The Poseidon Adventure

Chapter 3: Aftermath/Ideas

The ship sat almost completely still in the water, the hull, that was recently re-painted, pointed directly at the sky, which was now beginning to clear. The wave was now moving over the horizon into the night. Scattered around the hull was large circle of debris and bodies. It almost looked like a giant submarine with out the tower and had the rudder and propellers on top. Small but many patches of foam and bubbles came up from beneath. Below the waterline the superstructure sat. Parts of it were damaged by the wave. Windows were smashed, several lifeboats almost completely torn from their davits, the top of the forward mast almost completely broken off. The command bridge where the Captain, the crew, and the company representative were was flooded, everyone in it was dead. The two deck above the ballroom were also flooded, anyone below the celling of the ballroom, which was now the floor, had drowned.

In the ballroom the lights slowly began to brighten. The emergency power batteries had finally kicked in, though it wasn't enough to light up the room completely. Slowly the room faded into view and it revealed a horrifying sight. Tables, broken chairs, balloons, streamers, carts, the ruined stage, the sound equipment, and mangled bodies. The whole room was almost like the apocalypse had come through. It was like no one could possibly be alive. But as the light brightened a bit more it revealed shadow like figures in the dark. The figures were all crouched or standing on the celling or were up against the walls. They were all still, almost as if they were frozen in time. They were all wide eyed with shock and terror. Finally, the light sounds of moans and sobbing's broke the silence as the light hit the limit of how bright they could go.

Then the movement came as the shocked passengers began to move out of their trance, anyone who didn't get crushed by the falling debris began to move as well. Many were battered and bruised, while some were heavily injured.

Luna climbed out of the rubble, rubbing her head. Looking around she couldn't believe the sight she saw. The destruction was mind boggling. Suddenly she felt someone climb out next to her. It was Lightning Dust, who was sitting at the table next to her. Hearing her big mouth and even bigger ego had been driving her crazy all night. Now she was shocked quiet by the scene.

"What the hell? What happened?" She asked.

Luna simply replied; "The ship, she's rolled over."

Dust grasped the situation as someone else climbed out of the rubble. It was her husband, Soarin.

"Babe? Oh thank goodness you're all right." He hugged her as hard as he could, to which she returned. As they broke she had one simple question:

"Are you alright? Where the hell did you go?"

"Where else was I? Flying around and crashing into everything."

Luna didn't pay any attention as she got up to look for her sister. All over the room passenger went to look for fiends and loved ones. A few feet from where Luna emerged, Applejack was searching through the mountain of rubble she was under looking for hers. Another just a few feet above on the section of the celling that was now a few feet higher than the light panels, Rarity was looking for Sweetiebell.

"Sweetiebell? Where are you?" She called out.

"We're right here" came a small reply.

Moving a small patch of canvas from the stage, Sweetiebell, Scootaloo, and Applebloom, sat huddled together. Sweetie moved out and quickly hugged her big sister.

"Oh I'm so glad you're alright." Rarity said tearing up.

"We were so scarred. What happened?" Sweetie asked, shaken and confused.

"I'm not sure." She said. "But I'm sure we'll find out soon. But first let's find the others." The quartet then walked over to the edge of the celling. It was only then they knew what had happened.

"Oh my, Rarity." Applebloom said, "We're upside down."

Suddenly they heard movement below their feet.

"Applebloom? Is that you?" An all too familiar voice said. It was AJ coming out of the rubble. Applebloom immediately jumped down into her arms.

"Thank goodness you're safe." She said.

"AJ! AB!" Another voice called out.

"Mac? Is that you? Are you alright?"

"Eeyup. We're both fine, me and Granny." Mac rose up from the floor, pulling their grandmother up with him. The two sisters jumped down and ran over to embrace them.

As the Apple Family had their little reunion, one family was looking for two of their own. The Sparkle family just come off the floor when they realized that Twilight and Spike were not with them. The were panicked, but tried to keep themselves calm, confident they would find her. Just then a loud creaking sound echoed through out the room. Suddenly, the tree came out of it's stand, and tipped over towards the panicked crowd, landing on two passengers with a loud 'BANG'. Pine needles and several ornaments scattered across the floor. The scream-fest then resumed as people scattered through out the room.

The first one to speak up was Blueblood, the ships purser.

"Everybody please stay calm! Please calm yourselves!" The crowd began to quiet themselves again. "Listen to me ladies and gentlemen you must stay calm. Help will be here shortly. The room you're standing in is helping hold this ship up. You will all be safe if you all stay here and stay calm. Don't worry help is on the way."

Velvet was beginning to panic. With everything falling down around them all she could think of was her children being alright. Suddenly someone tapped her on her shoulder. She turned around to see Celestia looking at her and pointing upwards.

"Velvet, up there."

Looking up she saw the two familiar faces. Twilight and Spike were both peering down to them from one of the tables. Even about 15 feet down she could see they were shell shocked and scarred.

"Twilight? Spike? Are you two okay?" Night Light asked.

"Yeah, I think so?" Twilight said nervously.

"Are you hurt at all?" Velvet asked.

"No. I think we're ok." Spike said.

Just stay right there you two, we'll get you down." Night Light said. Over at the stage Rainbow Dash, overhearing the commotion, began pulling some of the canvas off the stage. As soon as she got the cloth free she handed it down to one of the members of the waiting crowd and jumped down to continue her help. The crowd formed a circle of about 15 people below the edge of the table. They stretched the cloth out till it was tight, making a makeshift net.

"Alright you two." Celestia said. "Jump and we'll catch you."

Spike and Twilight were scarred and didn't know what to do. If they jumped there was the chance they could fall through the canvas and onto the floor or jump and miss them. There was also the chance if they stayed there the table could come loose and fall as well. Either way the only direction was down. Twilight turned to her brother.

"You go first Spike. I'll go right after you." She said.

"I...I can't." He said.

"Yes you can. Don't be afraid. Just jump."

Spike sat up briefly and moved towards the edge. He sat there for a few seconds with his feet dangling above the crowd. There was about 40 to 50 people down there waiting for him to jump. He held his breath. The he slipped off the edge. The fall seemed to have lasted forever. The air rushed past him at an unbelievable speed. Then he quickly stopped. The makeshift net caught him like he was a baseball. As his parents helped him out of the net he looked back up at Twilight who was proudly smiling at him.

"Good job Spike". She shouted.

Now it was her turn. The crowd re stretched the canvas and waited for her to jump. She proceeded to do what her brother just did. She swung her legs out over the edge an moved towards it. She looked down and saw her mom, dad, brother, and several of her friends holding the curtain. Spike was behind Velvet yelling out encouragements to her. Taking a deep breath herself, she contemplated weather or not that this was the end. Then she followed Spike over the edge. It was a quick drop, that felt like forever. Just like with Spike, she landed in the curtain with ease. The crowd set the curtain down as Twilight reunited with her family.

With the two safe the crowd then began pondering their biggest problem; how they were going to escape from this upside-down prison.

While the passengers in the ballroom continued to look for survivors and a way out. Up 2 levels at the hallway party, the people there were already trying to help anyone who was hurt. The light's were much brighter up there than in the ballroom, almost like they never went out. Much of the debris was pushed off to the sides or down the hallway. Unlike the ballroom, there were not as many casualties up there, mostly due to the fact that many of the partiers climbed scaled the walls as the ship rolled over. Many of the injuries were minor cuts and bruises and an occasional sprained wrist or ankle. The worst came from the ones who fell into the cabins. Fortunately some of the passengers, who actually had some medical training, were already helping out. Flash and Sunset were spellbound at the what happened. Of all the tales they heard of ships lost at sea, they never hear of one that rolled upside down.

"This is insane." Sunset said.

"No shit, right?" Flash added.

Sunset and their friends nodded in agreement. Just then, some one pushed them aside.

"Excuse me. I need to get through. My daughter's down the hall, I need to see if she's alright." the woman said.

It was Derpy, her daughter was several cabins down towards the bow. She was babysitting the Cake's twins while they were up in the kitchen. Not wanting their friend to get hurt, Sunset and Flash followed after her. Flash walked with a limp due to the fact that he twisted his ankle when the ship capsized.

Derpy ran down the hall to cabin E234, an interior cabin which sat on what was the starboard side. She frantically knocked on the door and tried to open it.

"Dinky? Baby it's me, are you there?" She asked frantically.

"Yeah. I'm in here. We're ok." She said. The door opened to reveal Derpy's 12 year old daughter. She was in a grey shirt and blue jeans with no shoes on, similar to what her mother was wearing. Right behind her the inside of the room was a disaster in itself. The beds, the dresser, everything were flipped over. Right on top of one of the two mattresses though, sat the twin toddlers smiling and laughing like nothing happened.

Derpy got down and hugged Dinky. If there was one thing she would rather die than loose, it was her little girl. Flash and Sunny smiled at the scene before walking around them to retrieve the toddlers.

Finally together the six made their way back towards the crowd.

Down below the passengers were still trying to figure out what to do. Twilight and her friends were looking to see if Fluttershy made it back before the disaster and was hiding in a corner somewhere. Those who were injured were receiving help from Redheart, the ship's nurse.

Celestia was with Luna, searching around for anyone else who was injured, when they heard a voice above their heads.

"Professor Aroura" The voice called out.

She, Luna, and several others looked up to see three people standing on the ledge above them. The ledge they were standing on was one of the roofs to the doors that led to the kitchen. On it stood two men and a woman.

"Who is it?" Celestia asked.

"It's Joe, Carrot Cake, and Cupcake." Joe said. "Can you help us down? I've got a gash in my leg."

"We'll be right there." She said. As she and several others grabbed the curtain, she and a few of the group suddenly got an idea. "Hold on a second everyone. Joe, is there anything we can use to get up there, a ladder, rope, anything?"

"All we have up here is silverware, napkins, and table cloths." Cupcake said.

"That's not good enough." Celestia said.

Night Light stepped in. "We can use the tree over there." He said pointing it out. "That looks tall enough."

"Good idea." She turned back to the three above them. "Can you guys get some of those table cloths an see if you can make a small rope out of them."

"Yes ma'am, we can." Carrot Cake said.

"Good, we'll be up there shortly." She then turned and went for the tree. Night Light, Armor, Mac, Velvet, and the girls followed. Luna walked up to her.

"What are you planning to do?" She asked.

"What do you think? Get us out of here. The ship's floating upside-down. That means any rescue is going to come in through the hull." Celestia said.

Blueblood overheard this and didn't like it one bit. Then again he didn't like it when some one disobeyed him.

As the group reached the tree he put his own two cents in.

"Don't you do this! What you're doing is a death sentence!" He shouted.

"It's better than just sitting down here twiddling our thumbs hoping they will come and get us." She said back.

Blueblood continued to protest. But the group wasn't hearing it. They instead proceeded to pick up the tree and move it across the room. It took a few minutes to bring it across but they made it. Finally in position they proceeded to push it upwards to the ledge. Joining with them was Soarin, Filthy Rich, and Granny Smith, the latter of whom everyone was impressed by. It was slow at first but finally the top of the tree moved up more and more until it reached the ledge, sitting at a slight angle with the top almost level with the middle of the door. Wasting no time Joe and the Cakes grabbed the end of the tree and began tying it down with the table cloths.

Now they had a ladder. All they needed was to test it.