Ponies, cannons, and war

“Wow, and here I thought no other pony could eat more than Soarin after a show.” Spitfire uttered after I finished an entire tray of lasagna.

“Yeah, it’s a thing with us shipmares. We go out onto the water at flank speed and shoot off our guns and as soon as we’re back we’ve got to replenish our fuel tanks and munitions by eating a crap ton of food. I’m worse off since I’m a capital ship.” At Spitfire’s confusion I gave a simplified answer. “I displace more than 20,000 tons and have big 14 inch guns. The only thing I’m missing is heavy armor.”

“Missing…heavy armor? What are you talking about? Doesn’t that cutiemark of yours say that you displace almost four times as much as our frigates and your armor is almost half their displacement?” Spitfire looked at me incredulously.

“I’m talking about armor thickness. 8 inches of belt armor is on par with the Kongos and the British ‘splendid cats’ generally speaking but the Germans were starting with a little over 9.5 inches of belt armor and ending with almost a foot of belt armor while Hood did have a foot of belt armor.” I explained to her continued shock.

“A foot of armor? And here I thought your 8 inches was thick.” Spitfire continued to stare at me while I, and someone else, choked on something while thinking ‘phrasing!’ before draining a glass of juice and talking about the battleships.

“And we’ve only been talking about battlecruisers. The Standard-type of battleships my country was building at the time started with 13.5 inches of armor and ended with 16 inches on the Colorados.” I resumed my feast while Spitfire’s jaw dropped to the table, whispering 16 inches.

“I see.” The motherly voice of Celestia wafted through the air, Spitfire and I turned towards the door to see Princess Celestia and a whole lot of ponies that I recognized from the show. On Celestia’s left side were: Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, Starlight Glimmer, one of the most powerful unicorns in-universe who figured out how to mess with time travel, and Flash Magnus, one of six legendary ponies who created the Tree of Harmony. On Celestia’s right were: Cadance, Princess of Love and ruler of the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor, former captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard and co-ruler of the Crystal Empire and Sunburst…I want to say magic adviser(?).

And they were all staring at me like I was crazy. How long were they standing there?

“Captain Spitfire, Chesapeake, I trust the training exercise went well?” Celestia walked over to us along with her entourage while Spitfire briefly stood up to bow before summing up her thoughts.

“Well enough. Assuming the Morgana are just as tough as Chesapeake here, then any boarding party we send out is not going to be able to subdue them, and that’s assuming we figure out how to negate their ability to disable us. And while I’m no navy mare, I’m fairly sure that none of our ships are going to survive an encounter with even one of them.” Spitfire informed grimly.

“That is indeed troubling news.” The Princess replied as she glanced down before looking over Twilight and smiling. “But before I hear the results of the training, I believe that it would be best if we sat down for lunch and brought my guests up to speed on the situation.”

“Up to speed on what situation Princess? Is this related to what you wrote on the scroll?” Twilight asked, her nervousness returning in force at the now serious expression on her teacher's face.

“Yes, that is correct.” Celestia took a breath. What followed next was a round of introductions and a summary of the last few days, starting with my appearance in the middle of the Celestial Sea and ending with Celestia’s plan from breakfast. It left everybody in silent contemplation, although Twilight was gawking at me with her mouth open.

Finally Twilight closed her mouth.

“Bwuh?” And let it drop to the table again.

“Yes, that is a fairly accurate summation of most of our reactions to hearing Chesapeake’s explanation.” Princess Celestia replied as I shot her a disbelieving look.

“And that’s why I was summoned to Canterlot, right?” Flash Magnus spoke up before I could run my mouth. “You need somepony who not only has experience in the Royal Legion, but also with fighting these sorts of threats to Equestria?”

“That is correct.” Celestia nodded before continuing. “Despite the…increasingly growing number of possible Equestria-ending situations you remain as the most experienced member we have. Thus I can think of no other pony better suited to serving as the captain of the Royal Guard than you or Shining Armor, if you choose to accept the position.”

“Heh, as if you have to ask. Once a soldier always a soldier.” Flash Magnus declared.

“Wait, wait. I just…I don’t…” Twilight stuttered before pausing, taking a deep breath to calm down, before continuing. “I understand that there’s evil beings approaching Equestria.”She didn’t understand, not one bit, but she was already mentally writing up a whole list of questions to ask Chesapeake after lunch so she could put aside her confusion on that front for now. “But there’s one thing I don’t get. Why? Why do these Morgana ponies want to hurt and kill innocent ponies? We didn’t do anything to them right? So why?” Twilight couldn’t help but ask.

I could only blink owlishly at Twilight before putting my head on my hoof and thinking about it for a second or two while everyone else looked toward me.

“Honestly?” I sighed. “The stories barely mentioned why the Abyssals and my world’s versions of the Sirens attacked. The Abyssals, if they were commanded by something called the ‘Abyss’ then all we knew of it was that it was some sort of alien being or force that humanity could not understand, while the Abyssals themselves, particularly the demons and princesses, were kanmusu like myself, just twisted, corrupted, came be wrong and sought revenge on humanity for one reason or another. The Sirens meanwhile only sought power and through their conflict with humanity could they achieve that power. But the Morgana?” At that point I focused my gaze at Twilight, who sucked in a startled breath. “I have no idea what they are, what they want or why they are attacking, if they even have a reason to do so. All I know is that they ambushed me the first night I was sailing in this world and shot me up, setting me on fire and knocking out a few of my guns. The only thing they said that night was ‘somebody is always watching, always’. The next time we met? They just disabled the ship that was friendly enough to help me towards land and the merchant ship that was just saved from pirates. I’m not even sure if they even knew I was onboard or if they were just attacking because Clearwave wasn’t one of their own ships.” I took a drink to stop myself from rambling and to let everyone else digest what I just said.

“If that’s the case then.” Shining Armor got everyone’s attention before continuing. “Then I assume that in case the coasts have to be evacuated then they might be evacuated to the Crystal Empire considering we don’t border the Celestial Sea of the Luna Ocean, is that right Princess Celestia.”

“That is correct, although I’m hoping that it won’t be the case.” Celestia admitted with a sigh.

“Princess? I don’t mean to be rude, but I just have to ask.” It was Starlight’s turn to speak up now, apparently. “Why did you just ask Twilight, me and Sunburst to come here? Shouldn’t the rest of the girls be joining Twilight so they can use the Elements if these Morgana are so evil?” Starlight couldn’t help but ask.

“Perhaps I will call upon the Elements in time, but for now I have three tasks I wish to entrust to you, Sunburst and my former student. Three research tasks to be specific.” Princess Celestia started, Twilight and Sunburst sitting as straight as they could at the thought of a new subject to study, one given to them by Princess Celestia no less! “Firstly, this ability of Morgana to negate pony magic must be overcome if we are ever to have a chance to protect our nation and to fight alongside Chesapeake. And I can think of no pony who I would want to be part of the team researching this ability other than the Element of Magic, her former student and the Crystal Empire crystaller.” The Princess started to explain, and despite her unease over the whole situation Twilight and Sunburst couldn’t help but feel excited at the prospect of a new research project. “Second, we’ve recovered artifacts from the ships and according to Chesapeake these ‘Wisdom Cubes’ are objects of great power with the power of creation and destruction. I want all of you to study them and ensure that we do not destroy ourselves by misusing them. Last, but not least of all, you are to find a way to send Chesapeak back to her home world. This too, is a task I would entrust to each and every one of you.” The Solar Diarch concluded, her final words drawing a surprised look from me.

“Woah woah woah woah. While I appreciate the gesture Princess, maybe we should focus on the Morgana problem first before trying to send me back home. It’s not going to do me any good if I end up sinking because everyone else was too focused on sending me back instead of figuring out how the Wisdom Cubes work. Besides, maybe they shouldn’t be taking on more than they can chew, yeah?” I said, Celestia smiling knowingly at me.

“Thank you for your concern, but you do not need to worry over Twilight's health. If anything, having three magical projects at once will merely provide even more motivation to my former student here while I’m sure Sunburst can keep up with her and Starlight can keep them under control.” The Princess explained as she glanced at her Twilight, Celestia’s smile only growing as she did so. “In fact, I believe we have already lost her, right Twilight?”

And with those words, the gathered ponies turned their attention to Twilight, who was long gone by now. Her thoughts already turned to the many avenues of magic she could begin looking into in order to start her new project.

“Besides, I’m sure you will have other issues to worry about.” Celestia brought up a tea cup to her mouth, coincidentally hiding a growing grin.

“Like what?” I couldn’t help but feel worried to see that grin.