Silent Running

22nd Day of the 4th Month, 1475
South-Equestrian Sea
21:20 hours

The storm rocked the ships that sailed through the rough waters of Equestria, attempting to make it through to the beaches of the Changeling Kingdom. The pattering of rain against the windows and decks of the different ships was like a nice soothing sound to the sailors who kept watch on the seas with binoculars and massive radar and sonar sets.

Sure, while the convoy was very small and possibly insignificant, it was still protected by a defensive ring of 7 Legacy-class Guided Missile Destroyers. Each one scanning the stormy skies for any sign of enemy ships or aircraft. But also, onboard sonar arrays continually sent waves of active noise into the waters below.

Why? Because it was now notorious that the Changeling Navy was using highly-advanced submarines to ambush Equestrian fleets. Stealthy underwater hunters that can strike from anywhere and disappear without a trace. However, new advancements to technology has allowed Equestrian sonar sets to be much more powerful and able to detect any hostile submarines from at least five thousand yards away.

Sitting at the controls of the sonar on board the 4th destroyer in the 7-surround formation ENS Stronghooves, keeping an eye out for any faint recognisable lines on the Target Motion Analysis, was a lone earth pony stallion. He was just a rookie, this being his very first mission. However, he had undertaken rigorous training and was ready for any scene against a hostile submarine.

The stallion just let out a yawn, as he just stared at the sonar reading, which was turning up nothing but static. He had been up since 11:00 in the morning and had not had any rest since then. He desperately needed some sleep, cause he had a full belly and was ready for some sleep, but his shift on the sonar wasn't finished until two more hours.

"Tired, are you?" A mare sat in front of a massive radar screen asked him.

The stallion just laughed a bit and replied, "Yeah. Waiting for this damned shift to be over, so I can get some sleep,"

"Just hang in there, shift's almost over. This trip has been very quiet anyway, not like you need to expect much,"

The stallion smiled and looked back at his screen...

...only to see that it had changed. The screen now showed five visible solid lines, but not in any pattern he recognized. All of the lines were grouped in the 0-1000 range on the Range meter. But as he flicked through his assigned book of different profile signatures, the signature on the screen didn't match any of the signatures in his book.

This confused the stallion, who grabbed his overhead radio and activated it. "Uhh, Conn, this is sonar. New contact bearing 117, distance: 4926 KYD. Designated, Sierra 1,"

Copy that, Was the response from the bridge, Can you identify the class of the contact?

There was a slight pause. "Uhhh, negative. The profile signature does NOT match any recorded profiles," But just as he said that, all of a sudden the lines on the sonar disappeared. Just gone. "Conn, sonar. Lost contact. Sierra 1 last bearing 117 at 4926 KYD,"

"What in Equestria do you mean? How did it just disappear?!" The radar mare asked.

"I don't know! It's just... gone," He replied, turning back to face the blank sonar screen. But then, alarms then went off throughout the destroyer. The thundering of hooves on metal rang out in every direction as the P.A. system ushered all of the crew to their battlestations.

Outside of the confines of the electronic warfare suite on the Stronghooves, all hell was breaking loose. A few seconds earlier, everything was quiet. Without warning, the destroyer Blueblood exploded in a bright flash of light and began to sink with all hooves. After that, all of the other ships went into a panic as the next destroyer, Daring Do, exploded in the same manner and began to sink, which was soon joined by one of the cargo ships suddenly having a massive gush of water appear from out of the side of the ship, before it began to list and sink. This caused everyone to freak out, as this attack was clear to all that there was a submarine in the area. But none of them could see it on their sonars, it was like the sub was never there and yet they were still being bombarded with missiles and torpedoes from nowhere.

It was nothing but a slaughter. Without any sonar contact to pinpoint where the hostile was, all of the other ships in the fleet were quickly dispatched. Onboard the Stronghooves, alarms rang all over the ship, red lights flashing and covering everything and everypony in a bloody glow. In the sonar room, the stallion manning the sonar system began panicking. The power had just gone out, the only light was provide by the red alert lights.

He began to hyperventilate. This was his first mission and he was caught up in his own ship sinking. He couldn't contain his feelings of horror, shock and fear. This wasn't helped when the P.A. system crackled to life once again and it was the voice of the ship's captain. One that nopony wanted to hear.

All hooves, abandon ship. All hooves, abandon ship,

This caused a huge outbreak of motion from everypony onboard the ship. All at once, they got up from where they were and bolted towards the nearest lifeboats on the main deck. Everypony was in a panic to get to the boats, and the sonar stallion knew this. He was being pushed and shoved in every direction as he fought his way through the corridors of the ship with the others.

However, the moment he got to the main deck, he was horrified at the sight before him. A massive fire had broken out near the two smokestacks from where a missile had hit. Many burnt corpses littered the decks. The stench of burnt flesh and coat hair mixed in the the salty air of the sea. The ship began to tip over, sending many sailors into the freezing cold waters below. The stallion attempted to save himself by grabbing onto the railings, but he couldn't hold onto the slippery metal for long and fell in.

The darkness of the night ocean water was only just brightened by the burning fires of the Stronghooves. As the stallion splashed into the waters, he pushed with all his might to get away from all the oil spilling out of the sinking destroyer. If he surfaced too early, the oil would get him and the fires from the ship would not be too far behind. So, he pushed through the water as much as he could to get away from his former ship. And after what felt like 15 minutes of energy-depleting swimming under the waves, he then surfaced a clear distance away from the wreck of the ship, as the destroyer went down into the ocean, it's Equestrian flag flying proudly the whole time before slipping beneath the waves.

It was a heartbreaking sight, seeing the vessel go down. But as the the final part of the destroyer slipped below the waves, something brushed against the back of the stallion. He spun around to see that it was only a lone life raft. A stallion officer in the raft grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into the raft.

"You okay?" He asked, taking off his officer's jacket to cover the shivering earth pony.

"Yes, sir. But which ship are you from? I've never seen you before," The shivering pony answered.

"The Daring Do. I see that you are from the Stronghooves. Well, at least you are safe," The officer stated, "What's your name, sailor?"

"Thunder Spark, sir,"

Before anything else could happen, there came a massive splash of water. All in the raft were showered down and blinded with sea spray. Once the mist had cleared, the ponies in the raft then saw something that they would not forget. A massive submarine, with a hull as black as the night sky, had just surfaced. And something was very off. The silhouette of the sub resembled a changeling Akula-class or Alfa-class attack submarine, but way too long. It wasn't any submarine profile that anypony recognised.

The mysterious submarine just stayed on the surface for no more than a minute, observing the kills it had just scored, before slipping underneath the waves and disappearing from view.

What the ponies didn't know was that this was just their first encounter with the most advanced and deadly submarines in the changeling navy, under the command of one of the greatest minds in the whole hive...