Ponies, cannons, and war

“Ship’s log number 3, Trottingham evacuation operation day 3…bleh.” I glanced around the homogeneously blue seas from my place by the railing. The northern Celestial Sea waves were calm, but not glassy-smooth, the skies overhead was a picturesque blue dotted with fluffy white clouds. If a plane were out on patrol there was absolutely no way of hiding from it and a chance of not noticing it.

[Bleh? Is that your official report?] Asked my deputy-captain.

I took a second, glancing down the line of merchant ships behind Clearwave.

“Yeah, considering we’ve seen absolutely nothing since leaving Manehattan.” I replied bored.

As soon as I, Twilight, Summer Rain, Balance Account, and Snowy Mountains finished our little pow-wow preparations to set sail was shortly completed and we headed out to sea. If it was just the merchant ships sailing an average of 15 knots then we would have gotten to Trottingham in about a week. Factor in a day or two for the evacuation and another week of sailing and we’d be done in a fortnight and a day or two. Unfortunately Clearwave could only do 13 knots under wind and 14 knots under steam but for only for a short amount of time before her engines literally shook themselves apart and, to add salt to the wound, she couldn’t even store enough coal to make the journey solely on steampower. So, at an average of 10 knots the trip would take 12 days to get to Trottingham, maybe a week for the evacuation and another 12 days to return to Manehattan we’d be gone for about a month.

“Who were you talking to?” Snowstorm asked from behind me.

If I were an extravert I’d at least have the crew of the Clearwave to talk to. Twilight was on Snowy Mountains, the ship, to inter…quest…talk with Snowy Mountains, the spirit, to find out how she manifested and see if she could manifest other ships. Unfortunately I was an introvert and having Snowstorm and Orange Drop hovering over me was honestly starting to grate on my nerves. I liked my privacy.

“I’m talking to my fairies.” I answered bored.

“Your fairies?” Orange Drop raised his eyebrow.

“Yeah, they're my crew. They man my guns and torpedo tubes and make sure everythings working.” I held out my hoof and manifested a fairy before them.

“Hey!”

“I think I saw her when we were preparing to fight in Manehattan, but I didn't actually get a good look at her.” Snowstorm poked at the fairy I was holding out.

“Hey!” She swatted away Snowstorm’s hoof and glared petulantly at her before disappearing back into my hull.

“Do the princesses know of them?” Orange Drop asked with a look of disbelief on his face.

“Maybe? I’m not trying to hide them from the princesses, but after Twilight’s interrogation, I mean interrogation, I have no idea what I told them.” I tried to word it better, but I ended up being honest in my view of Twilight’s little questioning session. So many questions.

Whatever the two were going to say was lost on me when a fairy of mine, probably a lookout, started rattling off numbers, directions and a name.

[60 degrees to starboard, distance 30,000 meters the ship approaching is Admiral Spee!]

“Admiral Spee?” I looked out at the direction and saw a black dot that, after seeing through my lookout's eyes, turned into a ship with a triple turret forward of its bridge that was turning to starboard to show its broadsides to us, its turrets probably aiming in our direction.

“Who’s Admiral Spee?” The two ponies were now looking over the railing, squinting off in the distance.

“Hey!” A fairy of mine manifested on the railing, holding a pair of binoculars for the two.

[It’s approaching us at a speed of 20 knots.] Spoke a cowardly voice, whom I’d later learn was my Chief Navigator/Navigation Officer.

“A German admiral that got a cruiser named after him.” I commented offhandedly as I could now see its forward turret was indeed aimed in our direction.

“A cruiser? Is it a Morgana ship?” Snowstorm asked while looking through the newly enlarged binoculars.

As if to answer her question the cruiser fired off its forward turret. At 30 kilometers it would take seconds to hit us.

“It fired its guns! It can hit us from 30,000 meters!?” Orange Drop shouted out loud, apparently attracting everyone’s attention.

“What’s going on?” Summer Rain called out as the noise from the crew was quickly silenced.

“We’ve just been shot at by a Morgana ship 30,000 meters on our starboard!” Snowstorm shot back, rushing over to her to hand over the binoculars.

“Turn 180 degrees, full rudder! Full speed!” Summer Rain ordered immediately as soon as she saw the cruiser through her newly purloined binoculars.

SPLASH!

Clearwave only just started her turn as the first shells impacted the water off her portside, the shells going wide.

Taking that as my invitation, I jumped off Clearwave’s side, summoned my rigging before landing on the water and launched greetings from my primaries.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

[Spee has begun accelerating.] That same lookout reported.

It’s pursuing us, and it was more than capable of gunning down Clearwave and the merchants.

I could see my salvo bracket Spee just as it returned fire.

[Spee: standard water displacement 12,000 tons. Maximum speed 28.5 knots. 28 cm main armaments. Six cannons. Eight 15 cm secondary armaments. Eight torpedo tubes. 160 mm thick hull. The maximum range of its main armament is about 36,000 meters with a 300 kilo shell and possible firing rate of 2.5 rounds a minute.] My recording officer/secretary rattled off just as another salvo landed around me.

That was an issue. Sure I had the larger guns and more of them, but once again I was facing an opponent that had a higher rate of fire than me, and this time? It could actually penetrate my main belt. Between the two of us I still had the high ground. Greater firepower and armor protection coupled with a higher design speed.

The only other issue being that I had to protect the ships that were now behind me. I swear there had to be some ancient Chinese or martial arts proverb. Something about having to fight two people at once, except I couldn’t just shoot the other guy.

Best thing I could do right now is charge the pocket battleship and let my secondaries rain hellfire on it before its main guns hit something important.

SPLASH!

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Another salvo landed around me and I shortly returned fire. I’m beginning to suspect that I’ve so far been lucky that none of the ships I’ve fought against had radar guided guns yet. Hopefully I could finish this before the torpedoes came out.

[Princess Twilight is approaching the Graf Spee!]

It took me a second to process the lookout’s words before I felt a deep chill run through my body. What was she doing!? Suddenly Twilight’s voice boomed from her place above no man’s land.

“Attention approaching vessel. This is Princess Twilight Sparkle, thereby ordering you to cease fire and to identify yourself. Continuing on your present course will result in your sinking.” She declared as I and Graf Spee continued our course.

My primary guns reloaded and my secondary guns were finally in range, but Graf Spee hadn’t fired back yet. Curious, I held my fire and took a closer look at Graf Spee. Suddenly four things happened.

First, one of Graf Spee’s 8.8 cm/3.5 inch guns rotated and elevated before firing.

Second, Twilight was obscured by a flash of light before being surrounded by a cloud of smoke.

Third, Twilight dropping to the sea like a sack of potatoes.

Fourth, an unnatural silence as I processed what just happened.

[Princess Twilight fell into the sea!]

It stopped to fire at Twilight. It fired at Twilight. Twilight Sparkle, a mare who not only prophesied the return of Nightmare Moon and saved the world from eternal darkness but also saved Celestia’s sister Luna. Twilight Sparkle, a mare who, through the power of friendship, not only sealed away a god of chaos but turned him to the side of good. It stopped firing at her just so it could take a shot at Twilight. It wasn't even some freak accident. That gun was deliberately fired at Twilight.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

BANG! BANG!

SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH!

Shells were raining down on me and I began chasing the splashes. Big guns like that aim to bracket their targets. I’d run for the one place it wasn’t aiming at.

I blinked, just as I flicked my stern barely dodging an incoming shell.

Run? Why was I running? I displaced more than Graf Spee, had larger and more main guns than Graf Spee, thicker armor and a higher design speed. I should have crippled Graf Spee before we got into secondary range. I should have sunk her by now. I should have…

I slowed down to 25 knots and took aim at Graf Spee. At that speed I shouldn’t be suffering from vibrations that would throw off my aim. At 23 km I shouldn’t even miss as shells continued to land around me. I should have finished her before...

My eight 14-inch/50-caliber guns thundered as one, hurling armor-piercing shells at the pocket battleship. The Morgana tried a last-minute turn to dodge the shells racing through the air. My shells crashed home, slamming through the Morgana’s armor and feedwater tanks like they weren't even there, their armor-piercing caps keeping them dead straight as they punched though inches of armor steel like it was so much soggy tissue paper. One round found its mark in the rear magazine, touching off an explosion that lifted the entire aft section of the pocket battleship out of the water with an eruption of burning decking and twisted metal shrapnel.

A millisecond later, another of my 14 inch shells exploded inside the front-most magazine, tearing everything forward of the pocket battleship's monolithic tower mast clean off. Yet another shell connected with the stern-mounted secondary magazines. The pocket battleship's hull plates blew out like some seagoing giant had simply stepped on it. All that remained was a slick of burning oil and a few chunks of debris smaller than my hoove.

I stared at the fires before turning to where the allied ships were and spotted Snowstorm and Orange Drop hovering above a patch of sea.

“P-Princess Twilight…I…” Snowstorm tried to say, but trailed off as Orange Drop began picking something up from the water.

“She's still alive."

I let out a soundless gasp. I thought…

“We'll get her stabilized." Snowstorm said, her voice straining in hope as she helped Orange Drop lift Twilight out of the water.

The two took Twilight back to Clearwave as I followed slowly behind.

True to their word, they managed to stabilize Twilight shortly after we boarded Clearwave. Unfortunately, Twilight was still unconscious and would probably need a stay at Trottingham’s hospital if she remained unconscious. As such, we needed to get to Trottingham immediately.

I volunteered to tow Clearwave at 15 knots while the merchants matched my speed. At our new rate of travel we would reach Trottingham in a week, putting our journey at ten days. Snowstorm offered to keep me company during the day, but I refused under the grounds that if another Morgana attacked then she might get caught up in its mists or under cannon fire. Besides, I decided to take the time to study the ships in my books and she would only serve to distract me.

I could not let that happen again. The Duetschland class cruisers may be about twenty years my juniors, but I still outclassed it by leaps and bounds. I…I need that refit. I will never stop bitching about it until after I get that refit. Could I be refitted? I had to say yes for their/my sake.