As the morning began to rise I slowly opened my eyes to see myself slowly and gently rocking back and forth in the hammock I slept in last night. There was a cool breeze blowing on my face and rocking me about. The breeze was coming from one of the open windows. It was left open to keep the cabin cool from the pre summer heat. I slowly and carefully crawled out of the net hammock and stretched my legs. I let out a fierce yawn and rolled my head either way cracking my neck on both sides. Sleeping on that hammock left some imprints of the net on my back and sides, but my fur covers it up quite nicely, altogether it was actually the most pleasant sleep I've ever gotten on a hammock.
Warm light and the cool morning breeze filtered in through the open windows along the cabin walls. I started my way over to the stairs to go topside and get some nice morning sunlight. I made my way up the stairs and walked up onto the deck. I could feel the warm morning sunlight shining down on me and waking me up. As I looked around all signs of civilization seemed to have just vanished, literally over night. The deck was clear as well as the sky around us. However, there was one other pony up on the deck. At a second glance I saw that it was scarlet, standing by the front of the ship looking over the bare world before us. A huge part of me was afraid that it was going to be twilight standing there. Somewhat relieved I made my way over to meet her.
"Good morning." I said catching her attention as she looked back with curiosity.
"Oh… hey crimson, morning." He said. "I noticed you sleeping on one of the hammocks on my way up here… how was that?" she asked smiling like it was supposed to be awful sleeping on a hammock.
"Not bad actually." I said "I slept like a baby rocking in a cradle… although, that rope hammock did leave some nasty impressions." I said.
"Hehehe… yeah, I noticed." She said giggling. "Your fur does a good job of hiding it… but not from my eyes."
"I figured as much…" I said. "So what are you doing up here?" I asked. "It's pretty early in the morning."
"Oh, nothing really." Said scarlet. "I usually go for a morning walk this early… but there nowhere to walk. I tried pacing around the deck, but… it just doesn't feel right." She said.
"Why not just flex your wings and fly a bit?" I asked.
"Nah… it's not the same, flying is too fast." She said looking over the railing of the ship at the distant ground. "I like walking because it's slow and steady… gives me time to think about whatever I want to about."
"So you're just going to stand there?" I asked.
"No…" she said sitting down. "I was planning on sitting too." She said making me chuckle slightly.
"Mind if I join you?" I asked sitting down too.
"Whatever you want… it's a free world isn't it?" she said with a laughable manner.
"I suppose… though I would use the term free, loosely."
"Yeah I guess that's to be expected." Said scarlet staring off into the sky which was bright orange form the rising sun. "Say… before I turned in last night, I saw you and twilight talking, then a while later she came thundering into the room, face as red as a beet, and she just threw herself onto the bed." She said giggling slightly. "She put her face so deeply into her pillow I thought she had suffocated…" she said giggling still but then growing more serious. "What happened last night?"
"Uh… I'd rather not say." I said growing concerned and somewhat embarrassed. "We talked… and things didn't go too well."
"Is she mad at you? That would explain her red face."
"No… she isn't mad at me…" I said.
"Oh… OH, I think I know what happened." She said looking at me flushed red face.
"She gave you a little peck on the cheek and it was embarrassing for the both of you." She said smiling coyly.
"Uh… more than that."
"Oh…OH GOD… you two didn't… you know…"
"Less than that." I said. "Way less than that." I was starting to grow even redder.
"What happened? C'mon tell me." She said growing very interested in hearing some good gossip.
"Like I said… I'd rather not." I told her. Her mood changed from excited to solemnly disappointed as she turned away but a smile did reach across her face afterwards.
"Alright… I get it, it's personal." I just smiled at her and we both looked off at the sun rising over the horizon and beginning its trek across the great blue sky. A flock of birds gracefully whirled over to the balloon and started to perch on the rails of the ship and on top of the balloon. Their chirping filled the air as they buzzed around the ship like it was their nest. I smiled and looked off back to the sky. I looked down over to the ground which was scarcely visible, but I could make out a small town under us as we passed over it. I could hear the thud of hooves on wood as guards made their way to their morning posts. I kept staring off at the sunrise and scarlet seemed lost in the sky.
"Damn birds…" snarled a female voice behind me. I looked back to see one of the guards trying to shoo away a group of birds perched on the rails placed on the edge of the ship. She tried getting them to leave effortlessly as they would just return in place before she could even walk away. I could see her getting angry… it was kinda funny.
"Good morning scarlet…" said a male guard strolling by.
"Huh…" hummed scarlet breaking from her trance and spotting the guard. "Oh…hi." She said smiling and waving at him as he passed on minding his own business now. Scarlet turned back to the panning sky and stared onward with a smile on her face. Now completely bored I let out a deep sigh and sunk backwards relaxing my muscles. I did however pick up on two guards having a discussion and my ears perked up to listen in.
"Did you hear that the navigator said we might run into a fierce storm later today?" said one of the female guards to another male guard.
"You sure he isn't just blowing smoke out of his ass again?" asked the male guard.
"I don't know… he seemed real sure of this one." She replied.
"Oh c'mon… there isn't a cloud in the sky for miles." Said the guard. "I'm sure that whatever he thinks isn't going to happen."
"Yeah your probably right…" said the guard. "Still… it doesn't hurt to make sure everything's tied down nice and tight... I'll get a crew on it soon." She said wandering back off to go below the deck.
"Yeah you do that… I'll stand guard against the big scary clouds." Said the male guard making the female guard giggle as he walk off.
"Yeah… I know." She said. "Better keep a look out for all those pirates." She said sarcastically.
"Hear that?" I asked turning over to scarlet.
"Hear what?" she asked.
"Sounds like there's supposed to be a storm later today." I said.
"Is that so…?" asked scarlet with a smile on her face. "on this cloudless…warm…perfect day, there's supposed to be a storm?" she asked sarcastically.
"Hey… the day is young… don't underestimate the fickleness of nature."
"Mm…" replied scarlet. "Anyway…" she continued before her stomach rumbled breaking the scenic silence and making her blush a little. "Heh… just in time too, I was gonna suggest breakfast." I was going to speak up and agree before my stomach as well rumbled breaking the silence further and making me embarrassed too.
"Huh… I guess I agree." I said smiling with scarlet.
"Hehehe… let's get some food." Suggested scarlet. I just silently agreed by getting up along with her and following her down to the lower deck. I followed her all the way to the kitchen and when we got in the place was still closed, the chef wasn't even there. "Aww… the chef isn't even up yet." Moaned scarlet starting to mope. Once again her stomach growled making her mope even more and blush once again.
"Oh come on… it isn't that bad." I said smiling before my own stomach growled wiping the smile off my face and causing my cheeks to turn red.
"Speak for yourself." Said scarlet with a sullen mood.
"Well, well, well… great minds think alike I suppose." Said a voice from behind us. In curiosity we both turned around to see that it was thunder rush who had spoken. He stood there with a big smile on his face. "If I'm not mistaken you two are here for breakfast… same as I."
"Congratulations Sherlock, you solved the big mystery… now solve the one about the missing food." I said sarcastically making scarlet burst out laughing.
"Ugh… I hate that sarcastic voice of yours… it sends a chill down my spine." He said sullenly.
"Ooh, I don't care about mystery or sarcasm… I'm hungry. Where's the cook… it isn't that early is it?" asked scarlet.
"Hey… you three." Said a voice form the side. "You're looking for the chef aren't you?" We looked over to see a small company of guards who have entered the kitchen from the other side of the deck.
"Yeah… where is he?" I asked.
"Well… he got sick." Said the guard.
"Well that sucks…" added thunder.
"Do you know anypony else on this ship who can cook… cause we need a new one." Said the guard. I could see from her face and the others that they were all as hungry as we were.
"Oh do I know a pony who can cook." Said scarlet with a big smile on her face and with a confident stance. "Just you wait… I'll cook up a storm so big it'll crash the ship."
"Uhm… scarlet." I said trying to get her to calm down, but for some reason she seemed really fired up now.
"C'mon crimson… you're going to help me." She said grabbing my arm.
"Wait…hold on." I argued but before I know it she had dragged me back into the cooking quarters. I just let out a sigh and decided that I should help. "Alright… chef scarlet, what are we making?"
"Chef scarlet huh?" she said with a smile. "I like the sound of that… hell yeah; you know what were going to make for them.
And like unison we both blurted out "apple cabbage stew." Except scarlet said it with more confidence but I said it predictably. I managed to eke out a small smile for the moment but It managed to stick to my face.
"I got the cabbages…" said scarlet using her magic to carry a crate of cabbages out of the storage. I went in after and got a sack of apples. We set up a few stew pots on the range and filled them halfway with water. While the water boiled away I went to work pealing apples and coring them while scarlet started breaking the lettuce into smaller fragments. Once I cored and pealed all of the apples I cut them up into slices and put the slices aside just in time for the water to boil. Once that happened scarlet and I both started pouring cabbage leaves and apple slices. Those started boiling away in the pots and the room started to acquire a new aroma.
"Hmm… looks good." I said watching the pots boil.
"It's not done yet." Said scarlet.
"It's not?" I asked. I usually stop there and it turns out alright.
"Nope… it needs some of this." Said scarlet levitating two spice bottles next to her and pouring a small amount of the contents into the boiling pots. Once she was done she placed them on the counter and started using her magic to stir all four of the huge pots at once. I walked over and read the labels on the two bottles.
"Rose dust and… ginger snap, huh." I said in surprise. Almost immediately the room's aroma grew stronger and smelled much better. It took a bit but we were finally done with the preparations. Now all that's left to do is wait for the stew to boil for a while and get out some soup bowls. I used my magic to grab a couple stack of wooden bowls for the crew and others and started making my way to the counter while scarlet watched the stew. As I rounded to corner and walked out onto the counter I was greeted with a most unexpected sight. The whole cafeteria was filled with guards… and thunder. Even the captain was there. They all stared me down with smiles on their faces. I placed the bowls down and didn't break eye contact fearing that they would rush me the second I turned my back. Suddenly they bursted out asking me when the food was going to be done. I did the most logical thing I could think to do, which was run right back into the kitchen without saying a word… it worked pretty well.
"Well…? Did our cooking attract a crowd?" asked scarlet.
"You don't even know." I said.
"Well fear no more… the food is done." She said which allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief. Without hesitation we got ready and started passing out bowls of food to all of the guards and crew ponies. We figured we had overdone it by making four vats of the stuff… but we couldn't be more wrong. In the blink of an eye one of the vats was gone, followed by another… and another. We barely had enough time to get food for ourselves. We did manage to pour ourselves a few bowls though, but everypony else had the rest… well, everypony besides twilight that is. I haven't seen her all day and I still worry for her, but I'm not sure how to approach her. I saved a bowl just for her, she needs to eat too… but I can't muster up the courage to ace her right now, all I can do is stare at the bowl of stew and think. "Hey… crimson." Said scarlet to the side. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"Huh… oh… no, not really." I replied.
"Is that for twilight?" she asked.
"Yeah, it is."
"here, let me give it to her… she's still locked up in the dorms. I'll tell her it was from you." She said using her magic to levitate the bowl steadily by her side as she gave me a smile. I flashed a smile right back and thanked her. She walked away towards the sleeping quarters and I let out a depressing sigh. Since all the food is gone now and everypony is full I guess I can be on my way then. i started leaving the kitchen when a pony stopped me.
"Hey… you there." He said with a smile. He had a grey grizzled beard and an eye patch on. He wore a navy blue turncoat with a triangular, black leather hat with the word 'captain' engraved in gold stitching. I'm going to guess that he's the captain.
"Oh… you must be the captain."
"Mm that I am indeed." He said smiling. "you must be the 'very important passenger the prince told us about, your along with miss scarlet are you not, you and two others?" he asked.
"Uhm… yes, I am." I answered.
"Why don't you come up to the deck with me so we can talk in more open space?" Said the captain gesturing to the stairs.
"sure." I replied following him up the stairs and onto the deck. The smell of the autumn air filled my nose and a gentle breeze blew my hair to the side.
"I must thank you for that wonderful meal." Said the captain. "Normally the cook makes something a bit more special for the captain… but after hearing all the commotion, along with a strong inquiry about where all my crew had gone, I decided to investigate." He said. "I had no idea that cook had fallen ill, so I have to thank you and miss scarlet for preparing such a wonderful meal for the crew."
"It was no problem really, we were getting hungry too, but I do hope the cook starts feeling well soon enough, but if he doesn't me and scarlet will have no problem cooking again." I said as we both walked up to the bridge of the ship and looked off past the helm.
"I've been the captain of this ship for thirty years. I've never had a better cook in my days than the one we have now… but you've proven to stand him up." He said.
"Wow… thanks. To be honest it was all scarlet's work really… she's the one who spiced it and everything." I said. The captain smiled and we both looked off into the morning sky. Another cool breeze passed us and I turned to look at him. "So… you've been behind the wheel of this ship for thirty years huh? That's impressive." I said.
"Well, not this ship… I've been piloting this ship for only 20 years." He said.
"So you had another ship before this one, what happened to her."
"How do you know my old ship was a 'her'?" he asked.
"Well, all ships are 'hers'." I said. he just looked at me and laughed.
"That's right they are." He said laughing as he spoke. "Well, my old ship was a standard non military ship, before I was an official captain I used to be a mercenary. My old ship was the S.S. Sundermount. A respectable ship. At the time I lived on that ship, she was my darling… had everything a stallion could need to live… than one day I was raided by pirates and the crashed my ship, I went down with her… but I survived, that's actually how I lost my eye."
"I'm sorry to hear that." I said.
"Aye, after that I joined the guard and became I captain, I've made it my soul duty to hunt and destroy all pirates in equestria… and so far so well, as it goes." He said. "I've sunken my fair share of pirates in these twenty or so years. Ahahaha, I've become rather infamous among pirates." He said.
"Really, so you must have some kind of feared name." I said smiling. He just laughed again.
"Aye, I do." He said. "I'm the pirate head hunter, captain grey. And this ship here is my beloved lady grey.
"I was wondering why this ship was so heavily armed for a passenger ship."
"That's because the lady grey ain't any passenger ship… she's a fully fledged war ship and I'm her captain. I'm Captain grey, fully fledged captain, first class, unlimited license." He said proudly.
"So you think there's a chance we might be attacked by pirates?" I asked.
"There's always a possibility, but I've been getting bad reports from fellow captains about the area we're traveling to." He said. "And on top of pirates there's the great dragon migration in two days. We won't be intercepting the actual path of the migration, but there are always stragglers, so they might come flying this way."
"Sounds like fun." I said sarcastically.
"Yeah, some ponies pick the worst times to be in trouble." Added the captain.
"Can't argue with that." I said truthfully. He chuckled lightly and looked back to the sky with a smile. There was silence for a moment until he turned back to me still keeping the smile on his face.
"Well… I have a ship to captain, I'll be in my quarters, you're welcome in any time… the same applies to your friends as well."
"Alright… I'll keep that in mind." I said.
"Alright then… good day." He said walking back and going down the stairs off the bridge and into the captain's quarters. I soon walked down and off the bridge and back onto the deck. I couldn't see any of my friends in my immediate sight… so I was all alone now. I let out a lonely sigh and sat down next to some barrels by the side of the ship and looked off into the horizon. I sat there and eventually fell asleep form the boredom. I rested against the barrels and nodded off to sleep. I started dreaming about some strange stuff, like being back in ponyville, except this time I was scarlet instead of me… which was strange. I was sleeping soundly until somepony woke me up.
"Hey…hey you, wake up… lets go, get up." Said a female voice. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. I noticed that it was a guard who had woke me up.
"Huh… what's the matter?" I asked followed by a tired yawn.
"We gotta get down to the lower deck… there's a storm coming." She said pointing off into the distance. I looked past the ship and in front of us there was a maelstrom of swirling clouds and thunder. Even the sky above us now was grey and disgusting. The thought of a storm made me slightly nervous, being on the ground during a storm is one thing but being in an air ship is a whole other kind of problem. "Let's go… move It." she said ordering me around mow. I didn't like being ordered around but being on the deck probably wasn't the smartest place to be during a storm. I got up and started moving my way down to the deck. Before I even got to the stairs I felt a raindrop hit my head and I stopped. I looked up and felt another after another. It didn't take long for the rain to become visible as it started splashing against the wooden hull and filling the air with a soft pitter patter.
I walked down the stairs and into the cabin while all the guards and crew started making their way up onto the deck to make sure nothing happens and to fasten down all the ropes and such. I looked around and found scarlet by one of the cannon gates looking through it at the sky. I walked over to her and she turned around when she heard me coming. She seemed kind of concerned but excited. I saw thunder rush walking over to. He looked at me with the same expression as scarlet had, I couldn't find twilight anywhere though.
"I take it you've heard about the storm?" said scarlet.
"Yeah…" I said.
"Hey guys… where's twilight?" asked thunder. "I haven't seen her all day."
"Oh… she's in the sleeping quarters" said scarlet.
"Okay… I'm going to go and check on her." He said. "In the mean time… I think you two should be up on the deck helping the crew out… your more than capable of It." he said giving us both a wink as he walked away. I looked at scarlet and she at me.
"Well… he isn't wrong." I said.
"Yeah… we should help." She said. Before she could say something else there was a loud and ear shattering boom as the sky flashed and thunder bellowed through the sky. The sound of the rain hitting the ship grew even louder and repetitive. "c'mon, let's go." Said scarlet trotting off to the deck stairs. I followed behind her and we both ran up to the deck. The rain hit us and it stung like needles as it came down. The rain blew in from the side and all around us so the balloon above our heads wasn't much help in covering us from the rain. The deck was already considerable wet and we were covered in dark and threatening clouds. Another flash lit up the sky as a thunderous boom rocked the ship.
"What are you two doing up here…" shouted a voice against the loud storm. It was a guard pony. "You shouldn't be up here… it's not safe." He said.
"Were here to help." Said scarlet. There was another flash as lighting flashed by the edge of the ship and another boom rocked the ship. One guard holding a rope lost his balance and slipped on the wet ground and slid across the ships surface. He hit the guard rails on the ships side and scrambled to his hooves. He ran back to the rope he was holding previously and grabbed back on.
"Ugh… fine… just don't do anything stupid." Said the guard running off to help the other guard hold the rope down. I looked around and saw two guard ponies trying to fasten a rope. Suddenly there was another flash as lightning struck the balloon above us. It struck the metal framing of the balloon and the electricity conducted around the large balloon until it was diffused and became stable. The two guard ponies fastening the rope both slipped and the rope went flying away. I saw scarlet zoom by me as she went and grabbed the two ponies. I rushed over and tried to grab the rope, but it was out of reach.
I quickly shot two tentacle of light after the rope and grabbed onto it. I pulled it back and grabbed it with my teeth. I held it down and started fastening it to the side of the ship as another bolt of lightning struck the balloon's metal frame and conducted around it. The rain started coming down even harder now and it began to sting even more. I looked over at two other crew ponies holding down a rope. One slipped and let go of the rope. The tension of the rope carried the other pony away and as he let go the rope threw him overboard and he fell off the side of the ship to his death… at least I thought. I saw scarlet quickly dash over and shoot out a tentacle of light towards the pony and catch him. She pulled him back up with one clean swing and he landed on the deck. He took only a few seconds to recover and thank scarlet before getting back to work.
The air filled with another thunderous boom as lightning struck the metal frame of the balloon once more. This time one of the sections of frame came loose under the balloon and it fell down onto the ship. It crashed onto the ship as ponies dodged out of the way and it broke the deck. I made a dent in the deck and some of the wood snapped upward.
"SHIT!" one of the guard ponies yelled. "Somepony get that back onto the balloon… c'mon, this needs to be done yesterday." I looked up to the balloon as yet another flash of lightning hit the balloon again. This time it didn't diffuse right and once the lightning reached the gap in the metal the energy from was about to hit the deck of the ship. And with everything so wet right now the lightning wound travel through the water and fry everypony. I quickly slid under the spot where the gap was, right on top of the metal frame piece and used my magic to focus the lightning to myself instead. Once the lightning jumped from the frame to me I absorbed the energy and quickly shot it back out into the sky with a fierce shout. I was dazed for a second and my nerves were shot, but I quickly recovered as scarlet came running over to me.
"are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine… help me get this back onto the balloon." I said.
"alright." She agreed. We both spread our wings and took off into the air. I used my magic to create beams of light which tethered onto the metal piece so I could lift it. We both flew up to the metal frame of the ship and I reeled the frame piece up to me. I picked it up with more magical tethers and put it back into place. As I held it scarlet used her magic to super heat her two front hooves. She ran her hooves along the ridges of the frame and the heat caused the metal to melt and quickly cool off, basically working as a physical soldering iron. Once she finished one side she soldered the other side and I let go of the frame. It held in place and the frame was fixed. Down below I could hear the cracking of wood and looked down to see that once of the rope anchors that had three ropes tied to it came loose and took a good chunk of the guard railing with it. It twisted rapidly and swung about until the ropes came to a rest. Just then I heard a familiar voice calling out from below.
"Crimson…Crimson!" yelled a familiar voice I looked down to see that twilight was now on the deck of the ship with her hair blowing form the side of her face and her fur getting instantly soaked by the rain. "Crimson where are you?" she called out. I quickly flew down to the deck and landed in front of her.
"Twilight are you crazy?" I shouted over the storm. "It's dangerous up here… get back down to the cabin." I said.
"I wanted to know if you were alright." She asked. Just then another cracking sound filled the air as one of the rope tethers snapped off again and pulled some of the ship with it creating an even larger hole. "Crimson look out." shouted twilight as the chuck of ship came flying this way. I quickly pushed twilight out of the way and the metal tether and part of the ship whipped around and hit me in the side as I flew right into the bridge of the ship. The next thing I heard was a scream as I looked over and saw twilight sliding across the deck of the ship. She slid over and fell off the hole in the ships guard rail as she screamed. I suddenly burst into action and bolted right across the deck and off the side of the ship. I quickly started flying towards her as she screamed and fell.
"TWILIGHT!" I shouted tearing through the sky towards her. I soon got close enough to her and held my hoof out. She flailed around but grabbed my hoof. I pulled her up and hugged her keeping her close and secure. I flapped my wings to quickly recover and fly back up but the wind was too much and I couldn't make a recovery… so we fell. We spiraled downward through the air and I held onto her. I held tightly as we fell down and the winds threw us about. I felt the sting of the rain and the pushing force of gravity throwing us to the ground. I looked down to see the ground was no longer out of sight, and right bellow us. There was a forest right under us. And as we picked up speed I twisted myself around so that I would be the first one to hit the ground. I spread my wings out to start breaking to fall and I could feel our speed decreasing.
My wings began to ache… and it wasn't long until one of them snapped from the force of the fall. But I didn't stop. I started focusing my magic to my back, creating a shield to help break the fall. Everything became a blur, the only thing I could feel was the pain… and twilight, who I held closely. Soon everything started to fade away and I felt several things press against my back and started scraping up against my sides. Suddenly the trees of the forest were all around me. Not long after that I hit the ground… then everything was black.
And cold…
-Authors Note: hey guys, once again i apologize for the delay on posting chapter, i still blame summertime laziness. i promise that once the school year starts and the summer fades away my chapter production will increase. until then i hope you enjoyed this new chapter and feel free to write a review and follow the story. also be sure to check out my other stories. I've posted a new one called Last Aid which is a horrifying mix between amnesia and silent hill... with my own sick and twisted creation put into it. so be sure to go and check that one out too. I'm also going to be working more on my other story Annabelle Grim so expect to see another chapter of that out soon.
so anyway guys. i hope you enjoyed this new chapter and there will be more to come. so post a review and let me know what you think. also if you have any creative ideas or if you would like to see something in the story be sure to write me a PM and let me know. i always find the time to check my inbox and write back to my fellow bronies. until next time my friends...
Stay Shady...