The Poseidon Adventure

Chapter 1: New Year's Eve

It was close to sunset on the 31st of December. The S.S. Poseidon, moved gently though the sea after encountering a storm. Originally an ocean liner during the golden age of the ocean liner; the ship had been bought out over a year ago by the Equestrian Cruise Line. She was renovated and reconverted into a single class cruise ship as well as a cargo carrier. This particular cruise was the ship's maiden voyage with the new company and even the head representative was onboard. The ship sailed from Manehattan to a dozen tropical ports and tourist destinations. During the cruise the ship was to drop off and pick up cargo from the ports. The only problem was there was more cargo dropped off than picked up. The holds were nearly empty as well as the fuel tanks. Though there was enough fuel to get home, the lightness made the ship incredibly unstable. This made the captain very uneasy and led to many arguments with the company representative. Both he and his crew disliked him entirely and saw him as an 'arrogant ass'. Never the less the captain, threatened with removal from his job still did as he was told, even if it meant driving an unstable ship at full ahead.

Down below the passengers didn't seem to have a problem with the ship picking up speed. To them anything was better than the ship rolling from side to side and everyone being sea sick like it was during the morning. One who wasn't fazed by either the speed or the rolling this morning was Celestia, who was up on deck looking out at the sea admiring the beauty of the red, orange, and golden-yellow sunset. She wondered how something so natural could be so beautiful. Her wonder didn't go far though.

"Hey sis." Someone called out. She looked behind her and saw Luna.

"Hey Luna." She said.

"It's almost time for the party. Are you going to get ready?"

"Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world. I just wanted to see the sunset."

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

"Much better than the storm from this morning or that overcast that's coming over our heads right now." Celestia said. There was an overcast the ship was beginning to sail under, clouds left over from the storm front they encountered this morning. There would be no rain but it would make things more difficult to see, especially since it was a no moon period. The two sisters talked for another minute or two and went back to their cabins to get ready for the New Year's party.

Inside the ship many passengers and crew, relieved from the morning's sea sick fest, got themselves ready for the party. Inside the ballroom many staff members were finishing decorating, setting tables, and getting food and drinks ready. Up on the ceiling at one of the room's corners Pinkie Pie was rigging her famous 'Party Cannons'. As soon as the clock struck midnight she, along with her partner and beau, Cheese Sandwich, who was working on the opposite wall, would fire off the cannons, spraying the crowd with balloons, confetti, and streamers of all different colors.

The ballroom was about 2 decks high, the ceiling just below the top two decks. The ceiling was painted white, and was raised up several feet to where 3 stained glass panels, each with different colorful patterns on them, were placed. It had 14 dark grey marble pillars, polished wood walls, with 10 lights on the starboard and port sides and 4 on the front and back. Plush, red, carpeting lined the floors and two glass light windows were placed on the front and back of the room, the front one right above the door for the guests. Like on the celling the floor was raised on both sides of the room. On the starboard side was several round tables where the passengers would be and a stage for the entertainment, that had a large black and gold tent-like cover over most of it that said 'Happy New Year' on a banner on the front. In the middle, more tables as well as the dance floor in front of the stage. Off to the port side, near the passenger door, sat a large Christmas tree. On the port side of the room were over a dozen round tables, one of which sat in front of a statue of the ships namesake, the God of the sea, Poseidon.

Down on the stage, a small rock band began making one last practice before the party. They were going to provide the evening's entertainment, along with several other acts from other entertainers. In the kitchen, food was being prepared as best as it could be. In all the years of the ship's service there was never a complaint about the food from the passengers and they weren't going to start tonight. Along with appetizers, entrees, and drinks, including champagne for the countdown, there were also 10 large cakes made for the passengers. The kitchen staff, including the two bakers who were on the ship with their two young children, were sure to make enough for all 1479 people on board, including all 548 passengers and 931 crew. They finished just before 6:30.

At about 7:00 the first guests started to arrive. The men were all dressed in their best suits, dinner jackets, tuxedos; the works. The women came in their best dresses, gowns, party clothes, etc. Some people came a little over dressed, some not. Celestia and Luna were one of the first in the ballroom. Celestia was dressed in her favorite outfit, a cream white turtle neck sweater with a black jacket, black shoes and grey dress pants. Luna dressed in something similar, except her jacket was navy blue, her pants were black, and her shirt was purple.

Once in the dining room the two went to their table, which happened to be the captains' table. They were picked out of all the people to sit there on this night. Celestia was very excited about this. Her sister was, but for some reason she didn't seem like it. Celestia could feel there was something bothering her sister, and this, obviously, bothered her. As soon as they sat down she spoke up.

"What's wrong?" She said.

"It's nothing Celestia." Her sister said, with a bit of a stern tone to her voice.

"It's not nothing, Luna. You've been like this since before we left home."

"Don't start this now. I just don't want to talk about it." She seemed to get more agitated

"Alright, fine. Miss Grouchy Pants." She grumbled.

"What'd you say?" Luna asked.

"It's nothing." This wasn't the first time an argument nearly or had broken out between the two. Most of the time the two were very close. But over the past two years the pair began arguing more and more. However they decided to put their differences aside tonight, especially since they were at dinner.

Soon the captain, the company representative, and sever others joined at the table. By coincidence, 5 of the people at the table were a family they knew for years. Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's former student when she was the professor at Canterlot Academy, her older brother Shining Armor, her parents, and her adopted brother Spike were on the cruise along with her friends and their families. They all sat down together, had their dinners, watched the entertainment, talked, laughed, and enjoyed their time. The ballroom was the most lively it's been in years.

The dinner was enjoyable as was the atmosphere in the ballroom. Everyone was either talking or watching the entertainment on the stage. One performer was a magician who ended up making the crowd laugh as she ended up messing up some of her tricks. Everyone, however, enjoyed the show and applauded her efforts. At the tables everyone had something to talk about. On one of the Captains table, sat some of the ship's crème de la crème, talking about business and how they enjoyed their trip. On the other side sat Twilights friends. They were all talking about their time on the ship and at the different ports, their lives at home, and plans for the future.

Applejack brought along Mac, Applebloom, and Granny. Rainbow Dash was with Fluttershy and Scootaloo. And Rarity was with Sweetiebell. All the girls were wearing dresses that matched their favorite style and color, except for RD and Scootaloo who were wearing something similar to Luna's outfit. Granny Smith was wearing a light green dress, that came just above her ankles, that complimented her slightly larger figure. Mac was wearing his favorite tux with a red tie. He got the short hand since he was the only guy at the table. He was making conversation with Night and Armor.

Right now Applejack was discussing about she and RD were tearing down an old barn for a neighbor, resulting in a comedy of errors.

"And it turned out, we knocked down the wrong one." She said. The whole table burst into laughter.

"Oh he must've been mad at you two." Rarity said.

"He was, for like 5 minutes. Then he just laughed it off." Rainbow said.

"We then knocked down the right one, then went back to repair the other." AJ finished.

"Probably the best Saturday we had." Rainbow said.

This and many conversation like it livened up the room on this night.

By 11 p.m. and the entrée plates were long gone. The guests were still having some of the cake. Celestia practically chowed her piece down, making the others at the table giggle. Everyone at the tables talked about their vacation, life at home, and plans for the future. Twilight and Spike were talking about their time on the ship and how they were being shown how it worked.

"And that's what we learned down in the boiler rooms." Twilight said.

"It's amazing what just a big tank of fire and water can do." Spike said.

The captain was amazed at the two. "You seem to be enjoying yourselves. You have some smart kids Night and Velvet." Both parents smiled at the compliment.

"Thank you very much Captain." Velvet said.

As the conversation continued one of the table guests seemed to get distracted. Shining Armor couldn't help but look towards the stage at the young, beautiful, woman on the stage. He was staring at Cadence, the young singer of the Crystal Heart Band. They were up on stage singing one of their hit songs. He was amazed by her voice, almost in a trance. Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Getting a little distracted are we Romeo." Someone said into his ear.

"Dad, stop it." Shining whined. The whole table and the two tables beside them, where all of his sister's friends sat, burst out laughing.

"We'll stop once you find yourself a girl." Velvet said.

"You know I do want to settle down as much as the next guy. But I can't find the time. Being a rookie cop, I get all the night shifts."

"Oh come on now, you'll get out of that quickly. You also might find someone you like on the street."

"Ugh" Shining grumbled.

After about 30 minutes of giving Shining a hard time about not finding a girl and him shaking his head the conversation changed to the statue right on the wall. It was the statue behind them. Suddenly he noticed that the light on the phone connecting him to the bridge was signaling him.

"Excuse me for a second." He said as he picked up the phone. "Yes."

"We're sorry to disturb you Captain." The First Officer on the bridge said. "but there's a situation up here the bridge."

"Of course" He said as he hung up the phone. He got up from his seat to head to the bridge. "You'll have to excuse me. I'm needed at my post. Celestia would you mind taking over?"

"Of course, I'd be happy to." She said.

The Captain began to leave, the company representative following close behind. Celestia began 'taking over' the position at the table, hoping that the Captain leaving wouldn't be an inconvenience. Suddenly their waiter, Flash Sentry walked over and started refreshing her glass.

"Thanks Sentry. Have a Happy New Year." She said smiling. The young server just smiled back.

"Thank you ma'am" He said as he walked back to the kitchen.

As the newly commandeered table made a toast the Captain and the representative made it to the bridge.

"What's going on?" he said.

"The Seismographic Station, Assateague, gave us a report about 10 minutes ago." The First Officer said. The Captain then read the report; "Sub-sea earthquake at 7.4 on the Richter Scale. The epicenter is 45 miles southeast of the Assateague Island chain."

That epicenter was about 25 miles northwest of the Poseidon. And to make matters worse the ship was passing the Misty Shallows, a shallow water area that was once an island. The ship was going to pass within 10 miles of the Shallow's edge. The Captain began to sweat as he walked over to his RADAR to see if he could spot anything. So far there was nothing…for now.

Down in the kitchen Flash walked in and put down the empty bottle of champagne he was carrying. He was exhausted from serving everyone in the ballroom. The only benefit he saw in it was seeing a certain girl with purple and pink streaks in her hair, sitting at the Captains table. Though every time he went back in all he wanted to do was sit down. He had been on his feet, literally, all day. Suddenly Joe, his boss, came up to him.

"You keeping the morale up Flash?" Joe asked jokingly.

"Just barely." Flash said. The two laughed a bit.

"Look just as a curtesy call, I'm gonna let you take a break for a while. Why don't you go downstairs for a bit? Aren't your friends holding their own party?" Joe asked.

"Yeah their holding one but shouldn't I be up here jus-"

"Flash my man; you've worked your tail off all week. Besides, I'm sure Sunny would appreciate you being there. Also I know you helped supply some of the stuff for that." Joe laughed.

Flash thought about it for a second and decided that he really needed a break.

"Alright fine, I'll head down." He decided.

The deck that the party was on was a the second to last passenger deck before it became the cargo and crew sections. The hallway walls on these decks were 2 shades of brown, the bottom half of it dark, the top half light. Placed in the corners on both sides of the halls were long rectangle lights, set in a long line, and a railing on each side for the passengers to hold onto. Lining the floor was a long carpet with red and green floral patterns. These decks of the ship had 2 typed of cabins, outboard and interior. The cabins had the same walls, but had red carpets along. Some had two single beds, while others had one queen sized bed, each had a red comforter, white pillows and sheets, a dresser with a mirror, a radio, a record player, and a bathroom.

Flash made his way down the 1 deck to where his and his roommate's cabin was; although it was actually his roommates for the trip, he was just bunking with her. Just as he got there, he saw about over 2 dozen people in and around his cabin as well as in 3 others. The hall and the cabins were decked with streamers, balloons, confetti, and signs that said 'Happy New Year'. There was upbeat party music blasting in the hallway, and many were dancing. He entered the cabin with a bit of a struggle and finally bumped into his roommate, Sunset Shimmer.

"Flash!" She yelled out hugging him. "I'm glad you made it!"

"Yeah me too" He said. "How many people did you bring here?"

"About half the deck it seems." She smiled.

"Lightning Dust will probably be pissed when she sees this."

"She'll be too drunk to care. I don't know how Soarin can stand her." The two just laughed, along with several others who were in earshot.

"And who the hell set this up Pinkie?" He said jokingly.

"Actually yes, it was her, her boyfriend, and these guys supplied the music." She said pointing out towards two women and a man dancing in the hallway like maniacs. Sunny pointed them out. "Ok the blue haired weirdo on the left, standing next to Derpy, is Vinyl Scratch, the guy is Rising Star; they're both in a rock band. And the girl on the right, who looks like she should be at a fancy pants cocktail party, that's Octavia Melody. They're traveling with the band upstairs; they're actually going to a music festival after we dock on Sunday."

"Cool, maybe we should join up with them." Flash said. He used to be a guitarist in a band while he was in high school. But after graduation he couldn't find his foot in the door with his talent. The end result: being a waiter for the passengers on the S.S. Poseidon. This was his first trip. Both he and Sunset hoped that would change soon. It was New Year's a time to make new resolutions. Although some were about to make a resolution, they never even thought of.

As Flash and Sunny continued partying downstairs, up on the bridge the Captain continued watching the RADAR. He was holding his breath as hard as he could. He was watching, waiting, all for something he hoped wasn't there. Suddenly an object appeared on the screen. It was a large green curved line. His fears continued to rise. He had an idea of what danger they were in now. All he could do now was hope to get past the Misty Shallows before it reached them. They were currently 4 miles from the shallow waters and running at full ahead. But the crew on the bridge knew it wasn't enough. However they wouldn't know how bad the danger was until they could see it. But by then it would be too late.