"

Clipper shook his head. "No, not at all." He turned to one of his aides. "You heard the officer, shipping manifest."

Just as the pony nodded, the officer interrupted. "And a ship plan. You should have your ship's layout somewhere, correct?"

"Oh, yes, yes," the earth pony replied. Turning to the pony he gave the original order to, "Ship plan as well."

The pony nodded once more and went off with haste.

"I suppose you take us for black market operators?" Clipper asked the officer.

"You could simply stop playing the game now," the pegasus replied. "It would save you much trouble." He looked back at the rest of the marines standing ready. "After all, there isn't any way out of this."

"Well, by all means, sir, you're free to try and find evidence to hold against us that fits your case. We may not have the right to be in this area, but I assure you, that part is a simple misunderstanding. The winds don't always like to cooperate."

The officer shook his head slightly. "Same thing every time."

There was the sound of hoofsteps returning, and it was Clipper's aide from earlier.

"Well, sir, here are the requested items. Search the ship as you please," Clipper said calmly.

The pegasus turned to his marines behind him. "Sergeant Crosswind, you and your ponies guard the deck. Sergeant Harper, go over and get us unicorns from Constellation."

The two other pegasi gave him affirmatives. One stayed with a few ponies on the ship, the other took a team back to bring over unicorns from their ship just a little ways away. A younger pegasus came up to the officer. "Lieutenant Wintergreen? I have a question, sir."

"What is it?" Wintergreen started walking off to the side of the ship where Constellation was sailing alongside, the private in tow.

"So what happens if we find them smuggling things from overseas?"

"We arrest the crew, seize the ship, take it back to port, and lock up all the illegal cargo."

"Just like that?"

"Come on, son, you signed up to serve the Princesses. If anypony's been getting it into your head to take a souvenir for yourself, get it out, because that isn't what the Princesses told us to do." They watched as pegasi took off from Constellation with some unicorns. "And if you try to do it, make sure I don't see it."

Five pegasi landed with five unicorns. Sergeant Harper approached Wintergreen. "Sir? We're ready to start the search."

"Very well," he replied to the mare. "I'll be here on the deck. Report back when you're done."

Harper turned back to her troops. "Okay, ponies, let's go!"

:::::

Down below in the bottom deck, two unicorns were preparing to scan the area as other pegasi searched the cargo around with lights and the naked eye. Though both unicorns weren't particularly old, one was clearly younger than the other. "Alright private, this is your first time on a search, correct?" the older one asked.

"Yes, Corporal, it is."

"You know the basic search spells?"

"Read about them and practiced a bit, Corporal."

"Okay, let's do it together then. Basic search spell, the first one we do according to procedure. It was in page 52 of the manual. Know what I'm talking about?"

"I think so, yeah."

"Let's start."

Their horns lit and they walked about the room. "Say, Corporal, black market operators usually hide things below the bottom deck, right?" the younger one asked.

"That's right. But right now, we're just searching for items on this deck. That search comes later."

"Can't they mask traces of those items or hidden compartments?"

"Not if we do our job right, they can't."

The private kept walking along one side of the deck while his corporal searched the other. "And we're supposed to feel something if we find something, right?"

"That's right." There was a short silence as they reached the end. "Found nothing in the first magical search spell. Now we search under our hooves."

Again, they found nothing. "But just because we found nothing doesn't mean they're not hiding anything, right, Corporal?"

"I've been on a few searches in the past where we did lots of magical sweeps but didn't find a trapdoor until we brought on the anti-magic field crystal. So we're not certain about anything until we go through all the checks."

The private quietly sighed. He had signed up for the marines to help carry out the Princesses' will and keep his home safe against the new world, but he didn't expect to be landed in a position as dull as this. He knew that the spells they were taught to use weren't just for searches, but were in fact created for battlefield use. Things like searching out traps, or hidden enemies, or-

"Hey, you ready for the next sweep?" the corporal asked, taking the younger unicorn out from his mental trance.

"Yeah, yeah." His horn lit with another spell, ready to walk the length of the deck again and probably find nothing. He followed the strides of the other unicorn, still careful to feel around the floor for anything out of place. They were supposed to be doing a search for trapdoors, according to procedure.

"Anything?" the corporal asked.

"No, still nothing, Corporal."

"Nothing on my end either."

The private sighed as he took a few last steps towards the end- "Wait. I think I found something." He moved around his head as if feeling if anything was tugging at it.

The corporal walked over and casted a spell. "What are you feeling? I don't feel anything."

"I... I don't know. There's something under the floorboards."

The older unicorn's horn stopped glowing, while his expression glared at his companion. "Are you casting the right spell?"

"I- " The private paused. "I..."

"What spell did you cast?"

"I don't know! I was just thinking about search spells and then you snapped me out of it and- "

"Well what were you last thinking?!"

"Uh- uh- something about hidden attackers or something?"

"You must be feeling some fish or something in the sea," the corporal scoffed, but his horn lit again.

His expression changed momentarily. "Somepony get me the lieutenant!"