Ponies, cannons, and war

The filly stared at her blankly.

"But it's… it's my uniform…" She protested a bit.

She's in shock, or something, Heartgold decided.

"Look, let's just dry off, okay sweetie? And maybe get you something to eat, you must be tired after hauling him here." The filly shrugged a little, then nodded, shaking her head and wringing out some of the water.

She didn't seem as waterlogged as she should have been, swimming in this mess, but she didn't seem to really object to drying off either, and Heartgold decided it was good enough. Leading the filly into the staff area, she hauled out a towel.

"Here. There's an exam room over there you can use to dry off and change."

The filly took the towel and headed out. When she returned, she had the towel neatly folded and her cape was just as neat, carried between the steel slabs of her corset. Folded almost too neatly, like it had been done with military precision.

Heartgold had dried her mane off and shed her damp uniform jacket, leaving it hanging up, before she eyed the filly. She was willowy and slender, tallish for her apparent age. Her snowy white mane, blue-gray eyes, and pale fur, while a lovely combination, were not immediately recognizable. The microwave dinged and Heartgold hauled out the soup, an onion soup heavy in croutons and melted cheese. The filly looked like she needed the calories.

"C'mere. Let's get some food in you. What's your name?"

Before the filly could answer, Proctor stuck his head in. "The sailor's out of it. Doc Bonesaw’s looking over him now. He's swearing the filly’s some kind of ghost or something, that she carried him here walking on the water." He laughed, shaking his head. The filly looked at him, her blue eyes crinkling slightly before she looked down at the bowl. "Hey. Good work getting him here, by the way. His ship's on its way to pick him up. The captain wants to thank us all personally."

"Ship? I… I don't recognize him." The filly murmured so softly the two paramedics couldn't make out the words. The idea of meeting the captain was a mixed blessing. On the one hand, he was the captain. On the other hand… well, she'd been called crazy or chased or even called a filthy changeling parasite enough the past two days. Having someone in the Navy do it would just be the final cruelty.

Heartgold smiled at her reassuringly.

"So what's your name?" She asked again, scooting closer.

"Suzutsuki." The filly replied immediately, taking the spoon from Heartgold and digging in. "Arigato! I haven't had a hot meal in…" She shook her head, unable to even be certain. The two paramedics traded looks of concern.

“What sort of name is Suzutsuki?” Proctor asked, frowning at the unfamiliar name and terminology.

Pausing before she took the next spoonful of soup she replied, “It translates to Clear Moon.”

"Like the ship?"

That seemed right, so Suzutsuki nodded, devouring her soup.

"Arigato." The white-haired filly said before wolfing down another bite. "May I have some more? I'm… pretty hungry." She admitted, looking shame-faced at the admission.

"Have you been eating?" Heartgold asked cautiously.

"What I can find." Suzutsuki admitted. "I… I don't really know where I am. I think this is Vanhoover, but… the names are different…"

Since Heartgold seemed to have built a rapport, Proctor slipped out, giving her a nod, and busied himself answering the people who'd come in. His partner leaned forward a little, frowning at the way the strange filly was so eagerly consuming her soup, before she went to the staff room and retrieved some cookies, tossing the plastic packet to Suzutsuki.

"Here, eat up. I'm Heartgold, by the way."

The filly caught them reflexively, then stared.

"Are these… are these for me, Heartgold-san?" She asked, unable to believe it.

"You pulled a stallion out of the water and got him all the way here to Vanhoover, Suzutsuki." Heartgold said, using the name she introduced herself as. It made the filly’s cheeks redden but she smiled. "The least you deserve is a good meal or three."

"Domo arigato!" Suzutsuki cried in delight, tearing at the plastic before she ate the first one.

They were nothing special, not to Heartgold’s experience, but the filly ate them carefully, clearly savoring the experience, and the certainty that this poor filly had been underfed, probably on the streets, hardened. Well, that's over with.

We'll see to it she gets some help, even if I have to take her home with me the paramedic promised herself.

Suzutsuki was halfway through the packet when another stallion, older than Proctor, looked inside. "Heartgold." He said, nodding politely, then looked at the filly eating cookies before he stepped over. He was wearing a lab coat and a friendly smile. "Hello there, miss. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm undamaged." Suzutsuki reported, straightening up. "And I've got cookies." She smiled cheerfully, offering him one.

Introductions were quickly made between the four ship mares and the Equestrian natives, although there was a pregnant pause as the three former humans digested the fact that one of the most famous battleships in American history now stood among them. None of the three seemed to breathe as the newly returned Arizona sized up the three paperships. In that time, Princess Luna made sure to properly introduce herself to Arizona and explain her duties to the battleship, specifically her duty to watch over ponies’ dreams.

Once everyone was seated in meeting room A, Princess Celestia wasted no time in starting the conference.

“Twilight, Captain Summer Rain, how goes the evacuation of Trottingham?”

The two mares glanced at one another before Summer Rain took the lead.

“It could certainly have gone better. The convoy encountered a Morgana cruiser en route to the Griffish Isles and about fifteen nautical miles away from the Isles we encountered a heavy storm centered around Trottingham. Chesapeake was detached to investigate and engaged several Morgana ships alongside the cruiser Fredericksburg.” Here Summer Rain gestured towards Frederick.

And so, Frederick left nothing out that she couldn't recollect. Including the bit about having lived a life prior to becoming a ship. A claim that Castle and Thorn repeated themselves, and got a raised eyebrow from Arizona.

"That's quite the claim." Arizona noted.

"I know." Fredrick said, nodding. "I don't…I don't know if maybe something happened during my return. Maybe my brain made it up to fill in the blanks. Maybe it's real, and it needed me to fill in for what my ship half lacked. All I know is that I have memories of a previous life in my head."

"This… must've been quite an adjustment." Arizona commented, motioning towards her.

“Regardless, you’ve yet to tell us how the evacuation has proceeded and how Chesapeake received her injuries.” Luna eventually interrupted, drawing everyone from the paperships’ origins. “It is to my understanding that Trottingham’s population is approximately two-hundred and sixty thousand ponies. Such a number could not have been successfully evacuated in a single operation with three merchant vessels.”

“Yes ma’am, sorry ma’am. We’ve only managed to evacuate ten thousand ponies from Trottingham after finding them in the surrounding area and nearby cities of Shetland and Neighingham. They’re instituting a ration system and organizing a militia to fight off a possible naval invasion. They should have enough supplies for another two or three months while we prepare to continue the evacuation.”

“We’ll need to requisition merchant ships in order to accelerate the evacuation without having to risk a food riot or further attacks from the Morgana.” Luna decided, with Celestia agreeing a moment later.

“Chesapeake should be ready for the operation in two days.” At the princess’ and battleship’s look of shock, Summer Rain could only ruefully grin. “She’s certainly tougher than she looks, despite her thinner armor in comparison to the Scharnhorsts.”

“The Scharnhorsts?”

“KMS Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. They’re the Morgan ships that ambushed us en route back to Manehattan in a heavy mist that came in from the north. Those two ships were the ones that engaged Chesapeake and Fredricksburg.” Summer Rain admitted whilst pulling out one of the many booklets that Chesapeake had prepared, opening it up to the relevant page.

“Hm, thirteen inches of belt armor. Is a five inch difference truly significant?” Celestia asked to which Twilight finally spoke up.

“Actually, that’s something that a member of Captain Summer Rain’s crew, one Snowstorm, brought up. When I mentioned Chesapeake’s armor thickness when she was put into a bathtub to heal, Snowstorm took it upon herself to… look at Chesapeake’s cutie mark to confirm herself.” Twilight couldn’t help the light blush that came from watching a mare stare at another mare’s cutie mark. “Anyhow, she’s determined that Chesapeake’s armor thickness is five inches and the eight-six number is from her draft.”

“Really? But the School for Gifted Unicorns reported her armor thickness as between eight to six inches.”

“Permission to speak ma’am?” At the princesses' nod, Summer Rain continued. “The School for Gifted Unicorns are not trained in naval architecture. It is possible that they had made a mistake in reading the design on her cutie mark. Snowstorm was more than happy to write down Chesapeake’s specifications.” Summer Rain took out a piece of paper and gave it to the princesses, admiral and battleship.

“Five inches of belt armor, barely more than our current ironclads even though it’s made of steel. Is her armor truly that thin, or is it that the Scharnhorst is overly armored?” Luna asked rhetorically, though Arizona chose to answer.

“It looks like Chesapeake is an early Lexington class battlecruiser, designed in response to Japan’s Kongo class battlecruisers and in conjunction with the Tennessee class battleships. Considering the actual Lexingtons had an armor belt of five to seven inches and speed and firepower were prioritized over armor protection, I’m pretty sure Chesapeake’s armor belt is five inches instead of eight inches. As for her armor thickness in relation to other battleships and battlecruisers by the time I was… sunk, Chesapeake’s armor is woefully thin.” Arizona answered.

“It’s still thicker than the new cruisers in construction, and she should have a greater operational range than the new torpedo boats, even disregarding the fact that she can board Clearwave.” Speaking up for the first time, Admiral Water Drops continued once she had everyone’s attention. “I believe that we should rotate Chesapeake and the new ship mares to patrol duty while Arizona escorts the evacuation convoy. They should be able to cover Manehattan, Bronclyn to the south and Canterbury up north. Arizona, meanwhile, should be able to fend off the Scharnhorst battleships considering the two broke off after suffering from minor damage.”

“What about the rest of Equestria’s coastline? Even at thirty knots it will still take Chesapeake a day to reach Fillydelphia or Baltimare. Not to mention Las Pegasus and Vanhoover on the west coast?” Twilight interjected.

“While every single attack so far has been from the Celestial Sea dockyards in Vanhoover, Las Pegasus, Baltimare, Fillydelphia, and Manehattan have already constructed two dozen torpedo boats each with another two dozen to be built and completed within the month. Meanwhile the armor for the new protected cruisers will be delivered in two months time. Effort is being made to relocate civilians from the coasts to reception areas with available housing.” Celestia tried to assuage Twilight’s concerns, though Twilight still looked slightly concerned.

They really were stretched too thin.

“I can’t believe this is really happening.”

“I can’t believe we’re going to have to fight.”

“I can’t believe it’s not butter.” A rich masculine voice crooned.

Castle jumped, spun around and came face-to-face with a taxidermist’s sink trap.