The Poseidon Adventure

Chapter 5: The Kitchen

The wait felt like an eternity. Everyone chatted to one another to keep themselves occupied. Over with the Sparkle Family, Shining Armor introduced Cadence to his parents and siblings. They immediately took a liking to her as did she. Twilight however decided to slip away and talk to her friends. They were all nervous and worried just like everyone else. Wondering if Celestia was going to come back, if they were going to be rescued, if rescue did come. However there was one thing worrying them the most.

"Guys" She said, "I'm worried about Fluttershy. What if she's hurt, or if she's trapped? She must be so scarred right now."

"Oh sugar" Applejack said "I'm sure she'll be fine. She might be scarred of the smallest thing, but I'm sure she'll find her way."

"I bet she's freaked out and hiding in a corner somewhere." Rainbow Dash said "OW!" She yelled. Rarity punched her in the arm.

"Don't you talk about Fluttershy like that." Rarity said angrily. "I bet she's on her way up here right now, or with a whole other group making their way up."

RD realized that she made a mistake. "Alright I'm sorry. I'm just as afraid as you guys are. I'm just worried about her that's all."

"She'll be fine RD" AJ said "Who knows we might run into her on the way up."

Suddenly the door opened and a sweat covered Celestia stepped out still holding her jacket. Everyone stood up and at attention.

"Alright, I got through. There's a stair well on the other side." Celestia said. "Joe where does it lead to?"

"It leads to the bottom, or I should say top, two passenger decks." Joe said.

"Is there any other stairway up?"

"No everything is carried up from Broadway by elevator."

"Broadway?"

"It's the crews service corridor." Twilight said. "It runs from the bow to the stern."

"Are there any places Broadway leads to?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, almost every section of the bottom. The anchor lockers, boiler rooms, cargo holds, and the engine room."

"Ok so we get up the stairs, where do we go from there? How do we get to Broadway?"

"We can go through the passenger decks to one of the five crew access stairwells. They all go down the center of the ship."

"Alright let's go then." With that everyone began walking towards the door. The horrible smells of burnt food, medal, and flesh came through the open door.

"Be careful there's a lot of dead bodies in here and everything's hot." the group leader said. And with that they all began walking through the door into what was once the kitchen. Flames from burners and ruptured gas lines jetted out in all directions. Pots, pans, plates, silverware, bodies, and food lined the floor. The only thing still attached to the floor was the counters, most of the ovens, and stoves. It actually made the ballroom look like paradise. Members of the group were horrified at what they saw but pressed on. After going in a straight line for a few feet she made a left turn through one of the alleys that were lined by counters on both sides. At least 10 bodies lined the alleyway and everyone tried their best to step over them. Applebloom, Rarity, and Money bags ended up tripping and nearly falling on them. Finally through the alley way and in the center of the kitchen Celestia took a right and began walking straight again. Right up ahead of her was the open door to the other side.

There was a sudden 'BANG' that made everyone jump. Two more followed suit.

"The ships blowing up." Applebloom screamed.

"No it's not." Cheese said "But something over there did." He pointed out the fire on the other side of the kitchen was larger than it was before. Another gas line had exploded. They all knew they had to get through the other side before another one exploded.

"No body panic." Luna said. "Everyone just keep going and don't push."

Celestia was glad her sister was being helpful, a complete change in attitude from earlier.

Finally the first of the group was through the door. As they proceeded through to the hallway beyond the door the Professor looked to her sister.

"You help escort them through. I'm going to go back and see if anyone needs assistance." She said.

"Alright be careful." Luna said.

Celestia walked back to the first door. The only ones left in the hallway were Joe, Night Light, Cupcake, Carrot Cake, Filthy Rich and Ruby. It all seemed to be going as planned. They were all ready for their turns when the ship started to rumble.

'BOOM!'

An explosion rocked the ship, people and objects shifted. Some in the kitchen tripped and fell over as the ship rocked from side to side. On the other side at the stairwell, many fell into one another some nearly falling into the upside down stairwell. Several more explosions followed as Celestia began to hear screaming coming from everywhere, including behind her.

Not taking the vibrations in mind she ran back towards the ballroom. She only just got to the ledge when a blinding light came from behind the forward wall's window pane, just below the passenger door. A boiler crashed through the decks and had exploded. Suddenly the upper section of the window exploded outwards. A gigantic wall of water and oil from the exploded boiler came down on top of the crowd below. Everyone was in a panic, screaming, yelling, pushing, insanity, took over them all in force. They all began running towards the tree as fast as they could. The water was quickly rising, it was quickly getting towards the celling lights. At least 10 reached the tree, they were climbing as fast as they could.

"ONE AT A TIME! DON'T PANIC!" Celestia yelled out, but chaos had taken the crowd. Some at the bottom were being thrown, pulled, and kicked off. The anchor holding the tree in place began to come loose.

Night Light and Carrot Cake came out and saw the mayhem before them. Carrot grabbed the cloth anchor to help Celestia hold the tree and Night Light reached out one hand for the passengers, the other gripping Celestia's leg. The first of the crowd came up the ladder. The trio could see Blueblood reaching out for them, he was soaked in water and fuel oil. Night Light reached out to try to pull him in. He finally caught the pursuer's hand but it was slippery, it was covered in oil. The tree began to pull back from the ledge, Carrot and Celestia couldn't hold it anymore. Night Light was losing his grip as well. Blueblood was desperate, he now knew the error of his ways, and now all he wanted was to live.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE NIGHT LIGHT! PLEASE PULL ME IN!" He screamed.

Night Light couldn't hold on anymore. The oil covered hand slipped out of his grasp along with the tree, he himself falling over the edge just to be caught by his leg. He could hear Blueblood and several others scream as they fell back towards the rising lake below them. He and several others were flung off as the tree hit the water with a loud splash. Blueblood himself hit the edge of the celling light, snapping his back and neck. Anyone under the tree was either killed or trapped as the water rose around them. Even with his Navy Blue dinner jacket partially obscuring his view, Night Light could see the horrible scene unfold as he was hoisted up by his leg by Carrot Cake.

The three looked at the sight below in horror. The thought of what was to become of those people horrified them to no end. Never the less they began to make their way back towards the others, closing the doors to the hallway, leaving the screams of all those in the ballroom behind them.

When they rounded the corner they saw the shocked looks of the four standing there, who saw the same looks on their own faces. The sever were all silent for a moment. Finally Joe spoke up.

"I guess we should move on?" He asked.

Celestia just nodded and moved back through the kitchen door.

Just as the rest moved forward Night Light pulled Carrot Cake aside and gave him a quick hug. The father of three's eyes were filled with tears.

"Thank you Carrot. Thank you very much. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't caught me."

"What else was I supposed to do?" Carrot said. "I wasn't going to let you come this far to fall back down there. We're in this together, so we need to work together."

"But you nearly fell too. You have two infants that are onboard a-"

"And I have faith that they're alright and in safe hands. Look if we stay positive and work together, we can find others and get out of here."

"Truer words have never been spoken." Celestia said, Cup Cake right beside her. "Well, lets keep our faith in mind and press forward." With that said, the remainder of the group pressed on through the kitchen, which was more trashed due to the explosions. After a minute or two they made it to the other side where the others were waiting. Some were bruised, but others were alright.

But now they had another obstacle in their way; an upside down staircase.