Discord's Gift

Chapter 2: Towering Stacks

3rd day of 5th Moon, 6 ALR: Manehattan Docks

Mayor Scribble Write, Sea Dollar, and Harbor Might were dumbfounded, before them was the Manehattan Docks, ponies working frantically to moor the massive ships before them. They were unlike any ships any pony had ever seen, their black hulls towering over the dock buildings and topped by brilliant white supper structures. The smokestacks of the ships varied in color but they all shot up so high into the air that they dwarfed all but the tallest skyscrapers in the city. Tall masts completed the imposing presence of the ships and flew massive strange flags. The ships with golden funnels flew black, white, and red banners with a golden corner where a crowned black eagle was printed. A blue flag with red crosses outlined in white was flown by the ships with red or orange funnels topped in black, and a checkered flag of blue with fleur de lis and white with a red cross was also flown by some of the ships with red and black funnels.

The trio had just returned from the disaster site that was Canterlot, the massive explosion that had rocked the city just as their negotiations had concluded had delayed trains at the Royal Train Station. Once they had finally arrived in Manehattan Central, they had met up with a couple of dock workers who had described the situation at the docks; they had not realized just how dire the situation was. Strikes had already delayed the departure of many vessels and the docks were already backed up, but the rapid influx of these strange leviathans had caused a backup that had stretched out of the bay. Despite Harbor Might’s announcement that the union’s demands had been met, even the return of the striking workers was not enough to berth all of the ships waiting in the harbor. It was soon realized that even if there were enough workers the piers were too close together and many of the strange ships could not fit inside.

“I must send a letter to the Princess, this is an utter disaster! I will be returning to city hall to organize volunteers and to ask if we can divert ships to other cities. You two figure out how to mitigate this issue here at the docks,” cried out Mayor Scribble Write before she turned around and trotted away to a waiting cab that her assistants had yielded for her.

Sea Dollar and Harbor Might turned to look at the mayor as she sped away in a yellow taxi wagon pulled by a stocky brown stallion. They then turned to look at themselves in worry before turning back to look at an overflowing port.

“I believe I need to write some letters to board members and meet with some executives,” announced Sea Dollar as he tipped his top hat to Harbor Might and then made a run for the nearest taxi, leaving the green stallion alone at the docks.

Harbor Might left with no real options, was left to go help the struggling dock workers. Trotting over to the main dock office, there was a frenzy of activity as ponies exchanged manifests and plotting maps, in the center of the room was the supervisor, a gray earth pony by the name of Anchor Dock. With a whistle Anchor Dock beckoned Harbor Might next to him, “I have got to say we appreciate the negotiating you did on our behalf. I take it you need something to do?”

“Yes please!” Replied the Union leader with a smile.

Suddenly one of the mayor’s staff burst into the room, “Mayor Scribble Write needs somepony to collect the leaders of each of these ships to act as ambassadors for the princess’ arrival!”

Anchor Dock turned to Harbor Might with a grin, “Think you can help in an expedition?”

The brown earth pony nodded and was pushed along by the gray supervisor, the messenger, already departing for the mayor’s office. Signaling his unicorn secretary to follow the trio, walking out into the busy harbor, Anchor Dock beckoned the two onto a waiting harbor pilot boat before turning to look at the confused harbor pilots, “Hello boys, these two will be joining you. The mayor wants to collect human representatives for the princess’ visit, as leader of the Dock Workers Union, Harbor Might over here will do most of the talking and my secretary here, Ms. Book Press will act as a translator,”

The dock pilots turned to look at the two new ponies on their boat and shrugged, “So you want us to go up to every ship and ask to come aboard?”

“Yes, proceed with caution, we are still not completely sure of the intentions of these creatures,” replied Anchor Dock as he stepped off the boat.

The dock pilots molded in understanding and then unfurled the sail of the boat and undid the mooring. Slowly the sailboat moved forward towards the mass of towering ships.

Captain Summers looked out of the cramped bridge of the SS. Corpus Christi, before him, was some kind of pony parody of New York. Being one of the first ships to arrive at this strange place following the golden blast in the sky, the Christi was anchored just beyond the piers, the port a frenzy of activity, with dozens of old 18th-century sailing ships filling all of the berths. They had originally been on the return voyage from London back to New Orleans with a load of European luxury goods when they had run into the city where a week ago had been open ocean.

“Sir, there seems to be a pilot boat approaching,” called out First Officer Buchannan as he walked into the bridge beckoning the Captain to follow him.

Walking away from the windows the Captain followed the officer down the bridge wing. Outside the two men saw the pilot boat stop a few dozen feet away from the freighter, one of the equine creatures holding a strange looking white voice pipe. Another one of the creatures looked like a unicorn, but from afar Benjamin Summers could not be certain.

“Hello, my name is Harbor Might, do you understand Ponish?”

Both men’s eyes widened, the city had demonstrated that these ponies were intelligent, but they had not expected them to be able to speak English, much less in a Jersey accent.

Picking up a voice pipe hooked on the side of the railing the Captain replied, “Yes, we can understand you, what can we do for ya?”

Harbor Might and the rest of the pony crew beamed, “The Princess should arrive shortly, as a representative of the Equestrian Government, I humbly ask for your commanding officer to meet with her Majesty and represent your nation,”

“As Capt’n of this ship, I would be glad to represent the United States. Would you like me to come with you right now?”

“Yes please!”

Justuring the boat to approach Captain Summers placed his voice pipe back on its hanger and turned to Officer Buchanan, “I need you to take command of this ship in my absence, brief the rest of the men of my small leave of absence,”

Both men saluted one another before walking out onto the deck. Descending two flights of stairs down into the hull, the two men finally made it to one of the large access doors. With the turn of a wheel, the door squeaked open on its rusty hinges and both officers looked out at the water just a deck below them, the ponies slowly paddling the pilot boat up to the door.

“You need help getting down?” cried out Harbor Might eying the distance between the bottom of the door and the deck of the small boat. Pointing a hoof to the unicorn secretary he continued, “Book Press here can use her telekinesis to safely lower you down”

“What! I only know how to levitate paperwork, I’ve never moved a pony much less these creatures!” Interjected Book Press incredulously, before erupting in a furious blush and quickly turning to look up at the two officers, “I am so sorry! I meant no offense,”

“Don’t you fret drear, none taken. I have a ladder here so I’ll be fine” Replied the Captain as he threw down one end of a rope ladder.

Stepping down into the boat Benjamin was finally able to take in the bright coats of the equines, the lady was obviously a unicorn and the mention of levitation meant that the horn wasn’t simply decorative. It was all so strange, the odd names, the pastel colors, the massive captivating eyes, the existence of unicorns and pegasi, he could hardly wrap his head around it, but he pushed it all down. Smiling, he got introduced to the pony crew and helped them row away from the SS. Corpus Christi.

After a couple of minutes, they arrived next to the massive Kronprinzessin Cecilie, the German liner towering over the small sailboat. Harbor Might was about to introduce himself to the Germans looking down on them when Benjamin stopped him.

“They Germans, ain’t too sure if they speak any English, let me take care of it,”

Harbor Might nodded, handing him the strange white voice pipe, placing it to his mouth he spoke but his voice was not amplified. The pony cleared his throat, “Do you know how to use a megaphone?”

“The hell is a megaphone, I thought this was some strange-lookin’ voice pipe,” Replied the Captain.

“A megaphone is like a voice pipe but it uses magic to help amplify the voice further so you don’t have to yell,” Harbor Might took the megaphone and pressed a button next to the handle, “Press this button to make it work,”

Smiling Captain Summers thanked the stallion before looking up to the German crew of the vast Ocean liner, “Guten Tag!”

“Jou know we can zpeak English, right?”

Ocean Spray looked out of the widows of the bridge, next to him stood Captain Seabiscuit and Captain Bradley. The crew of the Carmania had been so generous as to allow Captain Seabiscuit and himself to join them on the bridge. Slightly ahead of the Carmania was the Mauritania, the pride of the Cunard line and the largest ship in the world. Her long and sleek hull cut effortlessly through the waves as her four towering smokestacks billowed gray smoke. She was a truly captivating ship and Ocean Spray had hardly believed his eyes when he first saw her a couple of hours after the collision, he could not wrap his head around the fact that there were ships much larger than the enormous Carmania.

A ringing broke Ocean Spray’s trance as he looked back to see First Officer Burns answer one of the strange brass speaking tubes that the humans had called telephones. Quickly the officer brought down the receiver with a clang.

“Captain, the lookouts have spotted a light in the distance and what appears to be some kind of landmass”

Captain Bradley lowered the binoculars from his eyes and turned back to look at the officers on the bridge, “Set engines to slow and blow the fog horn, we shouldn’t be anywhere near America or any landmass, but after that strange arch of light anything can be possible,”

The First and Second Officers then walked up to the engine order telegraphs and pulled the levers back and forth, the sound of ratcheting filling the room, before setting the levers to slow. Soon a ding sounded and the arrows in the telegrams fell from full to slow signaling the engine room's reply.

The Mauritania also slowed and soon the distant light brightened and a giant copper mare appeared from out of the mist. A smile formed on Ocean Spray’s face as he realized that he was now home. He had come so dreadfully close to death but now before him lay Manehattan Harbor. The arch of light and the presence of the two human ships had led to a belief that he had been transported to another world and that he would never see home again, but now there was hard evidence that whatever had happened Equestria was still waiting for him. Slowly more of Manehatten was visible but rather than seeing the skyline, out from the fog appeared the massive smokestacks of more human ships crowding the docks. The ships were so massive that only buildings such as the Crystaller and its massive bronze Stallion head rose above the ships.

“My god it looks like a miniature version of New York, but everything is pony, you even have a pony Statue of Liberty!” Cried out Captain Bradley as he put his binoculars back up to his eyes.

“You're looking at the great Equestrian city of Manehatten,” replied Captain Seabiscuit in a gruff voice.

As the mass of ships neared, Captain Bradley walked over to one of the engine order telegraphs and set it to stop, “We will stop here and lay anchor to await further instructions or until the harbor clears,”

Second Officer Parker walked over to the second telegram and set it to stop before looking out to the field of ships, “It seems like every vessel on the transatlantic route east has gotten stuck here, you got ships of the Cunard, White Star, Hamburg-Amerika, Nord-Deutsches Lloyd and French line all stuck out here. Big names too…” he paused before turning to the ponies and then pointing out ships in the crowd, “Over there is the pride of the German merchant marine, the Nord-Deutsches Lloyd SS. Kronprinzessin Cecilie, and over there is one of White Star’s Big Four, the Baltic,”

A huge grin was plastered on the officer's face as he pointed out more of the ships in dock, an aura of enthusiasm radiating from him. Even from a distance, the ships were impressive, tall long hulls, and the German ships had four imposing golden smokestacks, it was unlike anything he had ever seen before and Ocean Spray had seen quite a lot over his career.

“Alright calm down Officer Parker, we don’t want to bore our guest here, now do we,” Captain Bradly looked at the Second Officer with a smirk as Parker scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

In the shock of the spectacle that was Manehattan Harbor, no one had noticed Officer Burns leave to revive a transmission from the Marconi Wireless Operator. Walking back into the bridge the officer cleared his throat before handing the Captain some notecards, “Sir we have gotten a reply from the Cunard Office, they have already been informed of the presence of this new landmass and have ordered us to drop off the stranded pony crew. They have also gotten reports that the South Atlantic is clear and have given us the option to either return to Southampton where a berth has been prepared, or sail for São Paulo and then hug the coast up to New York,”

Captain Bradley looked around at his crew before he turned to look out towards the city of Manehatten before them, “Thank you, Officer Burns, for now, we will wait here, I want another damage assessment to be carried out now that the ship has traveled at speed, and I want an assessment of supply, water and coal levels before making a decision,” the Captain then turned to look at Captain Seabiscuit, “It has been an honor getting to meet you and your crew, but I believe it would be wise for you to prepare your crew to disembark. I once again apologize for the unfortunate circumstances of our meeting,”

Seabiscuit and Bradley saluted one another before the unicorn motioned for Ocean Spray to follow him. The blue pegasus saluted the officers on deck with a faint smile, the officers returning the favor. They then walked out of the bridge escorted by Third Officer Cushing.

Outside was a frenzy of activity, the crew were hardly able to push back the mass of passengers that had lined up along the promenades to see the strange new city. Rumors of the pony crew's presence on the ship had circulated among the passengers and once word of a strange new city came to light, everyone, from the wealthy first-class passengers to the immigrants in third wanted to see the land of the mythological ponies.

“Against our best efforts you ponies have become quite the celebrities on this ship,” chuckled Officer Cushing as he scanned the deck of the ship.

Ocean Spray looked out over the railing and saw a pilot boat approaching the two ships. He let out a whistle gesturing the human to turn and look at the small sailboat approaching, aboard appeared to be several humans along with the pony crew.

Captain Bradley burst out of the bridge, a voice pipe in his hand as he stopped at the end of the bridge wing. On the Mauritania, another Officer ran out to see the boat sitting between the two ocean liners. Below on the sailboat, one of the humans held a megaphone looking back and forth between the two ships.

“This is Capt’n Summers of the SS. Corpus Christi, don’t fret, these ponies mean no harm,” announced the human in a thick Appleosan accent.

A tan earth pony took the megaphone before adding, “The mayor of Manehattan humbly asks on behalf of the Equestrian Government, for two commanding officers of either ship to volunteer their time to speak with the Princess on their nations behalf,”

From Mauritania, the officer spoke, “I Commodore Francis Lighthauler of the Cunard Line, would gladly volunteer my time to speak with your princess on behalf of His Majesty's Government,”

“I, Captain Bradley, will also volunteer my time. This ship is currently housing the pony crew of an Equestrian Ship that my ship ran into. How would you like us to disembark this crew?”

“Thank you, we will be sending a ferry to collect these ponies and send them home. Which ship should we board first?”

Canterlot

Twilight had bags and her eyes were bloodshot, she had not had more than three hours of sleep in the last three days. Every day she was busy organizing recovery efforts throughout Canterlot following Discord’s magical surge. Any other time she had, she had been checking on Fluttershy and Discord, or in the library trying to figure out why she had lost her connection to the sun and moon and learn anything she could about chaos magic. She wanted to know if there were any possible lingering consequences of Discord’s surge and ensure another one would not harm her subjects.

Fluttershy and Discord were recovering quite quickly. In the night following the catastrophe, Fluttershy had awoken from her coma and had had a small conversation with Twilight and Rainbow before she went back to sleep. Once the rest of the gang had arrived the next day along with Angel Bunny, the yellow pegasus had finally recovered from her concussion and had played a few board games with the rest of the girls, Twilight only having a few breaks from the recovery efforts to go see her. Yesterday doctors had told them that she would be ready to leave the hospital by the end of the week and would have a full recovery by the end of the month.

Discord for his part had improved dramatically since the surge, doctors noting that while still weak, his magic was finally starting to settle. The burns he had already suffered had healed, partly due to his still immense magical power helping him heal faster than normal. However Twilight couldn’t shake the feeling that the surge had done something else other than partly destroy the Royal Canterlot Hospital and shatter all the glass in the city.

She kept reading, the dim candlelight casting a warm hue to the pages she read as she tried to fight off sleep. Twilight was no slouch when it came to pulling all-nighters, but the stress of her new role and the nagging feeling in the back of her mind was taking its toll. She could not fathom how Celestia had made it look so effortless. After skimming over the book thrice and finding nothing of interest, she cast the book aside with a flash of violet light, letting out an exasperated sigh. Spike had fallen asleep hours ago so she slowly got up from her cushion to go find another book.

Suddenly, the doors next to her burst open and a Royal Guard ran into the room. Spike jumped out of his sleep at the sudden noise of the guard's entrance. The guard removed his helmet before announcing, “Your Majesty, there is an urgent message from Manehattan. The harbor is crowded by massive strange ships crewed by creatures that no pony has ever seen before! Mayor Scribble Write requests your assistance and wishes for you to come to Manehatten at your earliest convenience,”

“Thank you Lieutenant Steadfast, you may return to your post,” replied Twilight, as the guard bowed and walked away.

“Jeez, what does it take for a dragon to get some sleep around here,” Spike rubbed his eyes as he turned his head to the sleep-deprived alicorn.

“Spike write a letter,” Twilight turned to look at the dragon which quickly retrieved a piece of parchment and a quill, “Dear Cadence, I regret to inform you that Discord’s magical surge has resulted in some unforeseen consequences that may have dire consequences for Equestria…”

Once again the doors slammed open and Spike fell backward, the quill and parchment falling out of his grasp as a guard burst into the room, “Your Majesty, we have reports from San Franciscolt! The harbor is full of strange ships…”

Another guard ran into the room, “We have reports from Fillydelphia and Buckston!”

Twilight began to hyperventilate as more and more guards poured into her private study, nearly all the ports in Equestria were reporting the strange ships and creatures. She brought her right hoof to her chest and took a deep breath, regaining her composure, she turned to look at one of the guards, “May you inform Captain Rampart that I wish that all reserves across Equestria be mobilized and to prepare my train for immediate travel to Manehattan”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

As the guards left, Twilight turned to look at the dragon brushing the dust off his scales, “Are you alright?”

“Well if you call getting woken up in the middle of the night and then getting startled gaff to death alright, then I guess you can say I’m alright,” replied Spike as he picked up the quill and parchment from off of the floor.

Twilight smiled sheepishly, “Sorry. Now where was I… Right! Ports across Equestria are being filled by large ships crewed by strange new creatures. From the little knowledge I have gathered, there might be a possibility that Discord's surge created a rift in the multiverse that has brought these creatures to our world. I am leaving for Manehatten to learn more about these creatures and their intentions and to hopefully establish peaceful relations with them. Sorry for writing to you so late but I needed you to know about any possible dangers the Crystal Empire may face, send my regards to my brother and niece. Your loving Sister in Law, Twilight,”

Spike then took the letter and wrapped it in a lavender ribbon, placing Twilight’s seal and then summoning his dragon flame to instantly transport the letter.

“Spike we need to go, we will go see Fluttershy, get some supplies, and leave,”

In a flash, the pair were in one of the long hallways of Canterlot General Hospital, before them was room 321. Gently opening the door inside lay a sleeping Fluttershy, her torso lightly rising and falling with her breaths. Next to the bed, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were slumped over in their seats, Twilight felt a tug in her chest as she desperately wanted to offer her friends a proper goodbye. It would be unfair for her to wake up her friends instead she conjured up a quill and wrote a note about her trip to Manehatten imploring her friends not to worry. Looking over one last time at her three friends, Twilight quietly stepped out of the room, only to see a dazed Spike still recovering from the teleportation.

Deciding to spare Spike from an unnecessary long-distance teleport she left the dragon in the hallway, quickly teleporting back to the Castle she opened up her dresser and pulled out an ornate box and a saddle bag. Quickly stuffing the box into one side of the bag, Twilight then filled the other side with stationary and a few other supplies before teleporting back to the hospital. Spike looked up at the purple alicorn but was unable to voice a proper protest before the pair were engulfed by a purple light and they were looking out before the Royal Train Station platform.

Spike doubled over his dinner spilling out of the platform, swatting away any attempts Twilight made to help him, “Don’t ever do this to me ever again,”

The guards around them were startled but quickly regained their composure, in the middle stood a gruff cream-colored unicorn stallion resplendent in the armor of the Guard Captain. Saluting the Captain walked up to the princess, “Your majesty, reserves are being called up all around Equestria, as we speak an additional fifteen thousand troops have been raised,”

“Thank you Captain Rampart, please see to it that the coast is reinforced against any possible attack. I take it that my train is ready,” replied Twilight as she pointed to the large train waiting by the platform.

“Yes, Your Majesty, these are the guards that will be accompanying you on your trip,” Captain Rampart pointed to the guards standing at attention as two of them opened the doors of the train.

“Thank you. Hopefully, there will be no need for any further mobilizations as these creatures may prove not to be any threat to Equestria. Fancy Pants is already privy to the recovery efforts here in Canterlot, please consult with him in my absence,”

The Captain and the Princess saluted one another before she enveloped the sickly Spike in a magenta aura, levitating him on her back. With the dragon on her back, she walked into the royal train car just as the unit of guards entered the security car ahead of Twilight’s. The car was beautifully decorated with fine wood furnishings and plush cushions, all reminders of Celestia’s rule, as since her retirement, Twilight had not changed a thing. Setting down Spike on one of the cushions, she removed her saddle bag and took a seat next to him. Yawning she lit her horn and pulled out a book from the one charge she had made to the car, a bookcase. Lurching forward the train sped away from the station as Twilight read her book slowly dozing off into sleep.