Ponies, cannons, and war

I plowed through the waves, my screws tearing through the water as I sprinted forward. My turbines were sadly not at flank speed due to lingering damage from yesterday, but at 27 knots I was still faster than the Brandenburgs.

“Yeah! Oh my god, I think I detonated its magazine!” I hollered.

[They might try to make for open ocean! If they disengage we'll never catch them again.] My captain cried out.

The remaining Brandenburgs started letting loose more smoke and picked up some speed, main guns slowly yet surely rotating towards me while the casemated secondaries opened fire on me. And shooting far too low into the water, nowhere near me while my own secondaries had penetrated an exposed cruiser and set it on fire. I didn’t know what it was and I didn’t even need to know what it was. It didn’t have the range to hit me and it was on fire and sinking.

“Right, like they could escape from me.” I snorted at the thought of any of them running past me.

[All it would take is for the fleet to split up and keep you in between them while they launch torpedoes.] My deputy-captain advised.

By this time the deputy-captain’s words were starting to come to fruition. The Brandenburgs were turning towards me while the protected/light cruisers were steaming past them, probably trying to hit my starboard. As if any of that mattered.

The cruisers were probably just as old as the Brandenburgs. I could barely make out their absolutely tiny short barreled pop guns that couldn’t be larger than 4 inches. I could see a pair of skinny funnels and two towers that wouldn’t look out of place as a sailing ship’s mast. At times I thought I could see a ram bow on the two. Not one of them made more than about 21 knots.

I rolled my eyes as my secondaries made quick work of the cruisers. My main guns reloaded and I shot A and B turrets at the lead Brandenburg and had X and Y turrets track the shells.

“Right, like the cruisers were anything to write home about.” I muttered as I scored hits on the lead Brandenburg’s superstructure before letting loose with X and Y turrets.

The damn thing kept coming while I let loose my secondaries on the trailing Brandenburg once all the cruisers were on fire and sinking.

Captain Stark Contrast stared slack-jawed at the battle unfolding before him. Ships that he had feared were sinking within minutes. The ship fighting on their behalf was a force of nature.

Although the mist was starting to clear, the smoke from the burning wrecks were now obscuring his view of the ship. What he could see frightened him. Its silhouette could just be made out in the misty smoke, and it was sailing toward Manehattan, unconcerned of the fire from the, now, last remaining ship.

One more volley and the ship that had just shelled Manehattan ceased to exist as its keel was cracked in half. Secondary explosions raced down the rapidly-sinking wreck as ammo stacked outside the magazines torched off, churning the water to froth as it sank beneath the wave.

"Hot DAMN!" yelled somepony with a thick Appleloosa accent.

Stark Contrast smiled as his strength returned to him, before dropping his jaw at the sight of the ship. Long and lean, the ship cut through the water easily. He picked out four long thin cannons attached to two big rectangular boxes of steel, one box surely above and behind the foremost one. Behind the two was a squat metal building and behind that was a tall thin tower of metal pipes criss-crossing every which way.

One or two of the others whistled. There wasn't anything on there they could identify as a sail but the ship was sailing uncaring of the wind direction. For just a moment, he thought he saw something else not a ship but a pony figure, tiny against the water. Stark Contrast blinked and the mental impression was gone, replaced by the impossible ship once more, but there was a ghostly, ethereal quality to the vessel, like it should have been enshrouded in a fog bank or glimpsed somewhere distant, slipping past the horizon, not laid bare for all to see.

Suddenly, the ship turned to starboard and out toward the open sea, revealing a broadside of casemated cannons and a matching set of metal boxes with cannons.

“Where is it going?” That same Appleloosa pony asked.

Looking further in the distance Stark Contrast could see a pair of wooden sailing ships, both flying the Equestrian flag.

“It’s sailing towards a pair of our ships.” He said when in between heartbeats, the ship just wasn't there. Stark Contrast stared, trying to make out some sign. The ship couldn't have just vanished, could it?

“See? Nothing to worry about.” I waved off my fairies concerns as I walked up the ramp back onto Clearwave.

And was stared at by everyone.

Waving off Clearwave’s crew wasn’t going to be as easy.

Growl.

Or maybe it would be that easy as my stomach growled loudly enough that everyone could hear, and I swore that my stomach shook Clearwave. A path to the lower decks and the cafeteria quickly opened up. With no need for an invitation I walked towards the stairs and down into the lower decks and to where I remembered the cafeteria was. I was expecting a pleasant lunch after curb stomping a pre-dreadnought battleship division and some glorified light cruisers.

I heard Summer Rain barking orders up top before a bunch of other ponies raced past me towards the cafeteria. I was shortly joined by Orange Drop and Snowstorm, the latter of which was holding onto a book.

A familiar white and blue book.

“Is that my book?” I couldn’t help but blurt out as we entered the cafeteria, the sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen.

“Yeah, you just hoofed it to me before you jumped overboard and fought those ships. You…you said you recognized them.” She said worriedly as we took a seat at one of many empty tables. She sat the book down on the table before gently sliding it towards me.

“Well yeah. Of course I’d recognize them, they’re in the book after all.” I said flippantly, rotating the book towards me and opening it to Brandenburg's page.

“I thought you said you didn’t know what the Morgana are?” Orange Drop insinuated as I rotated the book and slid it towards them.

“And that’s still true. I don’t know what the Morgana are exactly. I just know that they’re ships helmed by strange mechanical beings that’ll attack anything and anyone in their mists.” I replied as they looked over the technical data.

“They’re crewed by mechanical beings?” Snowstorm asked as she took hold of the book.

Celestia stared at the bombed out buildings of Manehattan, a mask of calmness hiding her inner turmoil. A few hours ago she had been in the middle of a dispute between a pair of nobles when a member of the Royal Guard burst through the door carrying a scroll with a seal on it, for royal eyes only. After ensuring that the wax seal on the scroll was legitimate, Celestia unfurled the parchment and read through its contents her expression growing more concerned with each word. She had yet to finish the report when she ordered the meeting adjourned and the guards stationed outside the chamber to summon both her sister Luna and Chief of Navy Operations Morning Storm for an emergency meeting. Not an hour later all three along with a number of the royal guard were flying out on chariots bound for Manehattan when they encountered another messenger halfway to their destination with another scroll that painted a far dire picture.

The first letter had stated that at midnight the Manehattan fleet had been attacked by an unidentified fleet of ships. The enemy fleet then proceeded to damage the harbor and drydock facilities before the attackers had left sometime before morning. While the fleet could be rebuilt and harbor and drydock facilities repaired, what concerned Celestia was the casualties that were being tallied up.

The second letter was far more distressing. The entire fleet had been lost and one hundred and fifty casualties had been tallied. Moreover a fleet of ships had been spotted at about 0900 hours armed with cannons. While it could have been that the force was on a reconnaissance mission to assess the damage, a single look at the remains of a bombed-out carriage showed that the fleet had more nefarious intentions.

Landing with a dull thud outside Naval Station Manehattan, Celestia held up her hoof in order to forestall the inevitable wave of bowing. “Please, my little ponies, focus on your tasks. We need to speak to Admiral Water Drops and all available captains. Where can we find them?”

“Yes Ma’am. Admiral Water Drops is in meeting room A with the Manehattan captains. I can lead you to them.” One of the sailors answered, leading princesses Celestia and Luna and Morning Storm inside the base. After walking through a series of hallways the group eventually stopped in front of a door. The sailor knocked and announced the presence of the princesses and the Chief of Naval Operations before opening the door for the group.

Inside the room was a table with ten ponies on each side. At the head of the table was a light blue mare with a white main and lime green eyes, eyes that featured heavy bags underneath them. The table had ten chairs left empty.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Chief of Naval Operations Morning Storm.” The mare greeted, Celestia almost flinching at the sorrow present in her voice but pressing forward regardless.

“Admiral Water Drops. Before we continue I must ask what the sailor who led us here meant when he specified that you were with the captains from Manehattan?” Celestia asked.

“Your highness we had just received a ship from Fillydelphia that had captured a pirate crew. Instead of returning to Fillydelphia, its captain, Summer Rain, decided to sail here to offload the pirates, the civilians they took hostage and their ship. She should be here shortly.” Water Drops replied.

Celestia nodded at that before turning to Morning Storm.

“Chief of Naval Operations, the floor is yours.” While Celestia doubted that anypony in Equestria would not follow her or her sister’s orders purely out of respect for what they represented, technically the sisters only had direct control over the Royal Guard, as such it was up to the Chief of Naval Operations to take charge of the situation.

Morning Storm nodded before turning her attention to the now saluting admiral, a stern look now on her face.

“Understood. Admiral Water Drops, please begin from the beginning. Your letter mentioned that the Manehattan fleet was attacked at midnight. Is this correct?” Morning Storm began, Water Drops nodding in confirmation.

Sadly, no new information regarding the attack last night was brought to light.

The recent spotting report however.

“The enemy fleet shelled Manehattan at a distance of 11 kilometers. The smaller ships fired their cannons more rapidly than the larger ships, far quicker than even our cannons. The larger ships fired six of their larger cannons that had to be affixed to a rotating platform. We attempted to send out our pegasi to board the ships, but when the pegasi were over the water the ships emitted a mist that disabled our pegasi and choked out the city.” Water Drops explained, getting to a crux that distressed Celestia.

“Are you saying that this mist drained everypony’s magic?” Luna jumped to the point.

Water Drops shook her head.

“I’m not sure. Unlike…unlike the time Lord Tirek drained everypony’s magic, no pony ended up an empty eyed shell and we still had our cutie marks.” Water Drops admitted.

Water Drops then got to the battle between the fleet and the unknown ship.

“It was like the ships that were shelling Manehattan, but bigger, maybe three times as large as the enemy flagship. I think the only ships we have just as large were some of the newer ocean liners. It had four cannons, but the range. It outranged the enemy, they couldn’t touch the ship. It made short work of the smaller ships before devastating the final two ships. Then it turned towards the open sea and our ship from Fillydelphia and vanished.”

It was then there was a knock at the door.

“Captain Summer Rain, reporting in.” The door swung open to reveal a mare with light blue eyes and mane.

“Captain Summer Rain.” Morning Storm sighed. “We’ve just discussed the ships that shelled Manehattan and the ship that sank them. It was last seen sailing towards your ship. Do you have anything to add to the report?” She asked Summer Rain, who blinked in confusion.

“What ship? What sank the ships shelling Manehattan was a mare wearing saddlebags fashioned to look like a ship’s bow and stern lined with an assortment of cannons.” Summer Rain said to everypony’s confusion.