Author's Note

Fashionably Late here, and apparently Creativity wanted to me to do some work on this story instead of the Pokémon one. After days of banging my head against that wall and receiving a headache or two for it, why not? Still no princesses yet, so expect the next chapter in a month or two. Although the long wait times could also be because of 90 degree weather around here, the heat is getting to me especially since I've got no central A/C unit. Been thinking of freezing a bottle of water and cuddling with it. Wish I could do that with a yuki-onna instead. Hope ya'll enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 7: Battle of Manehattan

So remember how I said I like routine? Well that’s still true as I slowly open up my eyes.

And stared into the golden eyes of a pony with a snow white mane.

“You’re awake!”

…

“AH!” I jolted back, upending a tub of water. “Demon pony!” I exclaimed from under the now empty tub.

“Demon pony where!?” I heard the demon pony yell out.

…

“AH!”

“AH!” Yelled out another voice.

From under the tub I could hear various crashing sounds.

“What’s going on!?” Shouted a new voice.

“Orange!?” That was the demon pony.

“Snowstorm, why is the doctor shaking in the corner and where is the ‘mystery’ mare?” Asked this ‘Orange’ guy.

…

Snowstorm?

The snow white mare immediately came to mind. The mare that I turned my guns on. The mare that asked if I picked a fight with a dragon. The mare that let me enjoy my bath/repair in peace.

…

Bath/repair? My guns?

And that quickly reminded me that I was currently part ship and I’d been sailing for a while, tested out my guns, got ambushed at night and figured out that I was in MLP.

…

Oh yeah, now it’s all coming back.

I had lunch and then helped catch a group of pirates and then we were attacked by Morgana, probably the same group from last night…how long was I out?

It was then that I realized my tub was gone and I had three ponies staring at me.

“Are you ok?” Snowstorm asked worriedly.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just forgot where I was for a moment.” I replied standing up.

“Oh thank Celestia.” Snowstorm sighed.

“What exactly happened here?” Orange Drop asked again.

…um…

“I may have freaked out when I saw Snowstorm up in my face.” I nervously answered as Snowstorm nervously laughed while Orange Drop glared at her.

“Why were you staring at her?”

Growl.

We all froze as a loud rumbling sounded out in the room.

What?

Growl.

Ok, now I felt that one.

Everyone turned to look at me as my stomach rumbled angrily again.

“Uh…I missed dinner?”

Orange Drop managed to get me to the captain’s quarters by promising me lunch while we talked to Summer Rain.

Honestly we didn’t do much talking when I was more busy stuffing my face with food. I think Orange Drop forgot, or tried to repress the memory, that I had traumatized everybody yesterday by stuffing my face with curry. And trying to get between me and the food earned a rather impressive growl from me if I do say so myself. Heck, I even managed to pick up a glass of apple juice with my hoof, no fingers necessary.

Yelp, at least it gave me some time to figure out how I was going to sell my story. I mean, in a world of magical talking ponies where friendship was literal magic, I was unsure how they would take the whole warships helmed by mechanical women/mares that attack anyone and anything that was caught in their mists. I mean, sure there’s seeing is believing, but that still left me.

I was essentially an alien trapped in an equally alien body. Moreso, I’ve seen bits and pieces of the cartoon. How was I supposed to keep the fact that I know things that some random being shouldn’t know a secret? If I were talking to the princesses, specifically Twilight, I could just be upfront about it, but with some random pony captain? Better to leave out the interdimensional explanation until I get to the princesses.

“So, you want to know about the Morgana?” I asked after taking a sip of apple juice.

“You're finally full?” Snowstorm looked at the stack of plates a shell shocked server was balancing out the door.

“For now.” She turned to stare at me. “I’ll need to eat again after I finish healing.”

“And do you require our medical assistance?” Orange Drop started.

“No, no I’ll not require medical assistance.”

“The Morgana.” We all turned towards Summer Rain. “What are they?”

“To be completely honest, I’m not sure myself.” That earned me disbelieving looks.

“Just as you don’t remember your name.”

“Orange Drop!” Snowstorm gaped at him.

“I apologize, but it seems entirely too convenient. We rescue a wounded mare from the sea and we’re then attacked by an unknown fleet of ships? There’s something suspicious about this.”

“Orange Drop.” We turned back to Summer Rain. “That mare we rescued also helped us capture a group of pirates who hijacked a merchant ship full of hostages without hurting anyone. She also fought off those same ships when we were rendered helpless and she was wounded for doing so. I think she has clearly earned our trust, has she not?” She sternly looked at Orange Drop.

“Yes, captain. I apologize for speaking out.”

“Good, now could you please continue.” Summer Rain directed the conversation back to me.

“Well, I’m not completely sure what the Morgana are, I do know that they seek to claim the seas and anybody unfortunate to be in their mists will be attacked.”

“Were they the ones that attacked you before we found you?” Snowstorm cautiously asked.

“Yeah, they pretty much ambushed me that night.” I admitted.

“They attacked you at night?” Snowstorm was aghast.

“How? How could they have attacked you at night?” Questioned Orange Drop, who was glared at by Snowstorm.

“Radar.” I shrugged.

“What’s radar?” Summer Rain sounded out.

“It’s a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance and direction of objects.” I said offhandedly. “It can detect and track a lot of things, in this case ships.”

“And Morgana have this…radar?” Summer Rain questioned.

“That’s what I figured, considering they knew well enough that I was there and fired off a star shell and illuminated me with searchlights.”.

“Star shell?” Snowstorm tilted her head.

“They’re like fireworks except they last a lot longer and burn much brighter.” I shrugged again as I thought about that night. “It was like a miniature sun had just popped out of nowhere.”

The room was silent as everyone thought about what I had just said.

“And…you’re sure you don’t know why they’ll attack everypony at sea?” Summer Rain tried to get a bit more out of me.

“Sorry, but that’s the truth. I don’t know the reason for their attacks, just that they’ll attack anyone regardless of race or creed.”

“This is ridiculous!” Shouted Orange Drop. “If the Morgana are as big a threat as you make them out to be then shouldn’t we have heard about them before we had set out.”

Whatever Summer Rain was going to say was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Yes, what is it?” Summer Rain turned her glare at Orange Drop to stare firmly at the door.

“Captain, we’re seeing smoke from the west.”

We went up top and to my surprise I could see land. Thinking about it, I remembered that while Clearwave was supposed to reach Fillydelphia in three days, the destination had changed to Manehattan because of the pirates that attacked a merchant ship. It would have only taken a day to reach Manehattan, meaning that I was seeing Manehattan off in the distance and I had been out for about a day.

I’d finally found land and I was not happy about it.

I could see buildings, apartment complexes really, and they weren't in the best shape. In fact, many of them looked like they were in pieces. Getting even closer, I could see some of them had seemingly burst open from the inside.

I may have joked about Equestria being in danger every season, but it was never this bad. A city had never been so ravaged in the show. Nightmare Moon only had a day (or was it a night?) to run rampant before being blasted by a friendship laser and Discord had just as much time before everything he had done was reset. Queen Chrysalis attacked Canterlot in her intro episode and was blown away before the day ended while, in a later episode, she pretty much took over Equestria before being overthrown. King Sombra was focused around the Crystal Empire and Tirek was sneaky about his plan until getting to Canterlot and gunning for Twilight in Ponyville before the two had a Dragonball-esque fight in the middle of nowhere. Starlight Glimmer had her own little village and messed with the time space continuum when Twilight ruined her scheme.

The only thing I could think of that would have done that much damage was the Parasprites and even then I had my doubts considering they infested Fillydelphia and not Manehattan, unless the crew decided to head to Fillydelphia instead and I had slept for three days. Even then, the damage was inconsistent when compared to the Parasprites' more uniform bite marks.

That line of thinking was put aside when I noticed a puff of smoke appear in front of the city and then immediately squashed when I saw more Morgana ships, still shooting.

“By the Princesses!” Summer Rain cried out, ripping her head away from the telescope in her hoofs. She immediately turned towards her crew. “I want every pegasus behind the sail! Make sure that all pirates and civilians are off this ship and the lines between us and the merchant ship are cut! Manehattan is under attack by those Morgana ships! General quarters!”

I ignored the scrambling crew as I tried to identify the Morgana.

There were at least three Morgana ships that were steaming along the coast, south to north, and perhaps more ships that were screening them from attack from Manehattan. The designs were…odd, to say the least. While the last batch of Morgan were some sort of modern-esque cruiser design on par with British cruisers on account of the superimposed twin turret arrangement and torpedo tubes, what I saw wasn’t giving me that impression. Instead it looked…older and dare I say cramped.

Regardless I focused on the turrets and found…one…two…two turrets?

[Three turrets. Look behind the aft funnel between the superstructure.] I heard my deputy-captain point out.

I looked at the place she pointed out and found the third turret she was talking about.

Odd. You’d think the Morgana ships would have three superimposed turrets, in which case they would have used an ABY turret arrangement that the Americans used during the 30’s and freaking Yamato and Musashi plus Italy’s last batch of battleships. Or an AXY arrangement found on the Fubuki class destroyers, an arrangement I didn’t understand until playing Ultimate Admiral Age of Dreadnought where balancing weight was a major concern of mine for the destroyers. But an AQY arrangement? I couldn’t think of any ship designs like that, but if it were just an AY turret arrangement my mind immediately went to…pre-dreadnought battleships?

[The ships are Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm class battleships.] My captain called out.

Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm class battleships?

[Displacement 10,040 tons. Guns: four 28 cm 40 cal, two 28 cm 35 cal, six 10.5 cm eight 8.7 cm six torpedo tubes. Speed: 16.5 to 17.2 knots. Armor: The belt is…assuming it’s comparable to Japanese designs then it's either 9 inches of Krupp, 11.5 inches of Harvey nickel or 13.5 inches of Harvey armor. Deck: 3 to 4.5 inches depending on armor type.] My recording officer/secretary rattled off before initially pausing at the armor.

‘How and where are you getting that information?’ I thought.

[Oh, I got it from the book the captain brought in.] My secretary cheerily said.

[And where did the captain get that book?] My deputy-captain asked in a way which I imagined her looking at the captain while tapping her foot against the floor.

[...I got it from the flag cabin.] She admitted reluctantly.

[What!? That isn’t your room! That room is for admirals!…or rather the ship herself.] My deputy-captain pointed out.

…

Wait, I get a room for myself on…in myself?

[Essentially.] The deputy-captain responded.

So…if that was my room then that means that’s my book you're reading.

[I…believe so.] She replied haltingly.

Can I see this book?

[Ok!] My captain replied right before my deputy-captain let out a quick indignant ‘hey!’ as she materialized right before me, holding the book in her right front hoof.

“Wha! Who or what is that and where did it come from?” Someone asked as I took the coin-sized book out of my captain’s ‘hands’ and watched as it expanded to a ‘pony’ sized book before my captain returned to her post, dematerializing in front of me and whoever saw that.

“Oh, she’s my fairy captain.” I responded absentmindedly as I read the title of the oddly familiar white and blue book.

JANE’S FIGHTING SHIPS 1900 (facsimile edition)

This…this is my book, from back home.

I quickly skimmed through a bookmarked section about armor thickness before getting to the section about the Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm, Brandenburg, Weissenburg and Woerth.

…

Those weren’t Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm class battleships, they were Brandenburg class pre-dreadnought battleships!

I couldn’t help but cackle loudly, startling several ponies running by me.

“Ma’am?” Snowstorm looked at me concerned.

“Sorry it’s just…I recognize them.” I said, handing the book over to her while taking another look at the ancient battleships.

And I do mean ancient. Those things were around one hundred years before I was even born and my ship half was designed in 1915, long after those things were unfit for frontline duty.

This…this wasn’t even a fair fight, and the odds were, finally, in my favor!

I may have been designed in response to Kongou but as a battlecruiser the goal was to outrun any ship with similar armament to me and chase down any ship with lesser armament, I was intended to hunt slower and older ships.

And the Brandenburgs fit that to a T!

I had more guns than them and their guns were a smaller caliber than mine. They probably didn’t even have the range of my secondary battery, they were that short of a barrel. I could outrun them easily, easily for days while they could only maintain flank speed for about an hour. And my armor was better designed for engagements at range where I could rain plunging fire on them while they could ineffectually return fire that would inevitably fall short of me while either charging me or trying to outrun me, which would be impossible.

With that, one thing was certain.

I was all but guaranteed to sink these things and the only way I wouldn’t was if the universe decided to punish me for my hubris.

With that thought, I jumped off the side of Clearwave and summoned my rigging. Charging the Brandenburgs at flank to get them within secondary range before they could notice, I was going to save Manehattan from them and take out a lot of misplaced frustration on them.

…

Man, I wish I could play Thunderstruck right now.

…

Thunder!

On the other end of this spectrum, the city of Manehattan was effectively a ghost town. Civilians that hadn’t fled the city by road or by train were laid out on the streets, few were desperately trying to crawl away, others were eerily silent. The Manehattan guard previously dug in and prepared for an invasion were equally laid out.

Meanwhile, Captain Stark Contrast could only stare out at the sea that bore his princess’s name, at the hateful ships that were shelling Manehattan, the city he was sworn to protect. The Manehattan fleet had ceased to exist last night after the attack. The attack had lasted for hours before the attackers had left after they had sunk the fleet and damaged the harbor and drydock facilities. At the princess’s first light, when it became obvious the attack had ended hours ago, messengers were sent to Canterlot to inform the princess of what had occurred while repair work had begun.

At 0900 hours smoke had appeared over the horizon line shortly followed by a flotilla of ships. Unlike the merchant ships of the Equestrian merchant fleet these ships were low to the waterline, colored grey and did not possess the eye pleasing lines of ocean liners. Their purpose became clear when two cannons became visible on the larger ship.

The city had been put on lock down. Coastal defense batteries first installed when piracy was rampant centuries ago were readied in preparation. Defensive lines were prepared and messengers sent to warn the princess in Canterlot.

And like last night they could only do nothing as the fleet of six ships turned to starboard, revealing even more cannons, and fired upon the city outside their range. In the clear daytime they could finally see what their range was, or at least their effective firing range. Whereas Equestrian cannons, both coastal and naval, had a range of 5.6 kilometers the enemy could fire at 11 kilometers, almost twice the range.

At that point the only thing they could do was send out their pegasi to board the ships and engage the crews, ending the attack. But Stark Contrast and his colleagues were forced to watch as the ships released a mist that slowly spread towards Manehattan. One by one, the pegasi ordered into battle fell from the sky. The mist eventually enshrouded Manehattan, choking the city.

Their only hope now rested on the princesses and the Elements of Harmony.

"Sir, look!" A nameless enlisted member attempted to point towards the ships. Eight flaming tracers raced through the air, barreling towards the ships like Wonderbolts.

Contrast swore he saw a figure in what he assumed to be the bridge do a double-take, the whole ship seemed to recoil in horror just before eight shells slammed amidships.

For a brief second, nothing happened. The shells burrowed through the deck of the ship.

Then it happened. Explosions ripped the ship open from the inside, splitting it in-half as magazines and boiler-rooms exploded, spewing flaming ordnance, burning coal, and flying shrapnel in a massive cloud over the burning oil-slick that was once an untouchable warship.

The cavalry had arrived.