//------------------------------// // Prologue, 78 kilometers south // Story: The West Sea Crisis // by Lavender Shine //------------------------------// In the early morning hours before the first rays of sunlight had reached the horizon, a massive but elegant ship cut through the Celestial Sea's waves heading due west on a routine training mission. The eastern sea was good for such exercises due to it being utterly empty. Not even a single deserted island lay in its vast expanse. A blessing because it made run-ins with civilians or foreign powers near impossible. The ship was a battleship. Built of steel and with cannons so large a pony could crawl through one, even if only barely. Hoisted on a high pole the flag of Grater Equestria flew meekly that windless morning, dragged along by the ship's movement. The ship's deck had little action. The ponies in charge of the night watch were doing final inspections making sure everything was as it should be. On the bridge the officers too were getting ready turn in after an uneventful night, except for one who bucked the trend. A blue pegasus with a light short cut mane was standing at the bridge's starboard window. He wore a dark navy blue officer's coat that covered his wings, two golden lines around the sleeves marking him as a lieutenant. The pegasus was tightly holding a pair of binoculars, intently staring out of the window into the northern horizon. "Hey Seaspray, what's so interesting?" Asked a white mare gripping the ship's wheel. "On the horizon there's a bluish green light," Seaspray responded from under the binoculars. He pondered for a few moments and guessed, "Aurora borealis?" "Couldn't be," said the mare bluntly, "we're too far south." An uneasy feeling tingled down Seaspray's spine. There hadn't supposed to have been anything in this portion of the Celestial Sea, and even if there had he didn't know what in Equestria could create such a light. "I think it's growing" Remarked Seaspray as through the binoculars he could see the turquoise light that had only moments before been a speck became brighter and began to creep across more of the northern horizon. "somepony go get the captain," He ordered. An ensign on the bridge saluted and hurriedly moved to the stairwell. The other ponies on the bridge began taking notice too, as the light was now bright enough to be seen clearly with the naked eye. Behind Seaspray a small crowd gathered at the starboard window. He could now see that the light was not growing nor becoming larger, but instead moving closer to them. It advanced quickly as a front of turquoise a few hundred meters above the water, leaving behind it a transparent plane of dancing lights against the early morning sky. As the front of light passed over the ship, the group of officers followed it's path. they bumped and clamored their way across the bridge to to the other side in a show of foal-like unprofessionalism that would have had the captain spinning with rage had she been there to observe it. Seaspray stood still with his mouth slightly ajar, mesmerized by the sight of the light expanding into the southern horizon and the waves of magical colour it left behind. This wonder lasted a moment or maybe two, but was soon broken by a shout. "Land directly ahead!" sounded the panicked voice of one of the navigators, "We'll run aground." Seaspray turned with a bewildered look towards the navigator, then the ship's bow. He could not believe his eyes. Even though they were nearly a hundred nautical miles from even the nearest island, an entire continent of land now sprawled out before them. The first rays of sunlight shone across the landscape revealing a particularly nasty bit of cliffs that they were approaching at alarming speed. There were a few seconds of silence as the officers remembered who they were and what their job on that bridge was. In what seemed like an instant as quickly as the room had fallen silent it soon filled with orders being shouted over eachother in fast succession. "Rudder to port, engines full back!" came one of the first and loudest voices from the commander responsible for giving navigational orders. "Sound the general alarm!" came another from a different officer. "Aye aye sir rudder to port, engines full back," marked a response to the first order from the white mare holding the ship's wheel as she racked the engine order telegraph, leading it from "HALF AHEAD" to "FULL ASTERN" all the while turning the wheel as fast as it would allow her to. Through the flurry of orders and responses Seaspray practically dove back into the chair of his post, keeping a keen ear for orders that would need him to act. He could hear and feel how the rhythmic humming of the engine stopped and started again. This meant that the propellers were now spinning the opposite way, slowing the ship down instead of driving it forward. As the alarm bell rang, a steady stream of ponies emerged from under the main deck below them. It is at that moment the captain burst through a heavy steel door leading to the bridge. With her mane messy and navy coat half buttoned she took center stage. "What's going on here? status report," she demanded. The commander giving orders earlier was quick to respond "The land came from nowhere. We've already started changing course, but i don't know if it'll be enough." "I have the deck and the conn," the captain stated to the bridge. Navy-talk for saying you are taking control of operations on the ship's deck and it's navigation. "Aye aye" came a unanimous shout from the officers, now all more or less on in their proper stations. Seaspray observed as the ship's bow slowly turned left away from the cliffs. He stood up and moved to the side of the bridge near a window to get a better viewpoint. He grabbed hold of a nearby desk as the entire ship listed starboard from the sheer momentum of the turn. "We'll miss the shore but those cliffs look jagged," he said eventually, "there might be rocks under the surface." The bridge was silent once more. As the ship turned for an agonizing minute, everypony expected at any moment to hear the sound of stone dragging against metal that would indicate they had run aground. But it never came. the ship made it's turn, and with a few sharp orders from the captain was now parallel to the shore. "That does it, engines standby and drop anchor," came the last of her orders, disaster having been narrowly avoided. Seaspray finally allowed himself to sigh from relief as he turned away from the window. He took off his navy officer's coat, throwing it onto the back of his seat. Before sitting down he performed a defiantly-celebratory flap of his wings, which brought about yet another unexpected problem. While for his entire life before this moment his wings had offered only a token amount of lift, they now suddenly and without warning launched him headfirst into the bridge's low-lying metal roof. Seaspray fell from the roof to the floor, feeling as if his head was going to split. He muttered curses while holding his temples. When he finally raised his gaze, he could see concerned comrades looking down at him. "Wha- how?" He asked while squinting his eyes, adding "Yeah, yeah i'm fine," after noticing the question had not eased the looks of concern. A tad further away he saw unicorns with glowing horns and pegasi experimenting with their wings, though far more carefully than he had done. As Seaspray got on his hooves he looked at first across the bridge, at the ponies and their newfound abilities. Next he turned to look out at the landmass that had suddenly appeared in their path. The waves crashed onto it's shores as if it had always been there. Green fields reached into the far distance and trees dotted the landscape. A sight too vivid to be an illusion. "What is this place," he asked, "and why can we use magic?" The captain trotted beside him, her jacket now fully buttoned and mane in acceptable condition. "Magic isn't the only thing that has returned," she remarked while looking out of the window with him "That's Equestria, It's back."