On the other hoof

Octavic thought it was kind of pointless for him to go talk to Octavia again the next day. In fact, he thought that maybe he should just hide from her forever. This whole thing turned out to be a waste of time; she didn't like him at all. He thought that if he showed her how much he loved her, then she would at least have given him a chance. But it turned out that he was nowhere near her level to begin with. He sighed as he took another sip from the glass he was holding.

The deck was quiet once more; most of the guests were still in bed or down at the dining hall for breakfast. Octavic on the other hoof, didn't feel like eating much. He simply grabbed a glass of vodka and sat by himself upstairs on the deck again, drinking sip by sip, alone. He was beginning to like the taste of the bitter alcohol as it fit perfectly with his mood.

He didn't have much work to do, since the performance of the day would be from the orchestra. He and his guitar didn't belong in it, so he was able to take the day off. However, he didn't really feel like doing anything. He kind of wanted to just go back to his room and take a nap. And that's exactly what he tried to do, except that he couldn't fall asleep. He just laid there looking at the ceiling, feeling the boat rise and fall with the tide. It made him extremely bored, so he got up and decided to practice some of the music pieces that he had recently been working on. The day passed by without much excitement and Octavic had a feeling that the rest of the trip would be just like this.

On the third day of the cruise, he got to perform in the jazz band again. He saw Octavia, but both of them were determined to keep the amount of eye contact they shared to a minimum. The conductor didn't notice the awkward atmosphere, since they sat on opposite ends of the band. The practice went smoothly, as before, but Octavic didn't feel excitement as he had on the first day. He thought that perhaps he never would.

Everything went as planned. The show was great, the food was good. Octavia ignored him during and after the performance and at night he rolled on his bed, unable to sleep. That's when he first felt there was something wrong. Usually, the boat slowly went up and down with the tide; It was quite comfortable, like a foal in his mother's arms. But tonight the tides were kind of rough. The ship was rocking from side to side with a much bigger angle, and he could hear hoof steps running around on the deck above him. Unable to sleep, he decided to get up and find out what all the fuss was about. He put on his bowtie and walked out of the room. He looked down the hallway and saw another curious pony who had also noticed the strange movement of the ship. They had both stuck their heads out of the door, looking for a staff member to give them an explanation about the condition of the ship. Octavic walked passed by the other pony, greeting him on his way. He reached the end of the corridor and climbed up the ladder leading to the dining hall. There, he saw the sailors of the ship running around with ropes and nails in their teeth, acting as if something had gone terribly wrong.

Octavic walked up to the nearest pony and stopped in front of him. "Excuse me, what is going on?"

"Sorry, in a hurry, can't talk!" The sailor pony quickly moved to the side to try and pass Octavic.

Octavic moved again and blocked the sailor's way. "The ship is moving strangely, is there anything wrong?"

"If you want to see, just go up to the deck! They actually need some help if you'd like to lend a hoof. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get to the engine room." The sailor pony quickly disappeared down the hallway. Puzzled, Octavic decided to follow him. He felt that something HAD happened and, not being able to sleep, he wouldn't mind helping.

He opened the door to the deck, and was greeted by a shower of heavy rain. It was as if someone had taken a million buckets of water and poured it onto the deck from above; Octavic was soaked within seconds. The sky was completely covered with dark clouds, and he could see lighting and hear thunder from one end of the sky. The sea had turned black, and the shaking of the ship had become worse as the sea roared with anger. The ship violently moved up and down with the huge waves of the ocean and Octavic almost slipped onto the deck. He caught a fence in time to stop his fall and then looked up.

"Don't just stand there, are you going to help us, or not?" a sailor yelled at him.

"Sure!"

The sailor tossed him a bundle of ropes and nails in a bow. Octavic caught it with his teeth and put it around his back.

Then he ran towards the sailor. "How can I help? What do I do? What's going on?"

The sailor was a relatively seasoned-looking pony. He looked strong due to his size and his cutie mark was an anchor. He looked up to the sky and said, "Are you bucking blind? There's a storm coming and we need to secure the rods so the ship doesn't get ripped apart!"

"What? How come you guys didn't see it coming?" Octavic questioned, having to raise his voice because the sound of the tides are extremely loud.

"These things come n' go, kid! You can't see them coming until they're right in front of ya! Now get to work, we need yer help over there!" The sailor pointed to the other end of the deck and Octavic quickly spotted where he should go. He ran in that direction and joined up with a group of colts trying to rope together two pieces of broken wood.

And then suddenly Octavic heard some pony yell, "GET READY!"

"Get ready? Ready for what?" Octavic thought, and then he felt like he was being lifted into the air. A huge wave had hit the ship, and as the ship broke the wave, it rose about ten feet into the air. Octavic could hear the screams and panicking of the passengers below the deck in the cabins, but he was too busy to care as he was holding onto a hoofle he was next to for dear life.

However, the worst was yet to come. The ship started to fall almost into a free fall. Octavic felt his back hooves leaving the deck as his body was now in mid air with the exception of his hooves holding on to the hoofle. He closed his eyes and bit his lips, thinking "Are we there yet? ARE WE THERE YET?"

And then they were. With a loud "BOOOOOOSSSSSHH!!!!", the ship landed back onto the surface of the ocean. The momentum of the ship made it travel dangerously deep into the ocean. Octavic felt his body slam against the deck and then felt freezing sea water surround him. For a moment, he thought that the ship was going to sink. Luckily, it slowly floated back up and the water on the deck washed off over the ship's edge. Octavic tried his best to stand up, but his feet slipped again.

"Come on Octavic, be a STALLION!" he said to himself, biting his lips. He tried to stand again and, being successful, he looked around. The burly sailor had already recovered from the fall and had started to run around again. The colts around him had also already gone back to work on fixing the broken board, so Octavic did as well.

"Thanks kid, we got this," a colt said to Octavic. It was too dark and rainy for Octavic to really see, but he was sure that the sailor had smiled at him.

"Now, I think the group over there needs a little help. Would you mind?"

"My pleasure." Octavic responded, rushing over to the other group that the sailor had pointed to. He immediately started working, but then he heard the voice of the captain.

"Every pony listen up! There's a leak at the left flank of the ship, but it's not too serious! We got this. Group A, B and D, go to the engine room NOW! WE ARE COUNTING ON YOU!"

Before the groups could answer, another voice yelled, "GET READY!! THIS IS A BIG ONE!"

"Oh dear, Celestia," thought Octavic as he quickly grabbed onto another hoofle. Suddenly, he felt the ship fly into the sky like a rocket. He was pushed down against the deck as it went up and he realized that the ship would probably fall apart from the fall, afterwards.

The ship reached the peak of the wave and started to fall over the backside. It was much bigger than the previous wave, and Octavic felt himself fly through the air with the ship into the abyss of the ocean. It was like riding a roller coaster, except that he was unsure if he would be safe.

After about 4 seconds in the air, the ship landed back in the sea. This time it was completely submerged underwater. Fortunately, Octavic was  not a bad swimmer. He saw the waves coming and sucked in enough air without panicking. He opened his eyes and saw that the whole boat was underwater, like a submarine. He thought that the boat would sink to the bottom of the ocean just like that. However, the boat was owned by Fancy Pants, who had an abundance of bits. He had especially made sure that the ship was sturdy and, to Octavic's great surprise, the boat managed to keep enough air inside its cabin to begin floating back up to the water's surface.

It felt like ages, but eventually Octavic could breathe air again. He lifted his neck and breathed heavily. He heard the voice of the captain, "Bad news boys! Prepare to evacuate the passengers, we'll have to abandon the ship. The leak's too big to fix now!"

The crew immediately went to work. They quickly grabbed daggers from their saddle bags, and started cutting the ropes that restricted the small lifeboats from moving. Octavic grabbed a saddle bag to help as well, but then he suddenly remembered something... or somepony, that is.

Octavia!

He quickly ran towards the dining hall. The room was filled with panicking ponies. There were screaming mares and crying fillies that could be heard everywhere. Some crew members had started to lead the crowd onto the deck, yelling something that was too far away and far too unimportant for Octavic to hear. His mind was set on one thing; finding Octavia and making sure that she was all right. He scanned around the room, but there were at least hundreds of ponies there. Octavic felt extremely worried, but suddenly he saw another member of the orchestra, noticing it was the other pony that played the cello. He quickly pushed his way over, knocking into other ponies on the way. Waves of "Hey!" and "Watch it!" rose behind him, but he was too focused to care at all.

He grabbed the pony that he knew played the cello and asked, "Have you seen Octavia?"

"Octavia? The other pony that plays the cello?"

"YES! Have you seen her?"

"No... I think she is still in her room."

Octavic immediately let go and sprinted towards the empty corridor leading to the passenger rooms. He slammed open a door, but nopony was there. He quickly turned and opened another one, but it was empty as well. Octavic's anxiety kept rising as he smashed open door after door, finding nothing but empty rooms. WHERE IS SHE? He had to know, he just had to.

Finally, he smashed open a door and heard a scream. Octavia was in there, looking at him as if he was a robber. Behind her there were music notes and sheets everywhere making it look like she was still packing up.

"Octavia! What are you doing? We have to go. NOW!"

"Just let me pack up!" Octavia turned around quickly and started picking up the sheet music.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Octavic grabbed the Octavia's hoof and pulled her away, "THE ENTIRE SHIP IS SINKING! WE HAVE TO LEAVE, NOW!"

"I said, NO!" Octavia broke free. Octavic wanted to pull her away with force, but he stopped dead in his tracks, shocked by the look Octavia shot him. She was completely sane, and in her eyes she clearly said, "I am not going anywhere without my music. My music is more important than my own life."

"You stubborn..." Octavic sighed, giving up. He then walked over and started helping Octavia pack up.

"Thank you, sir," Octavia said.

"You better not get me killed as well," Octavic replied as he stuffed the sheet music into a box.

Octavia giggled, but quickly returned to her serious face and started packing her cello.

The captain's voice came in through the intercom,"Any passenger aboard, please come to the deck IMMEDIATELY for evacuation. Repeat..."

"Come on Octavia! WE ARE OUT OF TIME!" Octavic yelled at Octavia.

"Just a few more seconds!"

"WE DON'T HAVE A FEW MORE SECONDS!"

"Will you shush?" Octavia shot an annoyed look at Octavic.

Unfortunately, Octavic was right. The boat had become fragile from the turbulent movement of the ocean, and Octavia's room unfortunately happened to be loctaed on the flank of the ship. She had picked the room because there was a little window that allowed her to see outside, but now this room had become the first to fail.

Before they could react, the walls and the roof of the room crumbled inwards. The wooden boards above them had snapped, and the entire room fell apart.

Octavic didn't have any time to dodge out of the way before he was buried under a pile of broken wooden boards and a table that had fallen from the room right above them. Water started pouring into the room, filling it up.

"Octavia! Where are you?" Octavic yelled, but Octavia didn't answer.

Octavic pushed himself out of the pile of wooden scraps. The sharp edges of the wood had left a few bleeding scratches on his body, but he didn't have time to care about himself. He was determined to find Octavia and get her out of there safely, even if it meant risking his own life or even sacrificing it.