Chapters INTRO
The royal wedding carriage had already had its tour around Canterlot.
Princess Cadance and her new husband, Shining Armor greeted many of the village ponies as they passed, and Cadance expressed her gratitude by sprinkling a few bits of her magical aura on everyone, helping them to feel the love too.
Then, they arrived at the destination, at an airstrip where a new large airship was awaiting them.
“Take a look at that.” said Shining Armor “I wish Twily could see this.”
“So beautiful and majestic.” agreed Cadance.
This was the maiden voyage of the newest, and largest airship in all of Equestria—The S.S Sky Lord.
It had a large purple and white oriented colored balloon attached to the carrier, which had to be the length of the Royal Canterlot Courtyard where the wedding party had just taken place.
Onboard, there were swimming pools, shuffle-board courts, places to sit and relax, while inside there were very classy suites and the honeymoon suit for newlyweds, where Cadance and Shining Armor were going to be staying.
Game rooms, dance floors, large dining rooms, and galley completed the level.
The most impressive thing of this new airship, it was hydro-powered-- once it would get up in the air it could use energy from the clouds and moisture in the air to keep itself in the air safely as if it were running on an endless fuel supply.
Another interesting feature was that this airship didn’t have to be tied down or already afloat in the air, but rather it was nestled softly on the solid ground by strong hydraulic jacks that could drill into the ground and safely pull the ship down.
The royal couple were pleased to be among the first of a-hundred ponies to be on the maiden voyage of this ship, as was a wedding gift from Princess Celestia.
Many cheers and hollers were given as the couple proceeded up the ramp and on-board to the deck.
There, they were greeted by Captain Aero. A blue pegasi with a white mustache, wearing an officer’s outfit, and his cutiemark was that of a cloud in the breeze.
“I hope you both have a pleasant voyage around Equestria.”
“I always do.” joked Shining Armor.
Skye and Cadance chuckled.
“Isn’t he terrible?” Cadance teased.
Little did they, the crew, or any-pony realize that there was soon to be trouble!
Down below, there was a Unicorn Pony-- light peach colored coat, a navy blue mane with purple streaks, and a cutie-mark of guidance light for airstrips on her flank.
On her technician’s outfit, her nametag read “Skye Light”
She claimed she was inside making a few last minute checks on the systems, when really she was planning sabotage!
She used her magic to levitate a small glowing orb, and placed it right at the engine.
Then, snickering wickedly, she attached a large black box that read “Auto-Bomb” right in the gear-system of the hydraulic shooters.
“There, that’ll do it.” she said to herself with glee “It’s bad enough he chose to marry HER of all ponies, but I’m not good enough for them to invite me to their wedding.
…Well, let’s see how they like it when they and all the other guests get a bang out of this!”
She laughed softly as she armed the bomb, as was hinted by its flashing red light
Then she left, closing the hatches on the way.
Soon, Captain Aero gave the signal to raise the gang-plank, and start up the engines.
Soon, the Sky Lord retracted its jacks, and began to rise up into the air and all the ponies below waved goodbye to the ship and passengers.
Cadance and shining Armor waved and Cadance blew kisses to the crowds.
Soon, they were high in the sky above all of Equestria for a lovely tour that would last through the weekend.
Skye continued to watch the ship through her binoculars, while thinking wickedly, “Two days is all you have left to live.”
No Pony suspected a thing.
Act 1: Prepare for Landing?
ACT ONE
Cadance and Shining Armor had a lovely weekend…
They swam; they play tons of games, which Shining Armor lost to Cadance each time, and not on purpose, much to his humiliation.
They had wonderful meals, chatted with many ponies and couples on the voyage.
At night, they danced on the deck under the stars as the band played soft music for them, which awed the crowds.
They took many photographs of the things they did, and put them in postcards to give to the mail pegasi who took them to their friends and family all over.
Captain Aero invited the couple to the control cabin where he and his officers steered the ship.
“It’s been so lovely.” said Cadance “I almost wish it didn’t have to end.”
“I feel the same,” agreed her husband “But what goes up, must come down. This ship can’t really stay in the air forever. You heard what the Captain said…
…It needs to land for servicing and maintenance, or bad things could happen.”
Cadance didn’t even want to think how badly.
Still, the couple would be delighted to land back in Canterlot again, and see their friends and family who were going to meet them at the docks.
Indeed, Twilight Sparkle, and all her friends and her parents were at the airstrip along with many other ponies, waiting for the arrival of The Skylord.
They were going over the postcards Shining Armor had sent, and laughed at a few of them where he lost to Cadance at the games and seemed to be throwing a small fit.
“That’s my bro,” teased Twilight “Never could take losing too well.”
Her parents still couldn’t believe that their son was married to a Princess, but just the same it would be nice to see them again.
“If you want, I could fly out and send them a message for you.” said Rainbow Dash.
“Sorry, Rainbow, but you can’t.” said Twilight “The Skylord is so massive and such a marvel, only authorized ponies are allowed to fly near it. They might think you’re trying to sneak onboard.”
Rarity sighed, “Oh, how I’ve always dreamed of flying on a first-class ship so chic.”
She imagined herself on the ship, elegantly dressed, and many ponies would stop to gawk at her and awe at her grace, and even a handsome young stallion would wish to court her.
Rarity’s fantasy was suddenly interrupted by Pinkie Pie hollering, “Ooh, Ooh, I can see the ship. It’s coming this way! It’s coming this way!”
Indeed, everyone could see the ship off in the distance.
“It seems like such a little speck when it’s that far away.” said Spike.
Applejack chuckled, “Well, just you wait ‘till it gets here. I heard it’s so huge, why a big red barns looks like an outhouse.”
Fluttershy felt nervous, “I don’t really like big things.” she whimpered.
Still, Twilight was excited to see her brother and her new sister-in-law again.
While far off in the airfield, Skye Light could see the ship coming in as well, and smirked wickedly at it.
“Any second now,” she said to herself “…The real fun will begin.”
Earlier, she had written a letter to the airstrip control tower, and at this very moment, the Head Controller was making preparations for the landing of the Sky Lord.
He kept in contact with Captain Aero via a special magical book, since there were no radios due to the primitiveness of Equestrian technology.
The Controller would write his message in his book, and the message would magically transport to the other book where the Captain would read it and respond with his own message.
“Preparations for landing complete.” wrote Aero, and the message was sent.
The Controller read the message and responded, “Prepare to reduce height and fire hydraulic jacks.”
Suddenly, a lieutenant came barging into the main ops. “Controller, Controller!” she cried. She really seemed to be in a panic.
“What is the meaning of this?” snapped The Controller.
The lieutenant handed him a letter that was addressed to the tower staff, “Read this, sir. It’s very serious.”
The Controller read the letter aloud…
“I thought you would like to know that a highly explosive bomb has been planted in the hydraulic jack system of the Sky Lord.
When the ship fires its jacks to land safely, the bomb will explode, and blow the ship into a million pieces, and release poisonous gas over a large area.”
“My word!” cried The Controller “Could this be some sort of hoax?”
“I don’t know sir.” cried the Lieutenant “But we better make sure.”
The Controller agreed, and wrote to Captain Aero immediately.
Aero received the message, “What?” he snapped “He’s telling us to climb in altitude and remain on free-float around this area.”
The pilots were all confused, but soon they felt shocked when Aero gasped and said, “We’ve got a bomb!”
The crew began to panic, and Aero whistled at them to snap to their senses, “We cannot let the passengers know of this! The last thing we need is for them to start panicking.”
The ship suddenly started to climb, much to the passengers’ confusions.
“What’s going on? Why are we climbing?” asked Shining Armor.
As the passenger all chatted in concern and annoyance, a stewardess announced over the ship intercom, “Attention all passengers. We seem to be experiencing technical difficulties and are maintaining altitude in the hopes of straightening things out.
We apologize for any inconvenience in this delayed landing, but we are doing everything we can to resolve this.
Please feel free to continue to partake of our hospitality and activities onboard.”
Unable to argue, and not wanting to just stand around and wait, many of the passengers went off to eat, swim, play, or whatever they could do.
Cadance, however, felt different “They’re not telling us something, are they?”
Shining Armor agreed, “I think I’ll go ask the captain what it is.”
Down at the airstrip, all the ponies couldn’t understand what was happening.
“They’re just hanging up there in the sky.” said Night Light.
“Is something wrong?” asked Twilight Velvet.
Twilight was especially confused, and starting to grow concerned.
Then, she could see a large device shaped like a long tube sticking out. “What’s that?” she asked.
“It’s an Infrared-Scope.” answered Rainbow “The Wonderbolts have things like that too. It’s like a telescope, but it’s used to X-Ray air vehicles far away for security purposes.
This began to concern all the others.
“Do you think something’s wrong up there?” asked Spike.
“I sure hope not.” said Twilight.
Up in the control tower, The Controller was looking through the scope straight at the ship in the sky.
He looked straight at one of the hatches for one of the hydraulic jacks, and he could see the bomb with its flickering light.
“There it is!
…This is no hoax!”
Act 2: Stranded in the Sky
ACT TWO
The airstrip sounded the alarm, warning that danger was imminent, and announcement was made telling all the ponies and passengers to evacuate the airstrip immediately for the emergency.
“There really is something wrong up there!” cried Fluttershy.
Rarity couldn’t believe it, “How can such a beautiful ship as that be in such danger?”
The group had no choice however but to leave the airstrip as ordered by the guards.
“What’s happening up there?” asked Night Light.
“I’m sorry, we can’t reveal that danger.” answered the guard.
“DANGER?!” cried Velvet, and she tried to run back, but the guards held her back. “You don’t understand-- My son and his wife are up there!”
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, you have to leave!”
“That’s my brother up there!” shouted Twilight, and rather than obey she teleported herself through the crowds and the guards and galloped off for the control tower.
“Twilight!!” called Spike.
“Stop her!” a guard shouted, but a lot of the guards were too busy escorting the crowds off the grounds, and those that did give chase were not able to catch her!
The second it looked as if they would get her, Twilight used her magic to levitate them out of the way or poof herself right past them.
“Engage the protective barrier!”
The guards did so, and conjured a strong force-field around the entire tower, but Twilight had seen this kind of barrier before.
“Baby food.” she teased, and was able to actually break a small breach in the weak magic and made it in.
The guards felt like smacking themselves.
“I knew we should have updated the spell!”
The only ponies that were allowed near the airstrip were the technicians and emergency crews, and Skye was secretly enjoying all the panic and chaos she had caused.
“Hey!” snapped the chief, “Shake a leg, girl. We got an emergency here.”
“Okay, okay!” grumbled Skye, but she really felt nothing could save that ship now-- especially thanks to the extra little precaution she had taken.
Up in the tower, The Controller and his crew were hard at work ensuring the entire airstrip was clear.
“No one is to come within fifty miles of this area.” said The Controller “Now I must contact Captain Aero.”
He got out his book and wrote the message.
Aero was most disturbed to receive the message, “There is indeed a bomb-- placed in the main spring-loaded system of hydraulic jacks.”
This was very disturbing! It meant that the second the jacks were shot out, the bomb would explode as it got jammed up in the gear and clamps.
Worst of all: even if they could get into the hydraulic chamber, they wouldn’t be able to reach the bomb unless they dismantled all the equipment, which could only be done safely on the ground.
Aero wrote back to The Controller, “Permission for emergency landing, without landing jacks.”
The Controller responded immediately, “That’s impossible. The bomb is so placed, that impact of landing will explode it.
Maintain altitude and remain on free-float. We are sending and emergency flight crew to evacuate all passengers.”
Shining Armor couldn’t get in to see the Captain, as he was told by the guards that he was very busy, and they still wouldn’t tell him the emergency, which only made Shining Armor crosser and more concerned, but he had no choice but to return to Cadance on the main deck.
“What’s going now?” he asked.
“Look!” cried Cadance “It’s an emergency flying squad.”
All the passengers could see the many pegasi carrying large air-balloon baskets towards the ship, which began to fret the passengers that there was something wrong with the ship, and now they would have to get off of it.
However, there was even worse to come their way!
Down in the hydraulic area, aside from the bomb blinking its light, that strange orb that Skye had planted along with it began to glow and emit and strong flow of aura that began to spread around the ship.
“Approaching target!” called the leader of the flight squad “Prepare to assist passengers.”
The pegasi all concurred, but just as they got within a few yards of the ship, they crashed into something strong and solid.
The passengers were most alarmed, and Cadance realized, “It’s a force-field!”
Passengers began to feel and knock at the invisible, yet solid surface of the shield.
Some of them tried throwing things at it, but they couldn’t break it.
Unicorns, and the newlyweds tried to use their magic to break the shield, but that also didn’t work.
The pegasi couldn’t get on, and no one could get off.
“We’re trapped!” cried Shining Armor.
Now there was real panic—some of the passengers began to run around, screaming and crying,
“We’re going to die!”
“I never wanted to go on this stupid ship anyway!”
“I want my money back!”
Cadance was starting to feel afraid the most and she was trembling in fear.
Her husband held her, but he, too, felt just as fretful.
Aero could not believe this, nor could his crew, and he had reported the situation to the control tower.
“This is unbelievable!” grumbled The Controller “Some-pony or some highly organized group of ponies has gone to fantastic lengths to ensure the destruction of that ship and the deaths of all onboard!”
He then received another message from Aero.
“What do we do now? We can’t just stay up here forever.”
The Controller wrote back asking “How long do you think you can last?”
“Well, with the hydro-powered motors, we don’t need to worry about running out of fuel, but food and water supplies are already running low from all the partying we’ve done this weekend.
To make matters worse, this force-field is so thick it’s not even letting the air pass through.
I’d say we have about one hour before all the oxygen on this ship is consumed!”
The Controller was really starting to lose hope for all those poor ponies trapped up there.
Aero never felt so helpless in his life,
“We can’t reach the bomb…
We can’t land…
We can’t get off the ship…
…And if we stay up here, we’ll run out of oxygen and suffocate.
Either way you look at it, we haven’t got a chance!”
The crew felt the same way and lowered their heads in misery.
Even the Controller was ready to give up.
“They haven’t got a chance.” he said to himself “We’ve just got to sit here and wait for them to die.”
Suddenly, in a puff of pink smoke, Twilight appeared in the main ops, and she looked exhausted as if she had fought through an army-- which she actually had.
The controller recognized who she was, “Twilight Sparkle?” naturally he and his crew knew of her-- The student of Princess Celestia, and hero of Equestria, and before he could even question her of what she was doing here and how she got past security....
“I think I know a way to get that ship down.” Twilight said “But I’ll need your cooperation.”
Act 3: Going down... slowly
ACT THREE
Skye didn’t know how much more she could enjoy all this suffering and panic that was going round, but she was careful not to let anything slip of her deed.
She was however starting to get annoyed with all the waiting going on.
“I should’ve used a time-bomb.” she thought silently “Ah, well. It still wouldn’t have been much fun watching everyone suffering like this.”
She looked up at the ship still stranded in the sky. “And this is all on you, Shining Armor! You and all those ponies are suffering the same way you made me suffer.
…But, you brought this on yourself.”
Up in the tower, Twilight was granted permission to stay and discuss her plan. The Controller and his team were more than willing to hear her out if she could bring that ship down and get everyone off it.
Twilight was told of everything-- the bomb, the force-field, the air running out.
“Okay, let’s recap.” said Twilight “In another forty minutes all the air will run out on the ship. Faster even if the passengers continue to panic, so thirty minutes is more like it.”
“That’s right.” replied the Controller.
“Okay, now this is what we’re going to do…” said Twilight.
As she explained her plan a montage of scenes were shown of the plan actually being carried out.
“I need to contact all my friends and let them know what is happening. With my teleportation, it should only take ten minutes, leaving us with twenty minutes to go.
My friends will guide every pony who was at the air strip to come back here, and you get every available pony on your team to help too.
Every pony will gather in the fields directly beneath the airship.
After that, Rainbow dash will fly me up there. Hopefully, that barrier is one that I learn of in my magical studies.
If I can break even a small hole in that shield, I should be able teleport myself inside and onto the deck. Then slowly but surely I can transfer all the passengers and crew off the ship and into the baskets so the flight squad can get them all down.
All this, while the ship’s autopilot will be set so the ship steers downward in a vertical descend.
Even with the force-field still activated, every pegasi will fly up and push the ship up from below.
As it draws closer to the ground every unicorn will lend their magic to push against the ship further, and just inches away, the Earth Ponies will combine their great strengths.”
As Twilight plan carried out, the passengers and crew were all safely escorted to the ground, and Twilight was relieved to see her brother and Cadance were safe.
“Twily… you saved me and Cadance again!” said Shining Armor “You’re the greatest little sis I could ever have.”
Twilight chuckled, “I’m the only sis you have.”
Night Light and Twilight Velvet were most relieved when they saw the couple land far away.
“Thank goodness they’ve made it.” said Velvet.
“Ahem!” said Rarity “Every pony focus now. The ship is coming down!”
“There go all the pegasi!” cried Applejack
Hundreds of pegasi flew up to the huge ship.
Rainbow and Fluttershy flew side-by-side.
“Okay,” Rainbow hollered “Every pony push with all you’ve got!”
The pegasi all put their hooves up against the force-field and flapped their wings as hard as they could pushing against the massive ship to slow its descend.
Rainbow noticed Fluttershy was barely pushing at all.
“Come on, Fluttershy! Pump those wings!”
“Oh…!” whimpered Fluttershy, but she couldn’t seem to pour on more strength.
Rainbow sighed, and could think of only on way to get her going, “There’s a spider on your back!”
Fluttershy’s eyes bulged, and Rainbow swung her tail to tickle Fluttershy’s back to further the charade, and Fluttershy fell for it-- she let out a scream of fright and began to flap her wings rapidly while pushing hard against the ship.
As the ship came lower, and lower, Twilight gave the signal to all the unicorns, and together, the many unicorns combined their magic to push the ship even more, slowing it down greatly.
“Here it comes!” cried Applejack, and then she called to the Earth Ponies, “Let’s bring her in!”
The ship was now just a few inches from the ground as entire army of ponies pushed with all their might.
“We’re not going to make it!!” cried Pinkie.
“Keep pushing!!” shouted Applejack.
Every single pony was groaning, whimpering, gasping, and shouting!
Finally, the ship made a tiny feather touch on the ground and inside, the entire bomb felt was a teensy little jiggle-- it didn’t explode.
“It worked!!” shouted Twilight “We did it!!”
The entire airfield was overflowing with noises of cheer and delight.
Spike leapt for joy too, even though he didn’t do anything, “I’m just really happy!” he put it.
Of course there was one pony that was not very happy about this-- Skye!
She had not tried to help with the rescue, and remained in hiding while all hooves were needed.
“No!” she cried softly “NOOOOOOOO!!!”
Her scream couldn’t be heard over the cheering crowds.
“My plan…! My revenge…!
…How could this happen!”
She realized she’d have to get out of here and fast to avoid being caught, but it was too late.
“There she is!” shouted a guard.
Skye began to run for her life.
“Stop that pony!” shouted The Controller.
Skye galloped across the airfield, and jumped into an air balloon to make her getaway, using her magic to push it higher and higher into the air.
“After her!” shouted Twilight.
She tried to use her magic, but her powers were exhausted from all she had used, and all the pegasi were exhausted from all the pushing they had done. Even Rainbow Dash didn’t have enough strength to get herself a few feet off the ground.
Cadance, however, was not too tired and soared straight up to the balloon.
“Oh, No!” cried Skye, and she poured on her magic to thrust the balloon forth as hard as she could, but Cadance used her magic to halt the balloon in midair.
“It’s all over Skye, you’re washed up!”
Skye didn’t have a chance to escape from such powerful magic, and she looked at the tanks above her head by the burner.
“You’ll never take me alive!” she shouted.
Cadance was horrified! “NO, DON’T…!!” she screamed, but Skye had already shot the tanks with a blast form her horn…
KA-BLAMM!!
“CADANCE…!!” Shining Armor shouted up, and every pony else looked up in horrors. Some of them screamed in fright at the sight of the explosion, and the entire balloon was gone-- all burned away into nothing.
Fortunately, Cadance was alright and made it back to the gang.
“Cadance!” cried Twilight.
Shining Armor was near tears as he ran to his wife and embraced her, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I shielded myself with a force-field just in time.” She stopped, and looked up to the bits of smoke still in the air. There was no doubt that Skye never had a chance.
Despite that everyone now knew that she was responsible for this whole plot, they all couldn’t help but fell downtrodden that should just kill herself like that.
CLOSING ACT
The force-field soon ran out of power and vanished completely; allowing pony technicians to climb into the shaft and dislodge the bomb form the ship.
The bomb was then safely disarmed and detained so it could be disassembled.
Still, as grateful as The Controller was, “I can’t believe it,” he said “I just can’t believe Skye Blue would do something like this.”
“I think I can,” said Shining Armor “She did all this to get at Cadance and me.”
The others all gawked at him and Cadance.
“Bro, what do you mean?” asked Twilight.
Shining Armor sighed and hated recounting this story, especially now since Skye was gone.
“I met Skye when I was in high-school-- before I went off the Canterlot Guard.
I knew Skye had a huge crush on me, and for a while I sort of liked her too, but she just wasn’t the one for me.
Her crush soon turned into an obsession. She would follow me to class all the time just to see me there safely.
She insisted on sitting next to me everywhere, and acted like a snarling savage to any mare that dared come within a few feet of me-- even our teachers just to say “Hi.”
As if that weren’t bad enough, she would keep pictures of me in her locker, like a shrine, and collect threads of my hair that fell from my mane or tail.
…I could tell she was way in over her head for me.
Luckily though, I was able to transfer to another school and I got away from her before she completely freaked me out.
Naturally, I knew she was heartbroken, but I felt it was the best for her to get over me.”
Cadance nodded, having heard this story before. “When she found out that Shining Armor and I were engaged, she really lost her cool, but tried to be strong about it.
We also decided not to invite her to the wedding because we knew she’d never be able to take it, and would most likely make a hysterical scene.”
The rest was history, and Twilight and friends were shocked and livid.
“She really was crazy.” said Pinkie.
“Now, now,” said Applejack “That’s too strong a word to use.”
“It’s still no excuse for her behaviour.” sneered Rarity “Trying to kill so many innocent ponies, destroy a beautiful ship-- all for the sakes of petty revenge?”
The others couldn’t deny that, but they still couldn’t help but feel a little bit sorry for Skye, and how she could’ve used friends and serious help for her obsession.
“I guess it doesn’t really matter now.” said Fluttershy.
All the others hung their heads low, but there really wasn’t much they could do now but just head on home. They had all had such a horrifying day.
Shining Armor and Cadance returned to Canterlot Palace.
Celestia and Luna were well aware of all that happened, and were very relieved to see the newlyweds were safe, and they also promised to honour Twilight for her brave and incredible plans for bringing the ship down and saving so many ponies.
Still, the couple just stood out on the terrace looking up at the night sky.
“Have they been there all this time?” asked Luna.
Celestia sighed and shut her eyes from a moment, feeling that little bit of upset as the couple felt. “They’re stricken with guilt, Sister. Even though it was not truly their faults, they still feel rather responsible for Skye’s suicide.
Many a pony in their position wouldn’t feel any different.”
Luna felt she understood, but whether or not she actually did, she felt sorry now for the couple feeling down.
Cadance and Shining Armor could only look up at the stars, still thinking of Skye. They couldn’t really call her a friend, but they really wished she hadn’t done herself in.
No matter how crazy she was, or what she did, they felt she didn’t deserve to go.
…but that was just sometimes how it ends.