Ponies of the Titanic

Chapter 3

Lost In Class

Chaos had spread into the group of friends within minutes as Rarity was torn away from them.  The worst part is that there was not that much they could do about it, Twilight had even done something she promised herself that she would never do.  She tried to pull rank by declaring to be the princess's personal student.  That attempt was in vain for the workers had their doubts about her claim, and even if they did believe they were ordered by a prince let alone the owner of the ship.  Twilight would have to go to the prince personally.  However when she searched for him he was nowhere to be found.  By the time she returned to her suit, Rarity was gone.

Twilight, in tears at that moment, overwhelmed by the failure she went through.  It was not until the rest of her friends had come that her feelings were tamed.  However it still took time because even though failing her friend had been a huge blow to her emotions, watching her friends’ reaction had hurt her worse.

Rainbow dash attempted to fly out and demand Rarity's release to the nearest steward, only to be held back by Applejack (Who was the only one able to hunker down Rainbow whenever she went into a rage.) then explained what twilight had said about the stewards only fallowing orders and would have to convince their boss otherwise who had happened to be the prince.  Applejack then had to wrestle Dash down before she could fly out and hunt down the prince so she could kick where his royal rump to where it belonged.

Pinkie Pie whose mane was usually puffy had gone flat and gray, unable to eat her cupcake which she had picked up at the cafeteria.  The sad thing with the pink pony was the there was more that one emotion in her eyes.  She was sad yes, but she had a look in your eyes that made you keep you distance,  a look that told you to not get in the way, the look of hostile determination.

Applejack seemed to be handling it well, yet she was always a terrible lair so if you looked close you could see the look of hate in her eyes, something  which Twilight had never seen before, not once not ever, at least until now.  It was all that the earth pony could do to tame the rainbow pegasus, yet her emotions wanted to do much the same and much worse as to her flying friend.

Then there was Fluttershy.  Twilight knew better that to upset the shy mare due to the fear of what it could do to the poor pegasus.  Even though she had watched Fluttershy stare down a dragon and come through with absolute bravery in many other occasions.  What Twilight saw nearly broke her heart worse than that failing her fashonista friend.  Fluttershy was sitting on the ground hooves on her face; the worst part was that she was shaking.  Shaking do to some concern of what would happen to Rarity, but mostly from the inner most frightening desire to make whatever Evil that had done this to suffer and be put out of their misery.  That emotion was too much for Fluttershy to handle and caused her to go into the deep recess of her mind, locking everything out.

This vacation was not starting as well as they had hoped.

In about ten minutes Applejack managed to calm Rainbow down and headed towards Twilight to talk to her.   At this time the unicorn had shuffled out most of her emotions into her tears, so when Applejack made it to Twilight it was a easier than what the cowpony expected.

Pinkie Pie pretty much calmed down by herself, then decided to store the cupcake and give it to Rarity when they finally got her back to the right section of the ship.  It was Fluttershy who needed to more time to get her nerves back in order.  It took all her friends that were present to break her back into reality, It was when Rainbow went down and smacked a hoof on Fluttershy's face when the yellow pegasus turned around and put Rainbow into such a deadly head lock that the cyan athlete's face started to turn purple, as purple as the bit of color in Rainbows mane.

Applejack trying to pry the Element of Kindness of her friend, Fluttershy's eyes focused back into reality and instantly realized what was going.  Immediately releasing Dash from her grip she cried out "Oh my gosh!  I'm so sorry; I don't know what came over me."  Fluttershy's hostility becoming replaced by guilt and fear simultaneously.

Rainbow Dash gasping for breath, gained control back and interrupted Fluttershy's stream of apologies.  "It's OK Fluttershy, I forgive you it’s cool."

"Oh, but it isn't Rainbow, I could of hurt you real-" Fluttershy's next words were cut short by Rainbow herself

"Fluttershy, I said its OK, can you please chill now! Please," said Rainbow nearly yelling but keeping a tone of desperation, thus running the yellow pegasus into silence.

After a few moments Fluttershy finally managed to speak, "oh...ok if that is what you want"

Applejack then turned to Twilight and spoke, "So Twi, how to we plan to get Rarity back up here?  Ah mean it’s not like she's of the ship.  We can still get her back, It ain't right what the prince's done, and there is more we can to to help then just get'n worked up about it ether."

"When Rarity first came to me she said that Blueblood took her ticket from her.  I know i can convince him to let her back with us, and it’s not like we can't go down there in the first place to visit her ether.  If I just knew where to find him I could of prevented this mess from happening," stated Twilight.

"Well then we just need to keep hunting for Blueblood" Cheered Rainbow with a loyal timbre.

Twilight smiled at Rainbow as she was filled with an inspired idea, "OK Pinkie, Fluttershy: could you head down to the third class section and find Rarity, let her know that we are working on getting her back up here?"

"Ooh it would be just like Hid 'n Seek!" exclaimed Pinkie and she stretched her hoof farther than natural and grabbed Fluttershy pulling her into a buddy hug.  "We are on it!" and with that Pinkie zipped out of the room pulling Fluttershy with her.

All that could be heard for the shy mare was a soft "oh my."

   "Twilight what about us?" asked Rainbow in a slight confusion.

Twilight smiled mischievously, "Why, we go find the prince of course"

The floor was cold, only made of solid metal tiles; occasionally a soft mated rug would cover the bland surface to help keep the third class patrons at least a bit comfortable.  On one of the Rugs was a regal white unicorn with a carefully styled violate mane, her cutie mark being a pattern of three diamonds.  If one would to look closely they would have noticed the residue of tears staining her elegant complexion.  The only other residue of her previous episode was the look on her face as she kept herself deep in thought.

All she was doing as admiring the art that the ship had set up for the pleasure and enjoyment of the guests,  She was marveling at a painting of a marvelous white unicorn stallion dancing with a beautiful pink pegasus mare.  The stallion had a cutie mark of a top hat with a cane crossing in front of it.  The mare’s cutie mark was covered by a dress that in Rarity's opinion was completely inspiring, so much so that she began to come up with a new dress design.

In her thinking she was interrupted by a snooty voice that she instantly reconciled.

"A shame that such a respected unicorn would have fallen in love with a pegasus," said Blueblood putting a distasteful emphasis on the last word.

Rarity could not hold it in but to defend the painting and the history behind it.  "You do realize that it is really not that different then the companionship of your cousin." said Rarity turning around to face her bane.  When she locked eyes with the prince, the look of shock on his face told her that he was not expecting the mare in front of him to be her of all ponies.

Blueblood stood there for a few seconds in shock as memories flooded into his head of their last encounter.  He could not simply believe that the mare he got caught in his sights would happen to be the very pony that humiliated him in front of his court.  At first Blueblood looked scared to even be near her, then his look of fright soon dissolved into a malicious look fueled only by the desire of revenge.

Rarity shuddered at the memory of his sinister sneer as he started his ploy to demote her down to third class, taking her ticket and summoning the stewards to do his bidding.  The stewards did not want to do what they had to do, but it was their job; Rarity could not really blame them, after all they did look sad doing the task.

Having ran to her room in desperation to inform Twilight of her predicament.  Twilight being a good friend immediately comforted Rarity, promising her that she would do whatever it takes to prevent her from going down into third class.  Then the stewards showed up to escort her down to the lower section of the ship.  Twilight had tried her best to convince the stewards, but eventually concluded that she would have to approach Blueblood directly.  Twilight immediately ran off, telling the stewards and Rarity to wait there.  after the few minutes the stewards informed Rarity that they were asked to immediately escort her to third class with no delays, they also said that they had other duties which were to be attended to.

Rarity, being convinced that when her friends convinced Blueblood to change his mind, she will be welcome to return.  In defeat Rarity fallowed the Stewards down to the lower section.  The Steward who was in charge had been very kind: not that the other was not; he was just too quiet to really get to know very well.  Rarity soon found out that the lead Stewards name was Golden Grand, and the other steward's name being Soft Base.

Her first reaction to the lower section was shocking even to the point that she passed out.  When she awoke the two stewards were over her helping her up making sure that she would be alright.  After thanking Mr. Grand and Mr. Base, they gave there farewells and best wishes and departed to the rest of their duties.

Once the Mr. Grand and Mr. Base where out of sight, only then did Rarity bring in the courage to look around the room she was brought into.  The floor was cold and gray, and patches of rugs were laid about to bring comfort to its inhabitants.  There were stacks of hay in the corners of the huge room.  The stewards had shown her where her room was but she did not quit want to go in yet.  She walked over to the nearest rug and sat, then allowed her emotions drain from her began to cry until she could cry no more but only think on what had transpired.

"Miss, alright if I sit next to you?" asked a voice that Rarity could not recognize, though it definitely was a stallion.  The unicorn looked up to see an earth pony; he was a dark brown stallion with a black mane, his face was completely covered in soot that seemed to originate from coal.

Not wanting to be rude she hesitantly nodded her head.  The stallion walked over and sat down by her, but not too closes for he was smart enough to know that Rarity was a lady and would not like to get her hooves dirty unless it was absolutely necessary.  "My name is Bridle Barret, what's yours?"

Rarity looked up at the Mr. Barret and took his image in before she answered,  despite the rough appearance he had, he sounded like a charming pony.  His voice was smooth and soft, yet he looked about as big as Applejack's brother Big Mac.  His cutie mark that she noticed was a Shovel and Pick.  "My name is Rarity, nice to meet you Mr. Barret."

Barret smiled at the unicorn, "Oh you can just call me Bridle that is what my friends call me anyway, so what brings such a remarkable unicorn like you down to this section of the ship?  Surly you belong up in the more remarkable part."

"I do belong up there, just a unfortunate misunderstanding lead me down here, it’s a long story though," said Rarity who was still looking over the stallion, she also noticed that he was wearing a heavy black apron.

"I'm off until the next shift, my job today was only to light and fuel the engine to get the ship moving now that the ship is on its way, I don't have to work until tonight. So we do have some time for a story if you want to share." he stated with a warm smile.

"Well if you insist." said Rarity, who for some reason trusted this kind soul.  She then went on to explain her encounter with the prince and rambled on to the point where she was escorted down.  She ended the story at the point where he had walked up to her. "And the rest you know." she finished giving him a look.

What the Stallion said next surprised her.  "The prince was way over his bounds: you had the ticket, prince or no prince, owner or no owner, he has no power to do what he did to you."

Rarity looked down to the grey carpet trying to digest what the stallion just said to her.  "What makes you say that?" she finally managed to say.

"The Prince may own the ship as well being a royal, but only the captain can demote passengers as needed.  Last I checked the Prince was not the captain." said the Bridle with confidence.

Rarity thought this over, it made sense though there was only one flaw.  "So why did the stewards do what he asked, instead of putting him in his place?" said Rarity.  "That is if he had no power to command them."

"They were probably trying to respect his position as a prince of Equestria, and did not want to upset the balance of nobility and citizen." replied Bridle.  "Though I don't know for sure as to why, tell you what I'll go to my supervisors and help them get the captains attention about this."

Holding in her excitement for the help she was receiving she only managed to say, "thank you Bridle, I would much appreciate the assistance."

"No problem happy to help, I have to go take care of something, so take care alright."  With that he got up and made his way out the corridor and out of sight.

Before she could do some more reflection on what had happened to her she was suddenly tackled by a pink mass.  "OH Rarity we found you! Are you OK?  What about your mane did it get messed up?  did somepony hurt you?,  Oh just wait until we get you back up there, I have a cupcake for you, well it was for me but when i heard what happened I put it aside and saved it for you?"  rambled on Pinkie Pie who would of kept talking if she did not see Rarity's face turning red due to her tight hug, lets just say that Pinkie let go of Rarity so her friend could breath.

"Rarity, I'm happy that you’re not hurt, unless if you are hurt then that is not good" said a soft voice behind Pinkie.

Rarity finally noticed that Fluttershy was with Pinkie, "Don't get me wrong girls, but why are you down here?" said Rarity slightly phrasing her question wrong.

"To find you silly, why ells would we come down here,” replied Pinkie.  "As to how we are down here is because our First Class passes allow full access to most of the ship."

"Some how Pinkie just knows things" thought Rarity to herself. "So I'm able to go back up now?" Hoping that they were down there to get her up to first class, and not to just keep her company, though she would not mind the company if otherwise.

"Nope, we are here to have fun with you until Twilight can hunt down the prince so Rainbow Dash can send his royal rump to where it belongs." Said Pinkie in her usual cheerful voice. "So what are you going to do now Rarity."

"I was just about to go check out my new room; hopefully it won’t be as bad as it is out here."

Pinkie Pie started bouncing up and down. "OK let’s go!" she said as she started bouncing towards Rarity's room.

Rarity shook her head, how does she know these things?" she thought to herself, then followed the party pony to her new, but hopefully temporary room.

"Come on Twilight I'm sure if we find the captain we could locate the 'prince of uncool' faster!" argued Rainbow Dash.

Twilight at this point was slightly annoyed at Rainbows nagging replied, "Rainbow I told you already, the caption is much too busy managing the boat to deal with our problems."

"But Twilight, he is also in charge of making sure that the needs of his passengers are met, and our needs are not even close to that!" said Rainbow "besides I think that the Captain is our best resource of help."

   Twilight had to think about this, her friend was right.  The captain was there best resource, it was also his job to make sure that things went smoothly, but he is also In charge of maintaining the course of the trip, he probably is really busy and can't help.  "I'm sorry, but right now the captain-” Her statement was suddenly cut short as she ran right into another pony when they turned the corner.  "Oh I'm sorry are you alright...captain?"

Twilight took a look at the Stallion that she ran into, he was dressed in a deep blue Jacket and was wearing a cap that only a Captain would be wearing. He was a white unicorn with a white mane, his cutie mark being a ships steering wheel. His eyes were a piercing blue that matched his uniform.  The Stallion she had just run into was the legendary Captain Helm Smith.

"It's quite alright my dear, no harm was done." said the captain, who's voice was similar to the voice of Rarity's friend Fancy Pants.  "My name is Helm Smith, and who do I have the pleasure of meeting this afternoon?"

Twilight who began to blush at the sudden convenience of the Captain being in front of her.  "My name is Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you Captain Smith."

The Captain smiled, "Likewise," he said then diverted his attention to the two other mares that were with her.  "And who might you young mares be?"

The Captains smile soon came to be a look of shock as he soon found his hoof being shaken vigorously  "How do ya do captain? names Applejack and it’s a pleasure of meeting you acquaintance"

Once Applejack let go his hoof the captain regained his smile and was about ready to speak to the rainbow maned pegasus, when he was interrupted by that very mare. "And my name is Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in all of Equestria."

"My, my… what confidences" was all the captain could say to Rainbow Dash's ego. "So I heard my name before I ran into you guys, quite literally too I'm afraid."

"Well you see captain, we have a friend who was wrongly sent to third class and we would like her to be back with us." said Twilight quickly cutting to the chase.

The captain frowned, "Your friend doesn't happen to be a mare named Rarity," he asked expecting the answer to be an affirmative.

"Why yes, that is her name." said Twilight who for some reason started getting a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Ah, well I see" Said Captain Smith.  Then he started to explain how he got a message from one of his crew members on how there was a lady who was wrongly sent down to the engine Suits, that it was not even third class, but the suits where the Engine workers lived.  He also informed the three mares that he was on his way down to pick up the mare and bring her back up to her original suit himself.

The pit that was forming in Twilight's Stomach was soon tamed as she realized that the captain was not frowning for a reason of lack of power, but of embarrassment that something like this could happen. "So could we help you go down to get her?  We already have a few friends down there to keep her company."

The captain smiled, "of course you can accompany me, and you are her friends of course.  Good friends at that, to be defending her so." and with that the captain turned and started walking down the hall.  "Come with me please."

As the captain and the three mares were walking down the Halls of the great ship when they came across a couple of stewards who were traveling in the same direction, as the Stewards came closer they noticed the captain and they ran toward him with concern in their eyes.  As the captain stopped and talked to them It came apparent that their names were Mr. Grand and Mr. Base.  They went on to explain to the captain about Rarity's problem and how they were directed by the prince to bring Rarity to the engine suits so she could work to pay for her crimes.

The captain then explained to the stewards that the prince lied to them and that Rarity was Innocent of any crime on the ship.  He also informed them that they are safe from any punishment, and also directed them to inform the rest of the staff to not take any strange orders from the prince until they consoled with the captain.  Once the Captain was done giving instruction to the stewards he sent them off.

"Just wait until I get my hooves on Blueblood, I'll teach him to order my crew on my ship!" said the captain with an obvious dislike towards the prince.  "He thinks that just because he is closely related to the Princesses that he can boss everypony around him."

The three mares decided to let the captain vent and not reply to his words, besides they all liked the idea of the captain giving a firsthand lesson in public etiquette.

Soon they were walking through the halls of the Second class which looked nice.  The walls were still white and clean and the doors were still plated with gold for the room numbers, as they walked past they saw pony's walking about and enjoying their stay on the ship.

Then they made it to third class, least to say it was not as bad as Twilight was suspecting parts of the walls were chipping paint and the doors had wooden numbers to designate their position.  All in all the third class section was not terribly bad.

The shock came when they made it to the engine suits, where the white walls were replaced with metal beams and a cold floor.  The only place that was welcoming there, were the white doors where the bedrooms were located.  Twilight began to wonder were Rarity would be staying, but soon Pinkies giggles and laughter rolled through one of the Room's.

"She's in there!" shouted Twilight as she ran to the door and opened it to find Fluttershy sitting down on a bench in a tightly packed room.  Pinkie was jumping on one of the beds, while rarity was reading a book she had brought with her.  Before Rarity could look up to see who had walked in she was Held in a Gentle embrace and Twilight hugged her.

"I'm so sorry Rarity I should have never let them take you down here!" Said Twilight

Rarity getting over her shock once again replied, "It's OK Twilight, the Captain should be aware of my situation and I should be able to go back up in a bit."

Twilight broke out of her hug and looked at her friend in the eye; "The Captain is aware and we walked down with him to get you!" said Twilight who sounded a bit too excited.

That was when Rarity saw the Captain, and her shock returned to her as she stuttered out the following words.  "Th-the Ca-ca-captain is in... my room!" she shouted the last bit that all the ponies in the room had to cover their ears as all the workers started to worry that the ship might be haunted.

After a chuckle the captain managed to say, "Yes, I'm here.  I thought it best that I personally see to your comfort after being so poorly treated." He then turned his attention to all the mares, "To make up for it, how would you like to dine in with me for Dinner tonight? With all who are in your Company that is."

Rarity's Squeal of Glee made it apparent that she was not about to refuse a chance to dine with the Captain.