Hours Loom 2: Electric Boogaloo

Waves slapped the side of the still ship. There was no movement coming from the large vessel. Twilight Sparkle and her father stood bipedal, staring down at the water. “We have to find Starboard or Porter. If the ship is stopped and they’re missing then something has gone wrong.” The alicorn stepped back into the control room, staring at the controls she barely understood how to use. “We should start a search, everyone will need to know of their disappearance,” she said as she turned back to her father.

His face seemed to scoff at the thought of her plan but he gave a nod. She was still an alicorn and a princess, and he had more faith in her than most ponies would. “Let’s go back and meet with your mother, we’ll tell the others and form parties to search the ship.” As they trotted back to the dining hall he asked, “Do you think they might have fallen overboard?”

She shook her head. “A captain and first mate? Maybe one or the other but not both, and it wouldn’t explain why the ship has stopped.”

The dining hall had been packed with the guests, chatting and wondering why they were all being cooped up so early in the morn. Twilight Velvet ushered everyone to remain calm but could only do so much. She smiled with glee at her husband and daughter as they opened the glass doors, only to frown when she saw their expressions. The crowd of ponies shifted to silence at the sight of the two. “Any news?” Igneous Rock asked, his monotone inflection held little emotion other than curiosity.

“I couldn’t find the captain or the first mate, neither seemed to have slept at all during the night.” She trotted down the two steps into the dining hall, noticing one of the crew. “You there!” she called to the chef. “Do you know of any place where the captain could have gone? Any places he might stow away for the night other than his quarters?”

Chef Savory slammed the bulky blade down on a row of asparagus. His chubby face didn’t even look up at the alicorn as he answered. “No. If Starboard’s gone missing and the ship isn’t running then the radio bay is what you’ll want. I ain’t got half the brain to know how to use it, though. Porter would, but apparently, that stupid colt’s missing too.” Another slice cut down on the spears of the asparagus. “They’ll turn up eventually.” His eyes shifted up from the cutting board to match Twilight’s. “Unless they went overboard. Perhaps, thrown overboard in the middle of night.”

Murmurs spread throughout the group of ponies, they were all thinking the same thing Twilight had been. She turned back to the crowd who waited with bated breath for her leadership. She was an alicorn, she was a princess, and she could lead them to safety if need be. Sweat dribbled down her brow as she saw that all eyes were on her. “Alright, everypony,” she started. “Let’s form a few groups to go and search for the captain and the first mate. We’ll have to search every nook and cranny. If we don’t find them we’ll have to assume they’ve gone overboard and I’ll have to try to reset the automated system myself.”

“That’s a good idea. If we all search the ship then surely we could find some clues as to where they went,” Twilight Velvet agreed.

“Some of us are too old to be scamperin’ through the bowels of this here ship,” Granny Smith rejected the notion. “Perhaps it’d be better to send the youngin’s instead. All of us bumpin’ and scarin’ the living daylights out of each other just spells bad news.”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed, he usually did with Granny.

The parent ponies stuck together outside the dining hall or headed back to their guest rooms. Twilight was left in charge of the rest. Of course, the rest was only Limestone and Maud, Zephyr Breeze, and Spitfire and Soarin. “Big Mac, you and Marble want to-” She stopped herself as she noticed the red stallion comforting the shaken mare. Marble had returned to her silent nature, humming responses and nodding or shaking her head. “Er, nevermind.” She turned back to the five ponies, glancing over the Pie’s and Zephyr with unease. “Limestone and Zephyr can check the second floor guest bedrooms. Soarin and Spitfire, you two should investigate up here and question the chef a bit more.”

The two sets of ponies nodded and took their leave. Maud was the only one who remained. The blank stare of the earth pony was enough to unnerve the most hardened of ponies. “I would recommend checking the bottom levels first.” Her voice was devoid of emotion, leaving those to hear it unsure if she was sarcastic or enthusiastic.

Twilight simply smiled in response, motioning for Maud to lead the way. She would have preferred to look with Marble but this was the card she had been dealt. She looked at Marble and Big Mac, giving the stallion a nod before exiting the hall. She caught up to Maud who walked with Zephyr and Limestone. The two groups broke off, one to go lower down the stairs while the other checked the second floor. Maud and Twilight went straight for the fifth floor, which was also the last floor of the ship, and began the search for the missing crew. She thought to strike up a conversation with the silent mare but figured it was better to keep an eye out for Starboard and Porter. The stairs lead directly into a hall of storage containers with rooms on both sides.

It was a fairly large room and would take a decent while to check. However, Maud stayed by Twilight’s side, following along with wherever she went. “Perhaps we should split up, cover more ground?” Twilight suggested, hoping to be rid of the shadow.

“It would be unwise to leave your side as two sets of eyes are better than one. Covering more ground would be pointless if you or I miss something.”

Maud’s argument was sound, Twilight couldn’t deny that, but she didn’t have to like it. The storage room was filled with containers that could be holding a tied up pony, however, very few of them seemed to be opened and those that had been also had their lids tossed away. They searched between and behind every crate, finding nothing, and moving on to the next room. It was there that they came across the maid who was busily folding sheets and blankets fresh out of the dryers. As they entered the cold, metal room, they startled the mare, causing her to yelp.

The maid placed a hoof on her heart. “Oh my, s-sorry. You two scared me. Wait, p-princess? What’s going on?”

“Sorry. We’re looking for Starboard and Porter. At the moment, we’re checking over every inch to find them. For some reason the boat has stopped moving and we need them to fix it,” Twilight explained as she came closer to the maid.

“S-Stopped!?” Gale shouted, unhappy with the revelation. “And you still haven’t found them? This isn’t good. This isn’t good at all!” She dropped the clean blanket to the ground and ran past them out of the room, leaving the dryer open and the sheet where it lay.

After the maid had gone, the two finished searching the laundry room. The way she had acted sparked a memory within Twilight. Running off by her lonesome, that’s what the girls did. She grimaced at the idea of anypony ending up like they had. Two were choked by mud and slathered in it, another was burned to death at a stake. She could still vividly remember the sight of the melted flesh of Scootaloo, pulsing and mashing blood and muscle with blackened bits.

“Twilight.”

The sudden call of her named startled her, dragging her back out from the horrid memory. She looked to Maud who stared blankly, waiting and watching. “Y-Yes, Maud?”

“There is nothing here and you were daydreaming.”

She hadn’t realized she had been staring at the inside of the dryer for the last few minutes. “Right, sorry. Let’s head to the other side of the storage area. Maybe we’ll find them there.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“So, you think somepony may have pushed them overboard?”

Spitfire was more interested in the somepony rather than the may have. Soarin looked through the cabinets within the kitchen as she questioned the chef. He was a chubby fellow with a light red fur and brown hair. His cutie mark expanded with the size of his flank, a set of different kinds of vegetables. Spitfire wondered if he might have tried to eat his own rump once or twice.

“I have always hated working skeleton shifts. They always call on me to help but I am just a chef, I know nothing except how to cook. This they know,” the stallion replied as he removed his apron.

“Who do you think would have reason to push them? Do you know the other crew members fairly well, maybe one of them?”

He groaned and threw the apron in the sink. “Maybe no one push. Maybe they jump into ocean and drown themselves because they hate skeleton shift just as much as me. Who knows, who cares? Let’s just get in lifeboats and go home.”

Soarin perked up from one of the cabinets. “Where are the lifeboats? Do you know?”

“Storage room, crew quarters, control room. All over. It is on all the maps. I may just go get mine and inflate it now. They can dock my pay if they want. I was five-star chef in Manehattan once, I do not have to put up with other amateur staff.” The chef rambled and ranted as he shoved open the kitchen door and exited the room, leaving the two Wonderbolts alone.

“I like him. Seems down to earth,” Soarin said with a bit of snark. “I’ve checked in here. Nothing to be seen except some cluttered kitchen utensils.”

Spitfire chewed on her bottom lip as she became lost in thought. Soarin gave a bump on her rump to gain her attention. “Hm? Oh. Did you check in there?” She pointed to the freezer.

“It’s cold in there, of course I didn’t.”

She slapped him across his hide and gave a grin. “As your superior, I command you to get in there!”

His eyes met hers as he glared and grimaced, exaggerating a groan as he waltzed over and opened the frozen metal container. He leaned his head in to get a good look at all the frozen walls, only to be shoved in a moment later. His chin skidded against the frost and he slipped to regain his balance. The sound of the freezer door closing prompted him to turn around. Spitfire had joined him in the cold room, shutting the door behind her. “Spitfire?”

With a quick grasp, she grabbed onto his shoulders and pulled him close. “This was supposed to be a fun little vacation. How is it supposed to be fun when we have to look for some AWOL captain and his first in command? Right now I should be doing more inventive things with my time.”

“S-Spitfire? W-We shouldn’t b-be in here.” His teeth clattered as he spoke, the frozen room was already getting to him.

“Don’t worry, we’ll only be a moment.” She shoved him onto his back, his wings flattened out against the ground and spread the frost around him. “Is the cold too much for you?” she asked as she sat atop his pelvis. “Maybe I could warm you up.”

Their muzzles met, kissing and rubbing together. The cold wouldn’t stop Soarin, not today. “I wanted to do this last night you know,” he mentioned between cramming his tongue into her mouth. “That stupid Z-Zephyr caught me sneaking out an-and over to your room. I thought since w-we were away fr-from the Wonderbolt Academy I wouldn’t have to wor-worry.”

“Sounds no different from usual. Sneaking out in the middle of the night to do some dirty d-deeds. Just like home.” She reached down between her legs, grabbing at something that was poking her. “Let’s make this quick. I’m barely keeping my teeth from chattering.”

“Y-You’re doing b-b-better than I a-am.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Night Light leaned against the railing, listening as his wife spoke with Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles. The other guests had returned to their rooms except for them and the Shy’s. They couldn’t seem to stray from the topic of death as it was always brought back around in their conversation. The Shy’s were concerned for the safety of the captain and worried if it wasn’t an accident of some sort. Twilight Velvet did her best to calm them but it was ruined when Rarity was brought up.

“From the pictures I saw, I don’t know how any one pony could do such a thing. I’m sure the captain and the first mate are all hunky-dory somewhere seeing as how there’s no trails leading to them. Maybe they planned to sell us off to some open seas pirates and they just went to get them?” Hondo rambled on and Cookie nodded in agreement.

“P-Pirates?” Mrs. Shy questioned, fidgeting in her seat.

“Oh yeah. They’ll come aboard and take hostages, then sell ‘em back to whoever wants to pay. If nobody does, they’ll sell ‘em to dragons as slaves.”

The blue unicorn had already had just about enough of the crazy conspiracy theories. “Have you ever met a dragon?” Night Light asked. “Dragons don’t take ponies as captives. What would they need ponies for? They’re dragons.”

Hondo tipped his straw hat up and sipped his fruity little drink. “I suppose that could be true. Only dragon fella I ever met was that little purple one your girl had.”

“Spike,” Twilight Velvet said his name aloud. “We miss him dearly. He was definitely part of the family. I remember the day Twilight hatched him. We buried him in the family crypt, though, we had never planned on outlasting him. It’s heart breaking whenever Twilight goes to visit his grave.”

“I know how you feel, dear.” Cookie’s voice was grating on the ears, though her attitude was far more cheery. “Having Sweetie Belle and Rarity around the house when they were just little fillies? Oh that brings back memories of the good ol’ days,” she said with a laugh.

“Well, surely some of the memories are tainted, right? I mean, what Rarity turned into was unforgivable.” Velvet’s hadn’t realized how strong her tone had been but the others around the table did.

Cookie’s smile faltered for a second, just a second, but she held steady for what she was about to say. “Rarity turned out to be a monster, yes, but she was still our daughter at one point. I don’t know why she threw everything she had away just for some petty thrills. We loved her and raised her the best we could but something else must have spoken to her more.”

Loved. Sounds to me that you still love her, even after she took everything away from us, Velvet opined in her own mind. An awkward air filled the table and she quickly lifted her glass, pressing it to her lips. She didn’t want to be the one to start another conversation or add to the last. She might explode at them if she did. They didn’t deserve it, though, she knew that. If Twilight had killed all her friends, would I have loved her all the same?

~*~*~*~*~*~

The auburn door slammed shut, echoing the sound down the hall. “You’re really getting on my nerves, Zephyr. One more joke about being alone in a bedroom and I might actually lock you in one of these.” Limestone pushed open the next room and flipped on the light. She opened the bathroom and looked inside, then opened the closet and looked there too. With no sign of anything, she leaned down and pulled up the skirt of the bed, checking the final hiding spot of the room.

Zephyr grinned at the sight of her head underneath the bed and her rump firmly in the air. “You find anything good? I sure did.”

She pulled her head out and glared at the pegasus. “You’re supposed to be helping me, y’know.”

“Oh baby, I could be helping you remove so much tension. But you just won’t let me,” he replied, a smug grin on his face. Limestone pushed him out into the hall, slamming closed another door.

“Out of all the mares on this boat, why’d you have to pick me to try and hit on?” She didn’t wait for a response. The next door opened and the light flipped on. “For goodness sake, you’ve got an alicorn princess you could be trying to get it on with, yet here you are, hitting on me.”

With a smooth, sauntering step he leaned in close, placing a foreleg around her neck. “’Cause. Out of all the mares on the ship, you’re the prettiest.”

The compliment was almost charming and almost made her blush, but in the end, it was still Zephyr who said it. She shoved him hard in the stomach, pushing him into the bathroom. “Just check in there you goof,” she barked as she went to the closet door.

He rubbed his ribs as he flicked the light on. They’re gonna be sore by the end of the day, but it might be worth it, he concluded. “Nothing.” He flicked the light off and turned back to the earth pony. He was surprised and startled to see her standing with her muzzle so close to his.

“Maybe I was the one to push the captain and first mate overboard. Maybe I’m planning on cutting you into pieces and hiding you in one of these rooms.” Her malicious grin seemed too perfect, too convincing. Instead of the fear she wanted it roused a chuckle from the pegasus.

“Hey, I know one piece of me that’s going to take at least thirty minutes to cut up.”

Her hoof slammed into her face as she groaned from his horrid joke. “Just slit my throat right now and get it over with. You’re too much.”

Limestone walked out of the room and he followed, closing the door behind him. His pearly white smile burned into the back of her head. Well, it would have if that had been what he was staring at. “I get it, you’re from a rock farm. You love rock puns. I can work with that.”

“Please don’t,” she replied as she opened the next door. As it opened a mop came flying out and landing on the floor. The sudden, quick movement had made her jump. She screamed at the top of her lungs but only for a moment before she saw what it was that had spooked her. By then it was too late, she had already grasped on to the stallion, a foreleg around his neck. When she realized her mistake she pushed him away, only to see the smug look on his face.

“The big bad Limestone, scared by a mop.” He lifted the mop up from the ground and threw it into the tiny closet. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone – in exchange for a little make out fun.”

She groaned and spat out her tongue, rolling her eyes at the same time. “Tell whoever you want. I’m not giving into your perverted demands.” She continued on to the next room, swaying her hips and flaunting her tail to tease him even more.

“Perverted?” His tone was exaggerated with shock. He followed her in, standing at the doorway with a look of disapproval. “I take offense to that! I do not go around trying to sleep with every mare I meet.”

“So you’re just trying to sleep with me. Is that it?” She stared at the mirror in the bathroom, unamused. “What about… Rainbow Dash?” Her head tilted out from the toiletry. Her eyes became fixated on his reaction.

Zephyr stood leaning against the doorframe, a frown on his muzzle and his eyes focused elsewhere. “It’s been over a year. She’s not coming back from the dead, Lime. Neither’s my sis. It’s time we move on.” He turned around and walked back into the hall, out of her view.

She shook her head and bit her lip. “Zephyr…” she quietly called out. “Zephyr wait!” she called out again, louder and chasing after him. The hall was empty and the next room was open. She peered into the lit room, catching Zephyr as he checked the closet. He didn’t even bother to look at her as he moved around the bed to the bath. “Hey… C’mon, don’t be like that. It was just a joke. You hit on me, I bring up past crushes. This little game we have…” her voice trailed off into an embarrassed chuckle.

He finished giving a glance over the room and headed for the door, the door she blocked. When he went to move around her, she moved with him. “Lime, we’ve got work to do,” he said, staring across the hall.

“Look, I’m sorry okay? How can I make it up to you?”

“There’s nothing to be made up. Let’s just drop it and move on.” He attempted to push past her again only to be blocked once more.

“A kiss? How about that? Would that suffice?”

His eyes moved from the wall to match hers, a frown still on his face. “You’re a real tease. I want to be mad but I also want that kiss.”

Without a second thought, Limestone reached up and grabbed him by his neck, pulling his head down to hers and giving him a long, wet kiss on his lips. As she let go she got a good glimpse of his dulled expression, a huge smile across his mouth and up the sides of his cheeks. She wasn’t the only one to get a glimpse. A mass was in her peripherals. When she turned, she almost went pure white. Neither of them had expected a pony to be watching them from the end of the hall. He was green with white hair and a mug worse than Limestone’s attitude. When Zephyr noticed the stallion he shut the door behind him and motioned for the mare to move with him, onto the next room. As he did, the green pony walked away, out of view from their hall.

“Who was that?” he muttered.

“I don’t know. Thankfully it wasn’t my father or any one from my family.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because then I’d have to throw you overboard.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

A groan of frustration rang out, echoing amongst the metal walls. Stomping followed as Twilight angrily found herself on the third level of the ship. “We haven’t found anything! They have to be overboard, there’s no doubt about it! They could be stranded in the sea and we wouldn’t even know it.”

“That would not explain the ship being stopped.” Maud followed behind the angry alicorn. “If we have a piece of their clothing we can use Boulder to sniff them out.” She raised the pet rock from inside her sleeve, presenting him to the alicorn.

Twilight looked back, glaring at both Maud and the pebble. “Maud. Are you being serious right now?” she asked, sternly and harshly.

“Yes.”

The face of the earth pony didn’t falter. It never did. The fact that it didn’t forced Twilight to grunt, sigh, and groan all at the same time. “Honestly? That sounds insane and illogical. However, I’m not going to doubt somepony who’s the sister of Pinkie Pie. That pony was a box of insane and illogical.” She rolled her eyes and motioned the earth pony to follow.

They traveled up, back to the second level, and entered the crew’s hall. At the end was the green stallion, shaking his keys as he searched through the keychain. Carefully, the mares crept close, not wanting to spook the crew member. He noticed them out of the corner of his scarred eye. Not a word was said as he placed a key into the door handle, turning the knob and entering the room. They passed by, making eye contact with the disturbing gentlecolt who grimaced at them. As his door shut, Twilight gave a sigh of relief.

“Twilight. Who was that?” Maud asked.

“I believe that’s Tricky Spanner. He’s the only crew member I haven’t met. Captain Starboard was supposed to introduce me to the crew but seeing as how he ended up missing…” she trailed off. “Anyways, here’s the captain’s quarters.” She pushed the slightly jarred door open, flicking on the light.

A swift rummage through the captain’s dresser revealed little in worn clothing. Twilight continued to search until Maud called out. White and black with a yellow anchor plastered on the middle, the captain’s well-worn hat sat on a desk. Fibers of black hair could still be seen on the inside. Twilight watched as Maud lifted Boulder out from her shirt and shoved him into the hat. She was unsure what made her feel more silly, the fact that she let Maud talk her into this or that she was waiting for the inanimate object to sniff the hat. A second later and Maud pulled him out.

“He’s got the scent. Let’s go.” Maud held him in a hoof and walked out into the hall.

Twilight shook her head and followed. They stopped at each pathway, waiting to see if the rock could discern which way. They followed the smell down the steps and then down more steps to the fourth floor. This was the ship’s essentials, the engine room and several other pieces that made the ship run and operate. They had already searched the area from top to bottom. “Are you sure he knows where he’s going?” Twilight asked, almost sarcastically.

“Yes.”

Boulder led them to the water room. Clean water was stored here along with the boilers to make the water hot or usable. It was the hottest room on the boat, causing the two mares to begin sweltering as soon as they entered. Maud stopped in the center of this room. The machines were loud but only because the noise bounced between the metal walls. It was enough to stop a pony from hearing their own thoughts. Maud began moving once more towards a corner of the room.

“Did he find something?” yelled the alicorn.

“They’re here. The trail ends in this corner,” Maud replied, her voice barely audible over the sounds of whirring gears.

Eyeing the corner gave little help. The only things in the corner were two boilers that sat side by side. They were small, thin boilers compared to the large machinery in the rest of the room. One boiler was about a few inches taller than Celestia and the other just shorter than that. Twilight eyed them over carefully, sweat dripping into her eyes. “Wait, what’s this?” she called, noticing the red that had been splattered and smeared at the very top of the taller boiler.

A window to the inside of the boiler was at pony height. Maud wiped the steam from the glass but the heat brought it back in an instant. “I cannot see inside. I will find a way to turn it off.” She followed the piping from the boiler in the hopes of finding a way to turn it off.

As Maud searched, Twilight examined the window for herself. It was a small window barely the size of a pony’s head. Using her magic, she cast a light spell, attempting to brighten the inside of the container. With both the light and wiping the steam off the window, she could catch a glimpse of what was inside. She caught it for a moment only to have the steam return. With another wipe, she caught the full view of two melting corpses inside the boiler.

Such a sight startled the alicorn, causing her to scream and reel back in terror. Maud had just found the valve as well and had been turning it, shutting off the flow of water. The bodies slammed against the window with a sickening thud. The sight, sound, and sweltering heat were too much for Twilight. She fell to the ground and was out like a light.