Chapters On a Sea of Glass.... And Ponies
April 15th, 1912
Screams, all throughout the middle of the night screams could be heard. From a distance, one could see a large object with its lights still blazing slipping into the see. One by one, it's funnels collapse into the ocean until finally, the power goes out. A death shrieking sound can be heard through the night as metal twists, bends, and breaks. Suddenly, the emergency generators kick in albiet it is still hard to see anything, one can still see the emergency lights dot the objects rear. No one however can see the terror unfolding onboard as people rush towards the stern in a final attempt to stay away from the water. A few minutes later, the behemoth sinks into the calm sea with it's final words going down with it.
Titanic Liverpool
It takes no more than thirty minutes for the screams to finally die down as the vessels lifeboats finally begin to gather with one another. For a moment, there is a sad calm on the sea until an odd mist appears out over the horizon. No one takes it for anything as they had already been through a tragedy of their own as the mist engulfs the area. Once inside the mist, nobody saw what would happen and for a moment, there was simply nothing but darkness and silence. Then, there was light.
*** *** ***
Edward John Smith woke up as if he had been awoken from the grave. He nearly expected to be in heaven, but after he looked around, he merely saw that he was in his Captain's Quarters. The finely furnished room was lit by the sunlight peering out of the window. Sunlight, is this heaven? Or was is a dream. he thought as he began to dress himself. Though he decided to play off what he thought had happened the night before as a dream, it was oddly quite from what he could hear outside of his Quarters. Normally the bridge and officer quarters would be full of activity, especially at this time of the morning. But today, there was simply silence.
After finally getting dressed, his first thought was to go to the bridge. Upon finding no one at their station, he noticed that the engines were all set to full stop. When he noticed it, he saw that there was no smoke coming out of the funnels as there usually was. Sensing something off, Smith decided that a trip to the wireless room was needed. Taking the short walk to it (as it was still in the officer's quarters), Smith opened the door to see both operators, Harold Bride and Jack Phillips, asleep at their posts. The only source of light in the room came from the skylight above and when Smith flipped the light switch, nothing happened. There was obviously no more power throughout the ship at this point. Smith began to wonder if the others were in the state as they were all in so Smith decided to take a gamble. He reached over and began to pat the two men up but as soon as his hand touched their shoulders, both men woke up in a sort of panic. Taking their time to get a hold of their surroundings, Bride and Phillips turned to Smith with faces of relief on them.
"You look like you boys have seen a nightmare" Smith said thinking back to his own.
"I believe we both did sir. It was like the ship really did sink Sir." Phillips said with a little quiver in his voice.
"Aye, I nearly expected to find myself aboard that blasted overturned lifeboat with Lightoller." Bride said, obviously relieved. From the look of the two men, it looked like they had been through hell together.
"Speaking of Lightoller, I need your help gentlemen. I know you aren't exactly employees of the White Star Line and technically fall under the order of the Marconi Company, but I need your help. We need to get the officers awake and get the ship moving. Could you do that for me gentlemen?"
"Captain, I think it is safe to say that me and Bride would do anything to get the ship in Port after what we might had just experienced." Phillips' voice had a tone of true eagerness and this was truly made genuine with Bride's tone when he said "Aye Captain".
"Well gentlemen, we have work to do. Also, the power does not seem to be present at the moment so we may have to get Mr Andrews to go find Mr Bell so that we might fix this situation."
With that, the men walked out of the powerless Marconi room to awaken the officers.
*** *** ***
Canterlot
Luna, Princess of the Moon and Co-Ruler in Equestria awoke to see her sister beside her bed.
"I heard screaming from your room and came as quickly as I could." Celestia said. Her voice was soothing with concern for her sister's safety. "Now, what had happened to cause you of all people to scream?"
"Spare me the reference sister. What I just saw was indescribable. Tell me, have you ever seen tragedy and despair happen to those who for the first time seem to feel at ease and assured with themselves? What I just witnessed, was something just like that. But it was not from one pony.... It was like it was from thousands of souls all at once. I can even still see some of those dreams."
"What do you mean, thousands at once sister."
"Like I said, it was as if thousands of souls were having this exact dream all at once and at the same time. Like they were all linked together."
"Luna, why don't you just rest for the moment and think over what you saw. I am probably going to need to get Twilight for this."
*** *** ***
One moment, he was at sea on a lifeboat, the next moment, he saw Harold Bride shaking him awake from his bed. It took a few grunts and an "Alright alright, I am awake kid." With that, Bride simply told him Smith wanted all the officers at the bridge for an urgent meeting and then left the room.
Getting up from his bed, Lightoller went to go turn on the lights but all he got was nothing. "Great, powers out... No wonder why the Captain wants us up." Looking at his watch, it took him a few minutes to get his uniform and as he walked up to the bridge, the dream.... or possible memory came back to him. The lifeboats lowering, the bow going under, the funnel collapsing, that drunken chef, and the mist. After the mist, there was nothing. The thought lingered in the back of his mind as he got up to the bridge.
When he got up to the bridge, he saw that Wilde, Murdoch, Boxhall, Lowe, Pitman, Moody, Smith... And surprisingly his employer, Ismay. From the looks of it, Ismay looked like he was half dead and ridden with guilt of some kind. His normally professional look was now replaced by a tired man in pijamas. The only man missing was Mr Andrews. Wouldn't have surprised him if Andrews dozed off into his blueprints. Finally, Smith began to speak.
"Alright gentlemen, I am glad that you all found the strength in you all to get up this morning after last night." Looking around Lightoller shuddered at the thought... "Was last night real? Or did we all suffer some sort of the same dream." He almost thought his memory was beginning to betray him early but his thoughts were shut up by Smith speaking again.
"I, like you all, would not like to possibly make last night's nightmare a reality. So now, here is what we must do. As you all probably have noticed by now, the power has gone out. From what our wonderful wireless operators have told me, most of the staff has already woken up as well as some of the passengers. Therefore, I need you all to keep order while we sort out the power situation. Then we may continue onto New York. Is that clear?
All the men said in Union "Aye Sir" and as they turned to head towards the Grand Staircase, Captain Smith said one more thing. "Oh gentlemen. No pistols please, we have already dealt with one nightmare today." Immediately Lightoller had a sick feeling in his stomach and he remembered when he nearly caused a terror firing his weapon to keep crowds away from the lifeboat. They soon all turned back and headed towards the Staircase and as he was just about to head inside the officers quarters hallway, Lightoller overheard Smith request that Ismay follow him so that they could set some thing straight, whatever that was.
*** *** ***
Harold Bride and Jack Phillips stood in front of cabin A-36. This was the cabin of Thomas Andrews, the essential designer of the Titanic. By now the ship was beginning to "wake up" per say but they still needed to get the engines running so that power could be provided throughout the ship. Phillips, taking the lead, opened the door expecting Andrews to be asleep in a chair. Rather to his surprise, he saw the nearly six foot tall man standing amoungst the clutter of blueprints and papers in his room infront of a mirror, straightening his tie.
"Ah, gentlemen... I must say I was expecting to be fetched sooner or even simply awoken from my slumber." Andrews said. His voice was oddly calm and the cheeriness he was known for was quite present.
Somewhat shocked... Phillips uttered the words "Uh... yes... Mr Andrews. Well, see..."
"Does the Captain need me on the bridge?"
"N..no Mr Andrews, he actually needs you to head to the engine room and wake up Mr Bell so that uh... We may fix the electricity issue."
"Ah, well I assume you need me to go and lead you down there..... Well... Best not keep the ship dead in the water."
With that, Andrews immediately walked out and gestured the two wireless operators to follow him. He was quick on his way down the aft Grand Staircase but it was clear to both Phillips and Bride that something was holding Andrews down. His steps were quick yet quiet and careful. As they walked through the hallways down into second and then Third Class, they could see the strain on Andrews' face and his hands were kept tucked away in his pockets. "Something happened to him, whether real or in a dream" Phillips thought as they made their way through Scotland road down to boiler room 1. From there, they descended down the ladders into the surprisingly active Boiler room. The stockers were hard at work feeding coal in the ship's boilers and without the fans, the enclosed space was so hot that the 3 men proceeded to take off their jackets and ties. Making their way through the chaos, they finally made it to the Engine Room to find nearly every engineer still asleep at their stations. Each man they passed, they proceeded to wake up up until they got to the main breakers. There, they saw Chief Engineer Joseph Bell on the metal floor, sleeping.
Andrews reached over to try and shake Bell up but before his hand touched the sleeping man, Bell suddenly woke up and yelled "Keep the Breakers in men!" Before standing up and nearly headbutting Andrews in the chin.
Bride and Phillips looked at each other as they saw Andrews and Bell speak to each other in rather quiet voices. Before long, they both collected themselves and bell walked over to the two wireless operators saying "Alright gents, do me a favor and start flipping the breakers up while I go get the other lot to get the engines back up. Good thing that the stockers woke up, otherwise we would have spent a few hours building up steam just to get the engines running at quarter speed."
Flipping the breakers was pretty easy and no sooner than when power was restored to the ship that the engine telegraph signalled full ahead from the Bridge. With that, Phillips and Bride returned to the wireless room while Andrews stayed down with Bell to have a "private conversation" with them. Even though the power was back on, the ship (especially in the lower decks) was still quite humid and the recent influx of passengers waking up from their slumber only added to the musky atmosphere. But then again, it was better than being down in the boiler rooms. While making their way down Scotland Road towards the E-Deck entrance oo the main Grand Staircase, Bride was quite uneasy and finally asked Phillips the question on both their minds.
"Phillips, do you.... I know you know what I saw in my dream.... do you think it was real? Last night? The iceberg, the lifeboats, the.... the sinking?"
With that comment, Phillips pulled his younger collegue aside in an empty hallway away from the first class crowds and they began to confer in private. "Harold, listen to me... I wish to speak of nothing of last night, real or fantasy. At this point, all I would like to do is get the telegraph system working, get to New York, and take a break. You with me on that Harold?"
"Aye, but I feel like that stuff ain't gonna leave me for a while... Hell, did you see how Andrews was? You could tell something shook that man to his core."
"I did, and I am a bit worried about him... I would not be surprised if for the rest of his voyage he pours over his designs and the good doctor O'Loughlin will have to be summoned to get that man to even eat. But lets just focus on the task at hand now..."
"Aye Phillips... any second longer down here and I may suffocate."
*** *** ***
Canterlot
After the morning's fuss up, Luna agreed to talk with Celestia about the dream she had had over the night. So there they were now... sitting across from each other on loveseats. By now it was midday and Celestia decided that a warm tea would be needed... after a few seconds of silence, Celestia said "Luna, whenever you are ready... we may talk about it."
Luna was not exactly quick to respond but she soon did uttering the words "It was a ship... a rather large one...." As she said this, she used her magic to teleport to her a piece of paper and pencil.
"Was this ship any of ours?"
"No, infact it is substantially larger than ours." As Luna said this, she began to draw out the ship. "It had four large smoke stacks and two masts yet no sails or paddles." She said drawing out what looked like the upper decks.
"What of the passengers?"
"Odd creatures, I have never seen them before. They were bipedal, they did not have fur coats and only manes on the top of their heads. They did wear clothing though... clothing somewhat similar to what I have seen Twilight's friend Rarity design."
"What is it that she would say? At least these creatures have a sense of fashion. " With that comment both sisters had a good laugh but now it was back to the topic.
"The ship sank Celestia..."
"What do you mean sank?"
"It sank, it looked like it took about 3 hours but it sank, just after hitting an iceberg. And I could see it all... families being torn apart, loved ones drowning or freezing to death in the water, creatures being trapped below decks without having a chance to get to a lifeboat.... and even thoughs in the lifeboats... watching in terror as it sank with it's lights blazing on until the end.... and even the creatures working below to keep the ships lights on... I saw all of it."
With that, Celestia went silent... clearly shocked by what Luna said. They would not speak for a few minutes before Celestia asked if she saw anything else...
"After I saw the ship go down, all I could see were the creatures in lifeboats... trying to get together and wait for rescue. Suddenly, all I saw was the ship... it was floating silently... no smoke coming out of its stacks and no wake behind it. That was when I felt all of those nightmares.... thousands of them... all at once and all seemingly in sync. They have died down now but I can still feel the thoughts of the creatures effected by it..."
"Where.... where did you sense these dreams were Luna?"
"I could feel them all in the North Equestrian Sea... but now there is nothing... I can feel the thoughts though, and it seems they are moving west."
"Do you think that these creatures are somehow here now?"
"I do not know sister, and I would rather not think about it..."
"Please, get some rest Luna, I will handle your nightcourt until we can settle things. I have a feeling something is very off..."
With that, Celestia left Luna in the library and went over towards her personal telephone in her room.
"Yes... Operator, may you please get me Manehattan Port Authority and Admiral Iron Hoof.... Yes... Thank You... Admiral, good to hear from you.... I need you to assemble the Equestrian Sea Fleet... No, no battleships required, just get the Cruisers.... When can you get them ready.... Tommorrow.... Good, I need you to patrol the North Eastern Sector for a ship... I will send you the drawing of what we think it is.... Good, I look forward to what you find."
After another phone call with the Manehattan Port Authority, Celestia made her way to the Throne Room for daycourt and wait for results.
Author's Note
Had this idea in the back of my mind I to do for a while. Finally decided to do it after I had to deal with chapter 6 of my other fanfic. If you read it and the note below it, you know I was pretty annoyed with it. So here I am with this story, something I can thankfully say is something I can work on without nearly hanging myself over writer's block. I expect to alternate between each story each chapter, unless I experience writer's block again. Once again, comments are always welcome as this is my second fiction and I have yet to finish my first one.
On a Sea of Glass.... And Ponies
April 16th, 1912
10 miles East of Manehattan
Fleet Admiral Iron Hoof looked around at his flotilla from his flagship's bridge. Though comprised of about 2 cruisers and 4 destroyers, it was still a force to be reckoned with. His flagship, ENS Baltimare was a recent edition to the fleet. The cruiser was one of the newest in the fleet, armed with 8x 152 mm guns each in their own single barrel turret. The ship itself could reach a speed of nearly 25 knots and was quite well armored for a cruiser. Along with his flagship was the light cruiser Manehattan and the 4 accompanying destroyers Stallion, Iron Gail, Sea Striker, and Bombastic. The small flotilla had just recently left port and was sailing through the North Equestrian Sea in search of a ship. From what the Admiral and his officers could tell from the impression sent by Celestia, the ship could not had been a warship as it possessed no weaponry and hardly any armor. However, it was quiet large and was said to contain bipedal creatures. The main way they would identify the ship would be through the super structure. The impression showed that the ship contained about 4 smoke stacks as well as two sailess masts. It was truly a behemoth.
When the flotilla left Manehattan, the seas were relatively calm yet once they were nearly 10 miles off the coast, a large gail came through and the seas became rough, forcing the ships to slow down in order to maintain stability. Sipping a cup of tea in his cabin, the rough seas began to churn heavier and the cruiser began to rock even worse. The weather had gotten so bad that even high altitude pegasus scouts had to be called back below as there was nothing to spot. As the admiral it, it was almost as if the endeavor would never end.
*** *** ***
The morning had passed through uneventfully as the pride of the White Star fleet kept a steady speed towards New York. Even though everything seemed to be back to normal from the day before, that was far from the case. The ship by now had been subject to an ominous quiet. The normal joyous conversations held in the lounges were kept to a minimum while in the lower classes, interactions nearly became restricted to only family interactions. The orchestra, as per ordered by Captain Smith, tried to liven up the mood by playing some cheery music like rag but to no avail. The mood remained unchanged. The only large amount of human interaction ever present was in the boiler rooms, the Purser's Office where many passengers demanded to receive they belongings, and in the wireless room, where the two wireless operators were busy cursing their telegraph set while attempting to make contact with Cape Race or any other vessel in Titanic's vicinity. To make things more grim, a large storm had formed and the ship sailed straight through it.
Standing on the bridge of the ship, First Officer William Murdoch stood anxious in the enclosed bridge. He was having to grip the helmsman's shoulder just to keep balance on the bridge as the helmsman himself struggled to keep hold of the wheel as the ship sloshed through the waves. While thinking of his problems, he remembered that the lookouts were still in the Crow's Nest. "Those poor sods freezing their bums off in this weather. At least we got the binoculars." He thought. Just a few hours earlier, him and one of the lookouts, Frederick Fleet, had to break into one of the lockers just to get the binoculars out after they could not find the key.
Whilst still focusing on the sea ahead, Murdoch failed to notice Lightoller stumble his way into the bridge.
"Hey, Murdoch, new orders?"
"Yes?"
"Wilde wants you on Ismay duty. Seems like we are alternating."
"Alright, I'm guessing your taking over for me."
"Aye."
"Alright, tell Wilde I am leaving now... Also, how is he doing?"
"He looks worse than yesterday. At this point he won't even accept solid food. I would've gotten O'Loughlin but he is trying to make sure that Andrews doesn't collapse and forget to eat."
"Alright, I'll keep you posted, see you soon."
Captain Smith had ordered that Ismay be put on watch/guard the day before. It was clear that Ismay was a nervous wreck, especially from the day before. Murdoch felt bad for the man, he probably thought himself to be a coward but Murdoch himself witnessed Ismay put people into the boats and help with the evacuation. Andrews the same thing. But while Ismay wallowed in depression, Andrews poured his guilt into his work. From what O'Loughlin told him, Andrews would just stare at his designs and make adjustments and all around his cabin was a complete mess. The man was known to be a dedicated worker, but he pushed himself sometimes. And now, it seems like he had gone to the limit and the normally rational man simply forgets to eat.
Making his way to the port side Parlor Suite (in which Ismay was staying in), Murdoch opened the door to find Ismay sitting in the private promenade with a large glass of brandy sloshing around in his hands. Even though the ship was heeling heavily in the storm with each wave, Ismay still managed to keep the glass steady as he took a drink.
Taking a closer look at the man, Murdoch noticed Ismay looked worse than the day before. His hair and mustache was unkempt while he sat in his pijamas. From the look of his bloodshot eyes, it was obvious Ismay got little sleep or none at all the previous night before. Before Murdoch made his way over, Ismay called over to him.
"Murdoch, I know you are there... watching me. Why don't you come sit and we can talk. No offense to Lightoller, but I don't find him to be the best of company, for all the jokes that man may pull."
Stunned by the break from silence, Murdoch slowly obeyed his employer's wishes and sat down. "Tread carefully William, you do not know what Ismay might pull in this state." He thought as he took a seat. It was a few minutes of silence (if one was to count out the waves crashing over the well deck and sea spray splashing the promenade) before Ismay began to pour another drink for Murdoch.
"Mr. Ismay, I am still on duty. I cannot possibly have a drink now."
Ismay looked over and for the first time, slightly grinned at the comment.
"You know that I am your head employer Murdoch. Therefore, consider this a part of the job."
Grumbling in his thoughts, Murdoch grudgingly accepted his employer's drink and as he did, Ismay's expression turned back to it's original, guilty form. For what seemed like hours, the two sat there taking small sips as the sea churned right in front of them. If the promenade had not been enclosed by steel and glass window panes, both men would have been utterly soaked. Out of the blue, Ismay asked Murdoch a question.
"Mr Murdoch, I have a question. And when you answer, I don't want it widdled down, I want the truth."
Staring at him for a second, Murdoch glanced back down at his half full glass and said "Ask away Mr Ismay."
"Mr Murdoch, am I a coward?"
The question shocked Murdoch as he did not expect to be asked to say his opinion about his own employer's Honor.
"What do you mean by th...."
"Murdoch, you are too smart to ask me "what do I mean." You know very well what I mean. Collapsible C." Ismay's tone had changed drastically from his tired dimeanor to his now serious tone.
"Are you talking about..."
"Don't play dumb with me Murdoch. I told you not to widdle it down or stall. Yes, I mean 2 nights ago. Now, again... Am I a coward."
"Mr Ismay, I will be as honest as you ask me to be. You were rash and your demeanor that night was something of a bipolar mix of panic, disbelief, and urgency. You did put people into the boats. I saw you put that women in the boat even when she said she was heading back towards her cabin. You saved lives... So why do you see yourself as a coward?"
"You know as well as I do that I left in that boat. I do not know why I did, but no one else was around and I was all that was left.... I see myself as a coward for that."
"Do you even think it was all real though? You and I are still here, sharing a glass of Brandy."
"Don't play fool with me. You and I both know who did and who did not make it off."
The response shut Murdoch up... His mind drifting back to the night. As quickly as his mind drifted, he pulled himself back into what he perceived as reality, not wanting to remember his own actions that night.
"I see that it has caught up to you now Murdoch. Now... could you please answer my question."
Thinking for a moment, Murdoch finally, but slowly, gave his answer.
"As I had said before, you were rash and worried Mr Ismay, but you still helped in the evacuation, even if it was not your job. You yourself could had just wallowed in your stateroom or played cards in the lounge like other men, but you did not. You stood there that night... Not even in formal dress... But your nightmare and an overcoat, and you helped put men, women, and children into the boats. If you think that you were a coward for getting into that last boat, then you must be mad Sir. Other people may have their opinions, but there were only few to witness it. And I was one to witness it and I must say, you are no coward. If anything, you are a hero in a sense, even if it was not even real. Do not work yourself up over it at all, hold your head up with pride and remember those that you put into the boats. Remember that you... The highest official on the ship, still did his duty as a gentlemen. Remember that."
Ismay took a while to process the answer, but when he finally did... his expression turned to that of relief and happiness as if he had finally made peace with himself. Finally, he said "Thank you for that Mr Murdoch. If you are able to do so, please... Let us toast to our duties."
"I will toast to that any day as long as I am at peace with what I did Sir."
With that, the two men toasted and as if suddenly afflicted by a surge of energy, Ismay got up from his chair and made his way to his dresser and called out to Murdoch "Mr Murdoch, you are dismissed. Tell the good Captain that he has no need to worry for my safety and if anything, make sure that the ever wonderful Mr Andrews accidentally does not starve himself through all his work. If you are ever free tonight, I would like to invite you to dine with me. Until then, I hope to see you then."
After a few more minutes, Murdoch left the room surprised. He had just witnessed, and helped, a man on the verge of suicide take a complete 180 and become mentally stable. In a sense, he felt like he had relieved some baggage off his own chest as well. For a moment, it was as if the entire atmosphere of the ship had improved.
*** *** ***
For the first time in over a decade, Iron Hoof was sea sick. It had been over a decade since he had experienced a large storm like this at sea. In that time, it was if his body grew accustomed to calm seas. What he did next was something he hoped to not have to do ever again, retire to his quarters early.
In the wireless room, the two telegraph operators Crimson Sea and Silver Wire were hard at work juggling messages between the ships of the flotilla and trying to stay put in the rough seas. It was so bad that the Mareconi machine nearly toppled over. The two Stallions were nearly done with a message from the Iron Gail when suddenly as if it were right on top of them, the Mareconi machine began to sing out the dots and dashes in Moosecode. Taken aback by the sudden interruption, they both began to listen in on the headset and write down the message.
"Cape Race, this is MGY, please respond. Again, Cape Race, this is MGY, please respond."
The message was odd as there was no such thing as a Cape Race, let alone a ship identified with the letters MGY. The message played back a third time until a new message came up.
"Any ships in area, MGY in heavy storms, requesting contact."
Now they were being hailed by the mystery ship. Immediately, Silver Wire took the written messages and attempting to run towards the bridge. Nearly thrown up against the bulkhead, he finally made it up to the seasickened bridge. Every pony at their station looked like they were about to puke. Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.
"Seaman Silver Wire, I did not expect you to be here. Has an important message come through?" Turning around, he saw the Captain of the Baltimare, Samuel Hoof, staring at him with tired eyes.
"Aye Captain... but I think the admiral might want to see it Sir."
"Well.. if it is that important, say it out now... its not like there are any spies on board. This isn't Saddle Arabia you know."
"Aye, sorry Captain. Well, while me and Crimson Sea were writing down a message from the Iron Gail, the Mareconi machine went crazy as we just got hold of a new ship. I think it may be near us as the signal was quite strong Sir."
"Spare me the details Seaman, what was the message."
"Well, alright here it is. "Cape Race, this is MGY, please respond. Again, Cape Race, this is MGY, please respond." The second message was "Any ships in area, MGY in heavy storms, requesting contact." Sir, we might be getting hailed by this ship."
"Do you know what Cape Race or MGY is Seaman?"
"Cape Race, no Captain. But MGY, it sounds like a ship identification."
"Alright, I will deliver the message to the Admiral, but I want you to get one of the unicorn trackers to put a tracking spell on that signal."
"Aye Captain."
With that, Silver Wire made his way back to the telegraph room to find Crimson Sea scribbling something down.
"Silver, we got a name from the ship."
"Well, what is it?"
"Its called the Titanic."
*** *** ***
4 Hours Later
As if some by some act by Celestia herself, the storm had died down and once again, calm seas reigned under the night sky. The North Equestrian Sea Flotilla had found it's target. From the bridge of the Baltimare, Iron Hoof was stunned by the sight he saw. Though it was as dark as midnight, through his spyglass he could see a large well lit figure sailing through the night. Though it was hard to identify it by comparing it to the drawing, no other ship in the entirety of Equis was as large as what he was seeing before his eyes. The telegraph operators on all ships were monitoring the ship's messages and so far, everything was the same. The Titanic, as she was apparently called, kept trying to make contact with some sort of "Cape Race", probably some ship, and was trying to see if any ships were in the area. Her messages were being received but none were replied to. Strict silence was to be kept. All ship lights were dimmed and distance kept only at spotting distance. When morning came, the Flotilla would fall back further so that they would not be spotted and they would rely on the telegraph tracking spell. However, he knew that he would need proper identification so he motioned for his Captain to come forward and speak with him.
"Captain, get me a recon pegasus, the best we have. I need them to photograph that ship."
"Aye, right away Admiral."
With that, it took only a few minutes and the pegasus was off, flying as fast as it could towards the Titanic.
*** *** ***
Of all the times he had dinner on ships, tonight's dinner was by far Murdoch's weirdest dinner yet. Captain Smith had Murdoch accept Ismay's request in order to keep an eye on the man. Murdoch knew Smith's intentions were well as they both knew, no one could recover from a tragedy that fast, they both knew that. For a second, Murdoch thought he was truly in the afterlife as he himself had made peace with himself that stormy afternoon. Walking down the grand staircase towards D-Deck, the seas were much calmer and the only person to loose his footing was actually John Jacob Astor. Naturally Murdoch went over to help the richest man on the ship up but was shunned away by the man. Picking up the pace, he went down to the dining room to see that the attitude among the passengers had slightly lightened. The band was playing quite a nice tune in the reception room and even if the passengers present were all well off financially, they still seemed oddly grateful and joyous.
Making his way through the tables and servers carrying the finest foods on the sea, Murdoch found his way to Ismay's table. Seated there was Ismay, Benjamin Guggenheim and his Mistress, the Allison family (minus the children), and most surprisingly, Thomas Andrews. When Ismay caught eye of Murdoch, he motioned for him to come.
"Ah, First Officer Murdoch, please... come join us here. We have been waiting for you."
"How kind of you to wait for me."
"Well, I could not start the festivities without my prized guest, no offense Andrews."
"None taken Mr Ismay." Andrews said. His voice sounded like it's usual cheerfulness but there was something that did not seem right. Almost as if Andrews was holding something back behind the curtain.
Taking his seat, Murdoch and the rest of the people at the table began to converse on the rather dull topics of the shipping industry. After a while (and a few drinks and half of the 7 course meal on the nights menu), stories from the past began to be told. For a moment, Andrews had taken the lead while he was talking about his time as a regular Harland and Wolff apprentice until Murdoch told a story of one of Lightoller's shenanigans. Apparently a few times one of the White Star Ships, while there was a storm and the ships was rolling side to side, Lightoller would take it upon himself to turn it into a game by attempting to slide from one end of the bridge to the other without stopping. That kept happening until the Captain caught wind of it and put it to the end. Such was the life of Charles Lightoller. One could see him as stern yet he had a very bountiful joking side to him. When Lady Allison asked if there was any more stories about Lightoller, Murdoch drifted away from the subject to avoid embarrassing his colleague any further. Lightoller had done much worse things anyway.
The night went quite well and Murdoch was happy to report to Smith of Ismay's mental health. Feeling accomplished, Murdoch took his leave and went to bed before his shift at the helm began.
*** *** ***
April 17th
Titanic was being followed, Smith knew it. The previous night, odd flashes occurred during the night above and around the ship. For a moment, Smith expected an American aircraft taking pictures throughout the night, but that theory was ludicrous in it self. No pilot would be dumb enough to cut his engines every time he came close to the ship just to snap a picture. Let alone, an airplane was still loud enough and could not be drowned out by the sound of the ship sailing and funnels pluming with smoke. It was not that loud after all. He made his way to the bridge and ordered the helm to increase to full steam ahead. He knew the risk of ice was still about, but he was not going to have his ship be caught dead in the water.
*** *** ***
"Admiral, the ship is beginning to speed up. Her signal is starting to get faint!" One officer called.
"What is their projected heading Ensign?"
"They should reach Manehattan by about midday Sir!"
It was now or never. The ship had spotted them somehow, and now it was making a break for it. Who knew what that ship could be carrying? From the pictures he saw, it was truly massive. Silently, Iron Hoof thought an invasion force was being carried on that ship. But then again, the pictures, though dark, showed that there were deck chairs near the floodlights of the Titanic's smoke stacks. The flag being flown on the rear was not one he had seen before. But he would not take the risk.
"Helmsman, full steam ahead now. Lieutenant, inform the operators that it is time to make contact with this "Titanic". We may have a problem on our hooves."
The race has started. The Flotilla was steaming to intercept or pass the unknown ship Titanic. If they failed, they could possibly doom Manehattan, let alone all of Equestria.
Author's Note
Alright, took a bit but got it done. This chapter went through a few revisions and I am satisfied to say that it is publishable now. I do however feel it is somewhat sub-par and the feedback would be very great to help me out.
Now, the story of Lightoller sliding across the deck was true. I got it from the book "On a Sea of Glass" (would recommend!) And yes, Lightoller did worse as well.... if you want to read up on that, here is the link.
Link: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/community/threads/lightoller-and-his-pranks.18985/
Anyways, I will respond to all comments. I can assure you all that. In the mean time, my efforts are now going to be put on my other story... I got some planning to do with how Rommel wakes up after his accident in the latest chapter.
On a Sea of Glass.... And Ponies
April 17th, 1912
50 miles east of Manehattan
The great chase has just begun. The Equestrian Flotilla was now chasing it's prize, the Titanic. By now, it was clear that the Titanic spotted the Equestrians, a sudden change of speed makes things all too obvious. The fleets cruisers and destroyers by now are being pushed to their limit. The Baltimare had capped off at nearly 27 knots and was beginning to be left behind before a few unicorns cast a spell which allow the propellers to spin faster in the water. By now the fleet was moving at a combined speed of 30 knots, slowly closing in on their target.
*** *** ***
Smith and Lightoller stood at the Titanic's elevated stern helm, eyes peering through the borrowed lookout's binoculars. Behind them, a fleet of six warships we upon the horizon directly aft of the ship.
"Lightoller, what do you recon those ships are, American?" Smith said.
Peering through the binoculars Smith handed to him, Lightoller made his reply.
"From what I can see Sir, I can make out what looks to be 2 St Louis Class cruisers. The destroyers, I cannot tell. They are still far out..."
"They won't be for long. Lightoller, I need you to get Mr Andrews and whoever else he needs to speed this ship up. I know that what I am saying sounds rash, but at this point, it may be our only hope."
"I will do that right away Captain."
Gazing back at the ships, Smith could only hope the Titanic could steam faster.
*** *** ***
The wireless room was a mess. Messages coming from the unknown ships chasing them kept coming through, demanding that the Titanic stop and prepare to be boarded. Each passing second, the signals from the unknown ships grew stronger as the ships grew closer. Suddenly, without warning, Chief Officer Wilde barged into the Marconi room in a near frenzy and began to speak to the overworked telegraph operators.
"Alright gents, those messages still coming through?"
"Aye Sir, they won't stop bloody coming. Its like those other operators are out to get our heads Sir." Phillips responded. He was still very annoyed by all the messages.
"Well, Captain wants us to send them a response."
"A response Sir?"
"You heard me right Phillips, a response."
"Well... what do I give them."
"Tell them that we will not stop until we have reached our port of destination. If you wish to add to that, you may. Just make sure you don't antagonize them."
"Alright Sir."
With that, Bride was already writing out the message for Phillips to send when Wilde walked out.
*** *** ***
Manehattan Port was a mess. News came in from the navy that a large unidentified ship only know as the "Titanic" was steaming towards Manehattan with intent to dock. The harbormaster, Rusty Chain, was in his own little dilemma. From the constant messages coming from the fleet and now the questioning from the Manehattan police, his nerve was beginning to run very thin.
Suddenly, as if it was supposed to make him burst in anger, his office door flew open with his secretary Golden Dawn rushing in with photos in her hooves.
"Sorry to interrupt gentlecolts but these just came in from the Baltimare." she said waving the pictures.
"Put them on the table so we can all see it." He said as he cooled his nerve.
Golden Dawn placed the pictures on the desk and Rusty and the officers leaned in to look closely at what was on them. Turning to his secretary in shock, he grimly asked, "Golden dear.... what the bloody buck is this right before my eyes?"
Shaken by her employer's use of language and near temper flare up, Golden Dawn shakily uttered the words, "S-ss.... Sir... it just c-came from th-th... the fleet Sir. Thats the... the ship."
Immediately one of the officers asked "Ma'am, when were these pictures taken."
"Officer... th-those pictures were taken b-both last night and.... today."
"Are you sure these are real photogr..."
Rusty interjected immediately "Oh for Celestia's sake officer... you can see that the mare is shaken up. You, I, and the rest of your colleagues may discuss this by ourselves." Turning to his secretary, he gingerly said "Ms Dawn, I am sorry for my temper. You are no longer needed here and you may go."
His secretary merely nodded and walked out the door somewhat calmly and shut it with a slight slam. Turning his head back towards the officer, Rusty began to ask him questions.
"Alright, now that I see you have shut your mouth Officer, I will ask the questions. Firstly, what the heck do you intend to do with this here vessel and its occupants."
"Well we obviously must detain them and impound the vesse..."
"And how do you intend to do that. What, you are just gonna waltz on board and say "by the power invested in me by the good graces of Celestia and Luna, I hereby place you under arrest and shall detain your vessel"? You don't even know where a ship that size can even fit."
"Well, you are the harbormaster, that is your job to figure out."
"Alright then, you'll have your place to detain the ship. But after we find our place, you get your bucking officers out of the rest of the port. You are slowing everything down here."
"Well your workers just need to adapt then."
Under his breath, Rusty muttered "Adapt my Rear" and studied the ship. It was long for a start, quite long. Could be no less than a thousand feet though. The ship was quite slim so it shouldn't have a problem fitting into one of the larger docks. Rusty now had his Pier.
"We can direct them to Pier 54. It is used for docking multiple ships at a time but it is one of the only piers we have that can fit that bucking behemoth."
The officer simply stared at Rusty as if he were waiting for me.
"Well... you have you bucking dock. Move your men and your rear before I have you kicked out of my damn office... and before you say a damn thing, I don't give a changling's ass if you are a police officer. Get out!"
The officer was clearly pissed but he walked out of the room. Now all Rusty had on his mind was to fine medicine for his headache. It felt like his head was going to burst.
*** *** ***
"That ship said what??!!"
"They said that they will not heed our calls for them to stop and shall continue onto port."
Now Iron Hoof was worried and angered at the same time. He had probably the largest ship in Equis sailing into the largest port in Equestria with Celestia knows what on board. He had to act now or never.
"Captain, how far is that ship off from reaching Manehattan?"
"About 20 miles Admiral Sir." the Captain replied.
20 miles was all he had. He needed to think fast but not rash. It was clear the ship was not escorted so he could send a couple of his destroyers up to intercept the rogue vessel.
"Captain, I want the Stallion and the Iron Grail sent up to intercept that damned ship. They will not fire but merely sail as escorts beside her. Make sure that their weapons are ready though, is that clear?"
"Aye Admiral."
"Also, tell Canterlot to deploy the Manehattan garrison."
For a moment, his Captain hesitated and then replyed "Yes Admiral." before making his way to the wireless room.
For once in his nearly 30 years in the navy, the grand old admiral was afraid.
*** *** ***
Manehattan was a pure Metropolis. Compared to Canterlot, this was truly the city in which Equestria is based around. The tower skyscrapers and paved streets add to the sense of modernity not found anywhere else in Equestria... well... other than Fillydelphia and Baltimare. Said to be the city that never sleeps, at night... its lights shine brighter than those of the Prench capital. In the day, the streets are alive with workers and tourists. 6 such tourists being the friends of Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. The 6 friends decided to take a well needed vacation after quite a few annoying instances with two particular scam artists.
Walking in Manehattan was always somewhat of a challenge for non-natives of the city due to the risk of being ran over by taxis. Even though it was midday, the streets were still busy. Pinkie Pie, as quick as she can be when she is alert and actually focused, herself nearly got ran over by a Taxi when she almost done crossing 5th Avenue. Such was the life of tourists in Manehattan, always falling behind the city's native population.
Making their way down to lower Manehattan, the group decided to walk down the west side of the city as it was the most direct route to the lower part without substantial traffic. Coming up to the Manehattan docks, Rarity was in the midst of a (very annoying) conversation with Pinkie Pie when she noticed a large commotion.
"Girls, look over there, what do you think is going on?" She asked.
"Ah dunno, looks like somethin serious though." Replied Applejack.
"Well, this is Manehattan so something is always happening." Twilight tried to explain.
"Twilight darling, for all your book knowledge, you certainly don't know Manehattan. I mean look at it! It looks like have the police force is present!"
"Oooooh, maybe its some famous pony arriving!" Pinkie exclaimed, clearly excited.
"Pinkie, even if a famous pony came to Manehattan via the docks... the entire police force would not be present." Came Rarity's reply.
"Alright, well then we will just go see for ourselves... Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, could you fly above the crowd to see what is going on?"
"Sure thing we can, c'mon Fluttershy..... Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash was confused, one second her friend was next to her, next second she wasn't. It wasn't long before she spotted Fluttershy feeding a bunch of Pigeons.
"Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash yelling caused all the pigeons to fly away in a frenzy and Fluttershy flinched at her friend.
"Y-yes?" Fluttershy finally responded, still shaken up by the pigeons flying away in their frenzy.
"Look, sorry for yelling but something is going on at the port, mind flying with me to see whats happening?"
"Al... alright."
With that, they both flew off in the direction of Manehattan docks while the rest made their way over to the crowd to see what happened.
*** *** ***
"Lightoller, I need you to see this, now!" Smith yelled. Immediately, his subordinate came rushing over to his superior's aid.
"Yes Sir, what is it?"
"It looks like two of their destroyers broke off from the formation and are gaining speed. Take a look." Smith said handing Lightoller the binoculars.
"They look American Sir, something like a Paulding Class if my memory serves me right."
"How can you tell?"
"Seen those ships many times before at New York Sir, but look at the Ensigns they fly Sir. I have never seen them before in my sailing years." Lightoller said handing Smith the binoculars back.
The Ensigns of the ships were off. Rather than the typical American 46 Star Ensign that would usually fly, these ships had odd... rather colorful... ensigns with two Equines on the flag. One white and one dark blue.
"Aye, that is quite off... What is our speed Lightoller?"
"Sir, we are pushing 26 knots, that is 2 more than she was built for Sir."
"I trust Mr Andrews is the reason for this."
"That man can provide miracles Sir, that is something we both can agree on."
"I can't disagree to that. But now back to those ships... you said they were Pauldings, right?"
"Aye."
"They will catch us unless we reach land, come... let us check on the Bridge."
*** *** ***
"Sir, we have too much steam! If we don't get rid of it the bloody ship will blow!"
The report did not surprise the Chief Engineer. For the past 6 hours, he had the stokers and firemen build up steam while he and the Engineers were hard at work trying to increase the ship's speed. Even though they were accomplishing this job, they had too much excess steam and the stokers had to begin to remove coal from the boilers to stiffen the overflow. All he could do now was try to divert more steam to other resources other than the Engines.
"Tell the electricians to get flip all the damned breakers up. I don't care what, we need to blow off some steam now. I can't get the engines to go any faster so go tell the bridge as well. Got it?"
"Aye Sir!"
"Well don't bloody stand there, get moving!"
*** *** ***
"Pick up you bloody bastards." Frederick Fleet said as he cursed through the crows nest telephone. As if it they purposely waited, the bridge finally answered.
"Moody here, what do you see?"
"Tell the Captain that land is on the horizon. About 15 miles out by the looks of it."
"Alright, keep us posted."
"You bloody bet I will."
Fleet scolded the officers at the bridge. "As if a bloody iceberg wasn't enough to get their heads out of their ruddy asses" he thought. Now to top that, the Titanic was being chased by an unknown Fleet.
*** *** ***
"They said 15 miles Sir."
"15 bloody miles, we might not even make it that far if those ships keep on chasing us Moody."
"Murdoch, the only thing we can do is try and keep going."
"We still have to slow them down."
"How do we do that, we cannot even make con...."
"What?"
"Excuse me for a moment."
*** *** ***
"Let me get this straight Sir, you want us to lie to these warships to get them to slow down?"
"Yes, that is exactly what I want you to do."
"Pardon me for asking but how the bloody hell do we do that? It's not like we can feign engine trouble Sir."
"Phillips, Bride, do you know the max speed of the ship?"
"21 knots Sir, why do you ask?"
"Right now this ship is going 26 knots... well over her limit."
"What does thi.... oh."
"You see what I mean?"
"Aye Sir, we know what you mean. We will send that message right away."
"Good. Make it believable though."
"It is Morse Sir, even logical men can take fake messages for serious things."
*** *** ***
Staring at the note in his hoof, Iron Hoof was now royally pissed.
"Are you fools daft? They have lied to you all!" He screamed at his bridge crew. Because they had believed such a message such as Engine failure, the destroyers up at the front slowed down in anticipation of the Titanic slowing down, which it did not. Now his ships were further behind from the Titanic and the Titanic was almost 7 miles away from Manehattan. Now nearly out of options, the admiral had no choice but to send a telegram to the Manehattan Royal Garrison.
*** *** ***
"Captain, we have gotten orders from the admiral!"
The news made Captain Gilded Spear of the Manehattan Royal Guard Regiment jump up from his chair. He had thought the navy and police would handle the disturbance so that the guard would not have to be mobilized. Now it seemed like all had failed, and the guard was all that was left between this... Titanic... and Manehattan.
"Send word to the Lieutenant of the Pegasus company, I want him to intercept that ship NOW! Get the rest of the men to the port, I need to make a call to Canterlot. Is that clear?"
"Yes Sir!" His aide said as he scurried away with the orders. Picking up the receiver, Spear made a call to an old colleague in Canterlot.
*** *** ***
The day had started out fine in. The usual business of dealing with the ever annoying nobles and day court was going well until Captain Shining Armor came dashing in with word from Manehattan. The navy had failed to halt the large ship and now the Royal Guard Regiment in Manehattan was moving to intercept. Immediately, Celestia ended day court and took the message to her sister Luna. When her sister woke up from her rest and saw the paper, Celestia could sea the fear in her sister's eyes.
"Sister, do they not know what they are about to do? Has that Admiral and Captain gone mad?"
"They think that this "Titanic" could be a danger to Equestria Luna."
"It is a passenger ship! They do not know what they are about to do! Sister, are we able to get into contact with the Manehattan Guard Captain?"
"Alas sister, it appears that Guilded left his post to join his men at the docks. He informed Shining Armor of this when he made his call."
"Blast... sister, we must get to Manehattan before anything worse happens." Knowing his own sister's tone, Celestia knew she was serious and fearful. The dreams she had saw 2 nights before still stuck with Luna, it was obvious. After seeing one tragedy that could had been avoided, both sisters knew they had to avert another one from happening.
"I will go get the carriage ready Luna. It should be ready when you are."
"Trust me Celestia, I will not take my time... just because I seem weak does not mean I am slow."
"You know I know that Luna."
Within minutes, the diarchs of Equestria were in the air making haste towards Manehattan.
Author's Note
Now, this is something I merely tried out... the multiple changing of perspectives. It is my first time doing so and I hope it does not ruin the pacing and the detail of the story as well, it seems like it is branching off from realism. (Then again, this is a fanfiction after all.) I know as well that the USS St Louis was armed with 16x 152mm guns but I reduced it by half to show that the Equestrian Navy is not exactly one to be provocative and show force by sheer numbers of guns. Next chapter shall include what happens in Manehattan.
I know I said I was gonna go do my other story but I could not wait for the Titanic to reach its... unexpected destination.
For Image References, here is the what a Paulding Class Destroyer and St Louis Class Cruiser look like compared to the Titanic. (I know the St Louis Class had 16 152mm guns but I made this version lesser armed for the sake of showing that Equestria is not exactly militarized)
On a Sea of Glass.... And Ponies
ENS Baltimare
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT GOD DAMNED SHIP IS A PASSENGER SHIP? "
If anypony had never seen their commanding officer in a true fit of rage, everypony on the bridge of the ENS Baltimare had just witnessed their do so. Up until now, everyone one knew the Grand Old Fleet Admiral as a calm, capable commander. Over the course of one simple intercept mission though, they had seen a new side of him. Now in front of them all was an old admiral, in a raging fit at his sailors, and going somewhat senile. Even though the mission was a bust partly because of their own conduct, Iron Hoof's inability to take grasp of the situation and establish proper contact with the newly identified passenger ship may had just proven fatal, everyone knew it. They had to act, but first had to withstand this tongue lashing from their commanding officer.
"WHERE THE HELL ARE THOSE TWO WIRELESS OPERATORS THAT FIRST MADE CONTACT WITH THAT SHIP? BRING THEM HERE NOW!"
No one on the bridge would answer the Admiral, too scared to even make a move... or plotting to remove the admiral from command temporarily until he would be mentally fit to serve again. The admiral yelled the question again before the two wireless operators stepped forward cautiously as if they were not there for the first question. The lashing had begun.
LISTEN HERE YOU TWO, BECAUSE YOU TWO BUCKING IDIOTS DECIDED NOT TO TELL THAT SHIP ANYTHING, THEY ARE NOW ABOUT TO SAIL INTO A ROYAL GUARD PEGASUS FORMATION! DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY WILL DO TO THAT SHIP? THIS AIN'T LIKE THE BALTIMARE GUARD, TO THE MANEHATTAN GUARD, BALTIMARE IS FULL OF GRIFFONSHI...
Just as quick as he began, the admiral fell.... his legs twitching as he struggled to stay awake. Now hell truly broke loose.
"What the buck do we do?"
"We get a doctor thats what we do."
"Oh yeah smartass, and where are we gonna go get one."
"I ain't the Captain, I just work the signal flags."
"You should shove one up your rear if thats all you do."
"What did you say to me?"
"Sorry, you ask a question? Here, ask it to my rear."
"Why you little...."
Before the brawl began, a the two ponies were restrained and Captain Samuel Hoof came up to the rest of the bridge crew.
"Gentlecolts.... may I remind you you are still in the navy. Now, the Admiral is not suffering from a stroke or heart attack..." he said glancing down at his paralyzed commander, "... he is rather... well, restrained for now until we reach Manehattan and sort this out."
"This is mutiny Captain! We could be court marshalled for this!" on Lieutenant called out.
"You don't think I know that Lieutenant. But right now, the Admiral is not in the best shape. If anything, he jeopardized the whole mission and now we have to fix his mess." With that, the crew looked at each other but nodded back at the Captain in response.
"Now, I can see we are all in agreement so lets pull our heads out of each others rears and try to stop things from getting worse. Quartermaster, would you take the dear Admiral to his room and keep him locked up."
"With pleasure Sir. I don't hate him, but it is for his own good at this point."
"Aye... alright then, Seamen Silver Wire and Crimson Sea, telegram the flotilla to make haste to Manehattan and have them launch their Pegasi scouts to call off their interception."
The two wireless operators said a quick "Aye Sir" and made their way back to their station to carry out those orders. Back in his mind though, Samuel Hoof knew that it would take a lot more than what he was trying to do to stop the Pegasi interception.
*** *** ***
Flying horses.... were her eyes seeing this correctly? Sitting on the 1st Class boat deck promenade, Margaret Brown got up from her deck chair and took a double take to see if she was dreaming. She never drank too much so she ruled out that possible explanation when she still saw Pegasi flying towards the ship. It looks like almost there are hundreds of them she thought. Immediately as she was making her way to the Grand Staircase entrance, the ships horns sounded and seamen began to herd the rest of the passengers off all the decks. The last thing she saw before re-entering the ship was the lifeboats being swung out by the crew.
*** *** ***
5 Minutes Earlier
Lieutenant Sky Striker of the Manehattan Pegasus Royal Guard Regiment was a proud soldier. Though he had not seen combat, he was apart of the Manehattan Garrison, the toughest and most respected garrison in all of Equestria. They even made the Royal Guards in Canterlot look like Griffonshits. Today was his first mission leading a squad of Pegasi to intercept an unknown ship about to enter Manehattan. Always picking up the shit the navy doesn't do right. he thought. But to be fair to the Navy, no one in Equestria really saw combat in a thousand years, save for the changeling skirmishes around inland Equestria.
It took only a few minutes for the ship to come into view. When he saw it, he was nearly dumbfounded. No ship in all of Equis was that big. It nearly defied the laws of physics entirely for it's size. Even it's speed was extremely fast for a ship of that size. Out of 3 of it's 4 smoke stacks, huge billows of smoke poured out as if the ship was running overtime. A bit far behind, Striker could see the Equestrian Navy still giving chase to the ship. From the looks of it, it looked like they had launched all of their Pegasi as well to quickly intercept and take over the ship. As they got closer, a roaring sound came from the ship and what looked like little creatures were swinging out smaller boats on the ship's deck.
*** *** ***
Pegasi... Of all the things Smith thought he would see, he never thought he would see Pegasi flying towards his ship. It wasn't just a few though, it was nearly hundreds of them.
"Wilde, what's the report from the engine room?"
"S-sir, wheeze the engine room reports that all wheeze engines are up to full capacity. They also say that at this rate they might blow a few boilers if we don't get rid of the steam."
"Well, do you have any suggestions? We can't just blow steam while the crew is setting up the boats."
"Well Sir, we could cough blow the horn a few times. Who knows, it might even drive those horses away from us when they hear that thing."
"I see... well, blow the horn a few times. We might need to still blow steam though. Also, find the good Master at Arms and have him bring the weapons inventory up here, we may need it."
"Aye Sir..."
"And Wilde?"
"Yes Captain?"
"Drink some water would you, I can't have my Chief Officer falling down unconscious."
"I'll get right to it Sir."
*** *** ***
The Manehattan Regiment was still moving towards the ship, Samuel Hoof could see clearly through his spyglass. Though he had launched his own Pegasi to intercept and call off the interception, they still had a distance to go. Turning his sights back to the Titanic, the decks were empty save for the fee clumps of Seamen setting up the lifeboats. "They need more time" he thought as he set the spyglass down and turned back to face the bridge. The flotilla was making full steam and was gaining on the Titanic but by the time they would be able to reach it, it would be too late.
Turning to the Lieutenant beside him, he asked "Lieutenant, look over there. Do you think we have time before they attack?"
Turning towards his Captain, the Lieutenant gave him a puzzled look but replied a few seconds later with "Sir, we have done all we could right now with the previous mistakes made by the good Admiral."
"But is there anything more we can do?"
"Sir, I am a Lieutenant and not a strategist, I cannot answer that question."
"Alright, consider it an order to answer that question now Lieutenant. What would you do to stop it? I don't care if it is stupid, I will take stupid right now."
"Well... if you want stupid.... the best thing I can come up with is simply using our guns to disperse the attack."
"You mean fire on out own guys?"
"You asked for even a stupid answer Sir, that is about all..."
"I know, I know..... we would have to wait until we are in range..."
The Lieutenant stared at him in complete shock. It was clear he did not expect his Captain's response. "S-sir.... you are actually gonna go through with this?"
"Well think, we can only use force to stop the attack before our Pegasi get there and call it off. Now, I want you to go get the gun crews ready, that clear?"
"Y-y..... Aye, C-Captain."
Patience was something that any Navy Colt needed to know. And right now, Samuel Hoof's was running thin.
*** *** ***
"Captain! All boats are swung out Sir!" A seamen yelled towards the bridge.
"Good, make sure that every man stays at their posts beside them and prepare for an evacuation!" Smith yelled back. He knew that the ship did not have enough lifeboats but an evacuation would need to happen if the worst came to be.
"Sir, King is here!" Fifth Officer Lowe yelled.
"Does he have the pistols?"
"Aye Sir!"
"Good, have them handed out amount the officers and quartermasters."
"Aye Captain!"
The horn slowed the horses down for a bit but they were still coming. Smith's only relief was that the passengers were safe inside the ship and the crew was arming themselves. With whatever they could find whether it be clothes hangers, kitchen knives, and even coal shovels from the boiler rooms. Anything that could be used as a weapon was distributed amongst the crew. Pistols though could only do so much to horses in the air wearing armor though.
"Lowe, do you think the rockets could stop those horses?"
"Rockets Sir?"
"The distress rockets, you know what I mean."
"Well Sir, it won't kill them but the sound would give them a concussion if they get to close. Plus those are horses so their fur would get burned."
"Hm... get Hitchens to get the rockets ready as well, we may have to use them."
"Aye Sir."
*** *** ***
The horn had caught the Pegasi off guard from the sheer sound. For a minute, it felt like Sky Striker's ears were bleeding. The ship was still moving towards Manehattan though so they still had to stop it no matter what. By the time they were nearly on-top of it, Striker could see the creatures below on the decks. It looked like they all wore blue uniforms, almost similar to the navy's uniforms. The higher ranking member's of the ships crew wore what looked like caps and greatcoats. All of them were bipedal and clearly in a hurry.
Without warning, somepony yelled "INCOMING!" as a flash of light flew past Striker's eyes. Right above him, the flash erupted into a squad of Pegasi above him and some of the Pegasi began to scream as their fur began to erupt into flames. Suddenly, more rockets began to fly up and the entire regiment began to fly around in a panic. The commander was yelling for everypony to maintain the attack but they were all too worried about the rockets flying passed them. Suddenly, somepony yelled retreat and as Sky Striker began to fly back, he saw a white light flash before his eyes. The last thing he remembered before drifting into unconsciousness was two Pegasi carrying him back to the mainland.
*** *** ***
Cheers erupted on the deck as the horn began to sound once more and the flying horses flew away with their wounded in tow. The feeling of triumph was in the air as the crew of the Titanic cheered at their victory at defending the ship. The men above decks were ecstatic but after a few minutes the cheers died down again and men began to man their stations.
Back up on the Crows Nest, Frederick Fleet looked through the binoculars to scan over the horizon. Land was in view, though it did not look like the American coast. It looked more untouched without all the houses and buildings dotting the area around it though. In the center of his vision though stood a metropolis of epic proportions. It certainly looked like New York but a closer look saw the statue of liberty look, off. Gone was lady liberty replaced with a sort of... pony looking figure in it's place. Immediately, Fleet called the bridge. Unlike the last couple of times, they finally decided to not take their time.
"What do you see this time Fleet?" Came the response from the receiver.
"Land dead ahead Sir, looks like New York but can't be sure. Looks really... off." Fleet replied.
"Thank you, that will be all."
As he placed the phone back into the receiver, Fleet could not help but wonder if something worse was about to happen.
*** *** ***
Looking through his Spy Glass, Samuel Hoof saw the carnage. The Titanic had apparently launched rockets at the Manehattan regiment and what followed was true Tartarus. Ponies being burned and nearly falling into the water as the rockets exploded. He could see why the admiral was scared but could not help but feel sympathy for the creatures. After all, they were defending themselves. Turning to the Lieutenant next to him, he asked if the wireless operators had made contact with the Titanic again. But just like all the other times he asked, the answer he got was a solid "No." Turning his eyes back to the ship in front of him, he saw as they were about to enter Manehattan Harbor.
*** *** ***
"Captain, we are about to pass Lady Liberty." Lightoller yelled. When Smith heard this, he rushed from the side of lifeboat 4 towards the bridge to see it for himself. When he got there... he was nearly in shock.
"Lightoller, what an I seeing right now."
"From the distance it looked like Lady Liberty Sir..."
"You say from a distance. Tell me now, what an I seeing right now."
"Well, we cannot turn the ship round now Captain, not with our speed and the clearance we have. Out best shot it to try it after we pass the statue by about a half a mile and then turn her. And try to make a break for it."
"Lightoller, you remember the ships following us."
"Aye Sir."
"So let me get this straight, you mean to tell me that we are going to have to essentially, as the Americans put it, "wing it"?"
"I don't see any other way Captain..."
"In all my years at sea I never expected this." Smith said taking off his hat rubbing his grey hair.
"Neither did we all Sir."
*** *** ***
Near about 1:00, a large bellowing horn sounded from far in the harbor entrance. Over the horizon, a behemoth sailed into Manehattan. Twilight, her friends, and everyone present at the Port rushed over to the edge just to get a look at the ship sailing in.
The ship carried 4 massive smoke stacks painted in black and orange. Her top superstructure was white and it looked as if the paint was somewhat still fresh and she had a deep black hull.
"Guys, what the HECK, is that." Rainbow Dash finally uttered.
"That is probably the ship everypony is talking about...." Twilight said. She marveled at the sleek curves that made up the hull of the ship. Everything just looked neat. As the ship came in closer, she could see that what looked to be the lifeboats were swung out from their davits and the ship was still moving quite fast.
Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Manehattan police ponies and the Manehattan royal guard Garrison swamed the area and began to push the spectators away from the edge of the dock.
"Hey, what the hay is that for?" Applejack asked as she was being pushed away from a guardspony.
Immediately, the guardspony pointed above him and said, "Take a for yourself ma'am, those things are a threat."
Looking above, the girls could see the carnage flying above them as the Pegasi Regiment flew in retreat towards a medical camp set up near one end of the Manehattan Port Authority building. A lot of Pegasi were burned and unconscious as they flew to the medical center. All the girls could do was watch in horror.
*** *** ***
All around the Titanic were police and civilian vessels. She clearly caused a scene when she entered the harbor of the foreign city and just like before, she was being mailed to surrender. Smith however would have none of it. He was not about to surrender the largest and most technologically advanced passenger ship to a bunch of horses who could even handle a simple interception correctly. Soon the turn was coming up and he decided to wait the horn one last time before the Titanic departed.
*** *** ***
Under normal circumstances, a trip to Manehattan by the princesses would be announced. However, as the matter was urgent, nearly no one noticed the arrival of the diarchs of Equestria until the Royal Canterlot guardsponies began to push civilians and policeponies aside.
Walking beside her nervous sister, Luna asked "Sister, do you fear we are too late?"
Calmly, Celestia replied "If the Manehattan Police have not gotten their handcuffs out and they are still waiting in place, we may still have time."
Making their way to the edge of the now stunned crowd, on of the guards announced the diarchs formally and immediately everyone bowed. After the formalities were over and the diarchs turned away to look at the ship, a voice in the crowd yelled towards them.
"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!"
There running towards them was Twilight Sparkle and her friends. They were clearly worried, Fluttershy had a nearly sick look on her face.
"Princess, what is going on?"
"I will explain that later, but why does Fluttershy look sick."
"The Manehattan Regiment.... Its...." Twilight's voice drowned off as she looked at the medical station. There, the two Princesses could see clearly the Carnage the failed interception caused.
"Sister, we are too late." Luna quitely said.
Before Celestia could reply, the horn coming from the large ship yelled as it came closer to the docks followed by numerous smaller ships, police and civilian alike. Suddenly, the ship's front left anchor dropped into the water and after a few seconds, the ship lurched and began to turn violently left. As she was turning, the ships true length was being shown. The massive length of the ship was truly marvelled upon by all ponies present. However, the ship would not stop turning and her stern was swinging towards the pier in which everyone stood on. Suddenly, a voice yelled "Run!" and the pier became overwhelmed with a stampied of ponies trying to escape the looking disaster.
"Twilight, get you and your friends of of here. Luna, I need you with me, NOW!"
For a moment, it looked as if Twilight was about to question her Sovereign's command but immediately, her and her friends followed the general stampied off the pier. When she could see that they were gone, Celestia gestured for her sister to follow her towards the end of the pier. The ship's turn looked almost nearly complete but her stern was still swinging towards the end of the pier. As soon as the ship looked like it was about to hit, Celestia yelled out "Now Luna!" and their horns began to glow.
For a second, the ship did not look like stopping but soon, the massive ship began to lift up out of the water. Her red bottom began to ship and as time went on the ship was completely out of the water. It was truly a sight to behold, so much so that nearly every pony stopped running off the pier to get a look. Right above Pier 54, the massive ship began to move slowly into the berth beside it, propellers spinning and all. Suddenly and abruptly, the propellers stopped as the ship was being set down into the pier. When the deed was finally done, both Celestia and Luna were extremely tired. It took nearly all their strength to lift up the ship. Within minutes of the great feet, Manehattan police officers and Manehattan guardsponies waster no time setting up a rather massive gangplank and placing it in front of one of the ships doors.
*** *** ***
Private Swift Sword was nervous. He had just witnessed what had happened to the Pegasu regiment when they tried to get near the ship and now he was about to board the ship. No one knew what the creatures were like other then that they were bipedal. Walking slowly up the gangplank, he could sense the nervousness among the police and guardsponies around him. Reaching the black metal door that lead to the inside of the ship, him and his squad took up positions ready to breach and charge into the ship. Suddenly, before they got the spell ready, the door suddenly cracked open. Not knowing what to do, everypony froze in silence, waiting for what would happen next. For almost a minute, there was nothing but complete silence until one policepony decided to grab the door and open it slowly. When the door was open, Sword could not see what was at the door but he did hear a click. Stepping from beside the door, he and the rest of the ponies on the gangplank faced numerous bipedal creatures, each other what looked like kitchen knives and shovels. The one in front of him held a small metal object and pointed it directly at Swords skull. Surprisingly, the creature spoke. His words though were almost menacing.
"Listen here... and listen very well. You take one step on this bloody ship, you will get a bullet put into your Equine skull... o
Author's Note
Burnt the midnight oil with this one. I had a lot of stuff planned for this chapter but could not find a way to put it all in without experiencing significant writer's block and delaying it to the point in which I quit writing the story. So here it is. This will definitely be revised when I finish this story so please don't tell me it is shit. I know it somewhat is but it advances the plot. Anyways, some disclaimers here. The guy named King was one of the Master At Arms (essentially police officer) on the Titanic.
Now, for what to fix with the revision. Definitely going to be a lot more dialogue as well as some missing engine room and passenger dialogue that I cut out or got annoyed writing. Secondly, more detailed needed to be added to Manehattan Pier 54 and such as well as the crew's reaction to the ship being in a whole new world yada yada yada..... So yeah... fun stuff....
As always, leave a comment below. If your comments says that this is subpar, I won't blame you. If anything, I am up for the criticism. Well, I am rambling now. See you next chapter.... or maybe story.... I have another story coming up and let's just say.... Le Beau has some competition to win over Schultz.
On a Sea of Glass.... And Ponies
The Story the Officers Don't Tell
Pier 54, Manehattan
There are many things that can drive a man to the edge. In this case, it is talking horses that can lift up ships. Titanic was in dock though so there was good thing that happened. But then again, the ship was chased by warships, attacked by Pegasi, and nearly rammed a pier. So for the sake of all of their sanity, Smith allowed the officers to take a leave of duty to cope with the situation.
Sitting in the officer's mess (located right near to the 3rd funnel casing), Lightoller took another swig of Whiskey from the flask, attempting to drown his thoughts with alcohol. Never had he thought that he would be stuck in some weird world with talking horses. But then again, he never expected to float on an overturned lifeboat in the middle of the night either. So one was better than the other. Still though, he has nearly frozen to death, drowned, fallen off a ship, fired upon my ships, and attacked by Pegasi. Just another thing to add to the list.
About to take another sip of the Whiskey flask, the flask was suddenly snapped out of his hand by a certain Scotsman who was already a tad tipsy.
"Bloody hell Murdoch, you couldn't have waited till I finished?" Lightoller said with a bit of a slur.
"Oohhh, quit yer yapping Lights and share with the rest of the lot." A drunken Murdoch replied.
Nearly tripping over as he waddled away, Murdoch attempted to take a drink from the flask when he collided with an equally drink Moody.
"Watch where yah goin' fookin bastard?" He said with drunken confidence.
"You walked into me yah bastard!" Moody yelled back.
"OHHHHH.... I AM THE BASTARD EH?"
"YER DAMNED RIGHT YER THE BASTARD!"
Murdoch raised his fist with rage, about to punch Moody before Lowe came between them.
"ALRIGHT! ANY BASTARD STARTS HITTING THEIR MATES IS GETTING A DAMNED PINT STUCK UP THEIR BLOODY ASS!" He drunkenly yelled. Ironically, he had the most to drink that night but was being the most sane drunk in the room.
"I BLOODY OUTRANKED YOUR ASS LOWE!" Murdoch yelled.
"DOES IT hic LOOK LIKE I GIVE A DAMN?" Lowe screamed. There were flames in both of their eyes, but soon they all backed down and sat back at the table. There was a long silence after that with the men occasionally taking drinks from their respective glasses, bottles, and flasks. It was not until Murdoch spoke up that the silence was broken.
"Alrighty gents, no fooking point in drinking in silence... anybody got some shit to tell us mates?"
Silence was still among the men.
"Okay then... nobody? Okay, who wants to hear a hic classic Lights story?"
Pitman was the first to speak up. "You both bloody told us all of Lights' fookups. Give it a rest for god's sake."
"Ah, but we never told you this one lass, this is about Lights' Sydney incident."
Immediately when he heard this, the drunken Lightoller got up and yelled at Murdoch "Don't you say a bloody word! You and I agreed to not mention this!" There was clearly something Lightoller was hiding.
"Ah sod it Lights, you and I both fookin' know that it won't matter now."
"Don't play those words with me man."
"Oh, for god's sake, just shut the hell up you drunken yaps! I outrank your asses and I want both of you to shut up so we can here the god damned story." Wilde drunkenly interjected. Normally Wilde would get Murdoch to stop but his drunkenness prevented that from happening.
"Alright mates, you want the hic short shite or long shite?" Murdoch asked/
"Just tell the damned bloody story!" Boxhall yelled.
"Alright.... alright.... Now... back in his younger days, Lights was an officer on the Medic. This be during the Boer War and they had just stopped in Sydney after dropping off their cargo. Now, I don't hic bloody know what goes on the Lights' head but the fookin' bastard thought it would be funny to joke with the entire damned city. With all that damned Boer fear goin' 'round, he took advantage of it. Somehow, the bloody idiot got a Boer flag and him and his mates took a boat off to er..... Fort whatever..... uh... Lights, what was that Fort you fooked with?"
"I think it hic was bloody er... Fort er..... Fort... DENISON! Yeah, Fort Denison." Lightoller replied.
"Alright, now, Lights and and his fookin' mates row up to the fort and somehow bloody sneak to the top with the flag pole. You think that shit was easy? No, this is our Lightoller we are talking about, he had to add some fookin' spice to it. The dumbarse decided to stick a bloody wad of cotton in a cannon and bloody fire it! A damned 8 inch cannon! Fook, I never thought you were one to overcompensate like that Lights."
As soon as the story finished, all the officers began to laugh so hard that their alcohol began to splash on one another. Lightoller however was quite fazed by Murdoch's last comment and before he knew it, Lightoller lunged at Murdoch and began to (rather drunkenly and sloppily) beat Murdoch up. It was not until the rest of the officers got ahead of their laughing when they finally pulled Lightoller up, bound up his arms, and locked him in the pantry. Little did they know what was in store for the next day.
Author's Note
So, I have been rather caught up with my other stories lately that I never worked on this one. Funnily enough, I got the idea of this little chapter from something that I read on a different fanfiction website depicting even worse drunken and disorderly Titanic officers. Besides, I think this story needed some comic relief so I decided that something involving drunken Titanic officers and another of Lightoller's pranks from his past was needed. For those that do not think that the story I told is not true, trust me... it is definitely true. Lightoller was quite a man...
Anyways, gonna focus on my Hogan's Heroes fanfiction for now until I get that fixed... I hear Le Beau does not like it when he has someone or in this case somepony to rival his cooking.
On a Sea of Glass.... And Ponies
RMS Titanic
Throughout all the decks, all was silent. Passengers and crew members alike were asleep in the beds and bunks, preparing themselves mentally for the next day. However, not all were asleep. Take the officers for instance, fighting among each other in a drunken haze inside the Officer's Mess up on the Boat Deck. Captain Smith, the poor soul, was busy trying to get some sleep inside his cabin to try and drown out the thought of being in a new world. And then that leads to the two wireless operators, the chairman, and the Chief Designer, all sitting alone in Ismay's large suite with a bottle of wine between them. Originally, Phillips and Bride were not even invited, but when Ismay saw the two friends skulking around on the decks, he decided to let them in. And now here they sat, glasses in hand, silent as the night.
From the way they looked, they looked like they were all in deep thought, and that it was. Families were on their minds of course, with Andrews thinking of his wife Helen and 2 year old daughter Elizabeth, Ismay thinking of his own wife and children at home in England, and Bride and Phillips thinking of the families they left behind when the joined up with the Marconi Company. No sounds departed from their mouths other from the faint sound of one of the sipping wine every now and then. Silence was their only solace.
After a while, Andrews decided to get up from the chair in the sitting room and decided to head out to the Private Promenade, taking his glass with him. From there, he proceeded to open up one of the Promenade windows with one of the window cranks in the corner. Opening the window, Andrews let the cool city air blow into the Promenade as if it were air entering an airlock. All in front of him, the city was alive. The shining lights of the city reminded him so much of New York. Everything looked almost exactly like the city... but it simply wasn't New York. No... it was some twisted reality that he found himself thrown into along with everyone else on board the ship. Was it punishment for the sinking, punishment for not pushing through and having more lifeboats be put on the ship? He wanted answers, but he knew that he would never get them. All he could do was simply resign himself to the facts presented to him, and make do with what he had. So there Thomas Andrews was, sitting in a lounge chair, starring out into the vast cityscape of Manehattan, unsure of the future.
*** *** ***
While the four men sat alone in silence, back up on the Boat Deck, panic was about. Bursting out of the officer's mess, a small hooded figure ran about on the deck heading aft. Soon after, 7 half-drunken and half-shocked officers burst out of the door attempting to catch up with the small hooded figure. Reaching the aft-end of the Boat Deck and seeing nowhere to go, the figure ran into the Second Class staircase and made a mad dash down the stairs. When the officers followed, only Wilde, Moody, and Lowe were able to keep balanced while the rest tumbled down the stairs (Lightoller in part because they all forgot to untie his bindings.)
Reaching the B-Deck Second Class promenade, the figure tried to make its way into the Second Class entrance only to find it locked. With the officers closing in behind it, the creature tried the next. Oddly enough, the door was unlocked and the creature soon found itself in the Cafe Parisian in all of its beauty. But there was no time to stop as the voice of a drunken Scotsman roared from behind it.
"There it is boys! Move yer arses!" Murdoch yelled, pointing in the direction of the Cafe's backdoor entrance.
"Fer god's sake... untie me ye bastards!" Lightoller yelled.
"Oh fer th... Moody, untie L.....LIGHTS!" Wilde ordered, nearly forgetting Lightoller's name.
"Yesh Sir!" Moody said with a sloppy salute.
While Moody untied Lightoller the best he could in their drunken state of mind, the rest of the officers chased the hooded figure through the cafe up to the aft grand staircase. What followed suit was a large amount of cursing and drunken slurs as the officers attempted to open up the port brazen door which led to the port B-Deck First Class corridor. By the time they reached the main staircase, the figure had all but vanished and once again, the officers began to argue among themselves. They only stopped arguing when a quite irate figure popped up behind their backs with a face of near full on rage with 3 other men behind him.
*** *** ***
When Andrews decided to go out onto the Promenade, it wasn't long until Ismay, Bride, and Phillips followed suit. They remained quiet though, letting the sounds of the bustling city drown out the quiet atmosphere. It wasn't long though before the awkward silence that dominated the room was finally broken when Ismay began to compare the city to New York from his past visits. Eventually, the conversations evolved into each of the men's own tales from their hometowns. The mood had somewhat lightened, but still their conversation was soft and calm, not as hearty as the ever ridiculous (and sadly true) Tales of Lightoller were when Murdoch told them the stories the previous day. The conversation only ended when the sound of men arguing like children came from the hallway. The fact that they were on the Promenade and that they could hear it meant that it was quite loud.
Getting up from his lounge chair, Ismay made his way up to the door to see what the commotion was about, Andrews, Bride, and Phillips following suit. What they saw was a sight they would never forget. If one had never seen 7 ranking seamen drunk and arguing like children before, then this was their perfect opportunity to do so.
Seeing such a sight saw Ismay forget about his own worries and he found himself quite angered. Looking behind him, he was surprised to see a quite puzzled face on Andrews before it turned into a face of slight anger and puzzlement combined. The two wireless operators however wore faces of shock and compressed laughter. Ismay really couldn't blame the boys, they were still youngsters after all.
It took a while for the officers to stop arguing as they were too drunk to even notice their own surroundings. However, it took one quite loud "Ahem" from Ismay to get them to turn around. When Wilde turned around, it looked like he was about to say something smart towards Ismay but when he laid eyes on Ismay's face, his eyes went as wide as pie-lids as he quickly shut his mouth. When the others saw Ismay, it was as if they had all became sober immediately stared into Ismay's eyes with fear clearly in their glassy eyes. Now Ismay had their attention.
"Officer Wilde, what are you and your men doing?" Ismay said calmly, surprising the officers.
"M-mr Ismay... we was uh...." Wilde tried to say as he nearly drifted into a drunken haze.
"Wilde!" Ismay snapped.
"Y.... Yes Sir! We were chasin' a uh..."
"A what?"
"Uh... c'mon boys, help me out here." Wilde asked.
"I don't know hic what the hell that... uh... thing was." Lightoller said, still trying to remember.
"Yeah... it was damn well short hic though... looked like it was covered with dark sheets." Moody added in.
"Oh yeah! It uh.... what was it... damn.... it had something that took a large flash. I swear my eyes still hurt from uh... from that." Murdoch said while rubbing his eyes.
"You sure it wasn't the alcohol Murdoch?" Bride muttered under his breath.
"What was that Bride?" Murdoch yelled.
"Hm? I said nothing."
"Sure..." Murdoch said before turning his still drunken head towards Ismay.
Ismay was about to give the officers a thorough reprimand but was stopped when the sound of a piano began to fill the halls of the ship. Immediately all of their eyes darted towards the Grand Staircase as the music grew into an ominous crescendo.
"Lights... get the guns... we are ending this now." Murdoch ordered.
"Already on it." Lightoller said as he tried to make his way up the stairs to the Officers Quarters.
"No, you will not be getting the guns." Andrews finally said. His voice was firm and he did not waiver when Lightoller shot him a drunken glare. They stared at each other for a minute before the music began to grow louder once again.
"Give me the keys Lightoller... you are in no shape to even handle a firearm." Andrews said, slowly walking over to the somewhat drunken officer.
"I am as sober as the Captain, thank you very much." Lightoller said, his head bobbing up and down with every word.
"No... you are not, now hand me the damned keys Mister Lightoller." It took a while but Lightoller finally (albeit reluctantly) gave Andrews the keys to the safe in the Murdoch's room.
For the few minutes Andrews was gone, Ismay and the two Wireless operators had to make sure that the drunken officers did not manage to break anything. It got to the point where they had to be sat in chairs and placed in timeout like children. When Andrew's steps could be heard coming down from the staircase, the lights began to flicked for some reason and a couple of the officers huddled under the chairs like children (it looked like Lightoller and Murdoch).
"These pistols are brand new gentlemen." Andrews called when he was starting down the stairs to B-Deck.
"We had them purchased in surplus actually so those are simply well kept, not brand new Mr Andrews." Ismay said.
"Hm... Alright, I brought them all down in case one of our prestigious officers somewhat sobered up." Andrews said while handing a pistol to Ismay.
"Have you boys ever shot before?" Ismay asked.
"Um... No Mr Ismay, I haven't shot a gun in my life Sir." Phillips replied.
"Same here." said Bride.
"Alright..." Ismay said with a sigh. It was time for the next best option.
"Alright you drunken fools. I want you all to stand up... If you can." Ismay directed towards the officers in timeout. Wilde and Pitman were able to stand up immediately to the surprise of Ismay while the rest stumbled out of their chairs or simply fell down back into them. When they all finally stood up, he turned to Andrews and motioned for him to come over.
"Are the guns even loaded?" He whispered in Andrews' ear.
"No, why would anyone knowingly give a bunch of drunkards a loaded gun? Besides, I'd rather try to solve this problem without putting a few bullets into whatever this thing is or the ship's paneling." Andrews said with a chuckle handing Wilde and Pitman the unloaded pistols. Bride and Phillips protested until Ismay showed them that none of the guns were loaded behind the drunken officer's backs.
Once everything was set, the 11 men set down the stairs towards the ominous music coming down from the Reception Room. With each careful step, one of the drunken officers nearly slipping on each step. When they finally managed to reach D-Deck, the lights suddenly dimmed and Ismay thought he heard a couple a squeals from a few of the officers.
"I'll go check the breaker." Andrews said, making his way through the dark to the starboard gangway which housed the electrical breaker. Just then, hell broke loose.
The piano music grew louder and everyone paused and stood still. Pistols in hand, Ismay, Wilde, Andrews, and Pitman made their way slowly to the piano with the others in tow grabbing furniture to strike the intruder. When they managed to surround the piano without being noticed, Andrews and Wilde moved up to apprehend the cloaked figure. Unbeknownst to them, a trip wire was in front of the two. Andrews nearly caught himself but managed to move over it in the dark but the still somewhat drunken Wilde stumbled over it falling flat on his face. Out of nowhere, the sound of a large cannon shook the entire room as suddenly, the cloaked figure disappeared into the darkness.
Suddenly without warning, a voice sounded from behind the 11 men. "Surprise!" It called out.
"It's a ghost! Everyone run for your lives!" Murdoch drunkenly yelled out.
As soon as he yelled it, the 7 officers began to scramble around the dark room, at one point nearly trampling poor Bride. In the meantime, Wilde and Pitman furiously tried to pull the trigger of their guns as they tried to shoot in any and every direction to no avail, suddenly realizing that the guns weren't loaded. In all the chaos, Andrews was able to make his way passed the mass of drunken humanity towards the breaker switch and turn the lights back on to find Ismay sitting in a chair with his head slumped down, Phillips attempting to get Bride out from under Lowe, and the rest of the officers either knocked out or simply asleep on the reception room floor. Absently, he wished he had decided to spend the night in his room.
*** *** ***
Like any good White Star Line employee, Charles Joughin woke up early to prepare his daily rounds. Of course, given the circumstances, he did what any sensible man would do in such a time, take a few drinks. He only took enough to fall asleep of course, not wanting to go overboard like he thought he did on the 15th. After the customary preparation and oversight of the bakery, Joughin made his way to the dining room to see how the tables were being set only to find Mr Andrews, Mr Ismay, the two wireless operators, and the ships officers sat down in chairs sleeping while the room around them looked slightly ajar. Not letting his curiosity get the best of him, Joughin made his way back to the kitchen to let the stewards know of the mess.
Author's Note
So... It's been a while since I did another chapter of this. I kinda did not know where to go after the last two so... Why not start something off with an intermission. I said I was not gonna abandon this story. Not by a Longshot. For those that have kept up with my Schultz story, do not worry. I am working on that one as well... I just needed a break. Sometimes one cannot stick to the same subject all the time. Am I right? I don't know if I am anymore.
Quick history note: Lightoller was supposed to be Titanic's 1st Officer with Murdoch as the Chief Officer. Wilde was actually supposed to be promoted to Captain another White Star Liner but due to a coal strike which saw much coal being diverted to the Titanic, Wilde's promotion was put on hold and a quick shuffle of the crew saw Murdoch and Lightoller demoted while the original 2nd Officer went off the ship (with the keys to the binocular locker mind you). Hence why Lightoller has the keys to the same in the 1st officers room. If memory serves me correct, during the sinking, they had to ask Lightoller to open the safe for the firearms (Webley Revolvers) as Murdoch was supposed to be Chief Officer before the crew switch and knew nothing of the Revolvers as it was the 1st Officer's duty to handle that.
As always, please comment on the story, every comment helps. I am not gonna ask for a like... You guys decide on that.
On a Sea of Glass.... And Ponies
April 18th, 1912
A long time ago, somepony made out the 5 stages of whatever. Whether it be grief, suffering, anger, disgust... Whatever it is, you name it. But the catch is, it all ended the same way. Acceptance. Of course, like any experienced, hard working pony, Rusty Chain knew that it was all nonsense. Or well, he thought it was nonsense until he had to simultaneously deal with the Manehattan Police Department, the Manehattan Royal Guard Regiment, Press Reporters, the Diarchy of Equestria, and now the largest ship that ever sailed into his harbor that was not even of Equestrian origin.
When everything was finally set, he had dismissed his secretary and pulled out the medicinals. By medicinals, it was some of the finest Manehattan Alcohol his money could buy. And boy, it was some strong stuff. Normally he would settle on the cheap stuff at a local dive bar or whatever was in the harbor mess hall but that night, he thought it was necessary.
So fast forward to nearly 4:00 in the morning. Getting up from his bed, he went up to his apartment window to open up the curtains. He knew he would have to wait to see the sunrise, but there was something always beautiful about Manehattan at night. Whether it be in the early hours before morning or the early hours of the night, Manehattan was always beautiful with it's skyscrapers and floodlights lighting up the night sky with such beauty that even the other Equestrian metropolis's could not rival.
After his typical morning shower and coffee routine was complete, his gaze turned back to the city. The city was waking up again and more lights across the city began to turn on as the ponies of the city began to wake up and get ready for work. It was always something nice to look at before he made his way back to the office. However, before he walked away to head to work, he glanced over at his harbor's newest arrival. His apartment gave him a good view of the harbor and an even better view of the Titanic. For some reason, there was something eerie about looking at the large behemoth at night. He had seen the night time pictures that the Manehattan Police ponies brought to him and he had seen the ship once it.... landed in the pier. But still, there was just something different about the way the ship looked right now. Most of the cabin lights were out across the lower half of the ship's black hull, save for a rather large assortment of lights coming out of portholes which looked like they were stacked on top of each other. The promenade and deck lights were blazing brightly as the clearly outdated lighting fixtures would allow them to do so. The sight that really struck him though were the floodlights that lit up the orange and black funnels. There was some sort of majesty that seemed to accompany it all. For a moment, he felt good about himself until he remembered all that he had to deal with when he got to work. Little did he know how hectic things were going to be just in the morning.
*** *** ***
Working as the personal secretary to the Manehattan Harbormaster was supposed to be a quiet job. Or at least, it used to be a quiet job for Golden Dawn. Now, she found herself in the midst of a near war in the office between the diarchs of Equestria, the Manehattan Police Department, the Royal Guard and Naval high command, and soon her employer, Rusty Chain.
She had known Rusty for quite a few years, way back to when Rusty first got the position as Harbormaster. From the outlook, he seemed like any other normal dockhoof, gruff, lack of diplomacy, and a taste for alcohol. However, he was different. He was kind, respectful, and above all else, he never did try to woo Golden Dawn and flirt with her. Of course, he was fond of the drink at times and had a foul mouth, but he abstained mostly and always tried to keep a good face... at least whenever she was around. For that, their working relationship was friendly, albeit business friendly.
But anyways, it had gotten to the point where the shouting was beginning to become to much too bear that Golden Dawn decided to rush out of the room to get some fresh air. Inside though, a war was nearly about to break out.
*** *** ***
"You incompetent fool! You could've gotten all of my soldiers killed!" Yelled the Captain Gilded Spear.
"Maybe if you had kept in CONSTANT communication with the mainland, we would not be in this situation right now you hot-tailed fool!" Came a reply from Iron Hoof.
"You are going to talk about constant communication to me? Do you have a carrot stuck up your flank you old Stallion? You are the fool that didn't intercept the ship while you had the perfect chance!" The Captain spat out. He wasn't half wrong. The old Admiral was supposed to intercept the ship but opted to instead tail the ship. However, the Admiral still didn't know what the ship was.
"What was I supposed to do? What if this ship were a warship? What if it was sailing to invade Manehattan with thousands of troops?" The Admiral retorted.
"Really, are you that stupid? Why didn't you have your wireless operators at least ASK the ship about what it was?" Gilded Spear asked. He knew he had the admiral trapped now as the old stallion's mouth remained shut and his eyes looked down at the table with rage brewing inside of them.
"Oh... it never occurred to you to even ask for a designation. Face it old man, you're too old to command anymore." Gilded snorted out. And just like that, the admiral's eyes shot up and stared at Gilded's own eyes.
"Well, you wish to talk about command then eh? Alright then. Lets bucking talk about command. What type of bucking Royal Guard Captain sends his soldiers STRAIGHT at a target eh? Really... you want to talk to me about command and yet you had your soldiers go straight into battle, no plan of attack... no true coordination... heck, you didn't even at least surround the ship. It was moving about 26 knots for Celestia's sake." The admiral snapped back. Now he was not wrong either, and they both knew it... but still, it burned Gilded Spear inside to hear that.
"You don't know what me and this regiment have accomplished in all the years you have held that rank you currently have." He spat out.
"Oh really... and what is that? Helping the Manehattan Police Department because they can't keep themselves out of trouble when dealing with even petty criminals eh?" The admiral said, glaring at the Manehattan Police Chief.
"Hey, you better watch your flank... someponies wouldn't take to kind to insulting their department." Police Chief Lawful Strike warned, insulted that a navypony of all ponies would outright insult probably the most prestigious police department in all of Equestria.
"Oh really.... you and what army eh?" The admiral dared. Little did they know what they were all in for.
*** *** ***
It had been 15 minutes and still the yelling and screaming at the conference room and yet still, what surprised Golden Dawn was that neither of the Princesses snapped, especially Princess Luna. She half expected to hear the Royal Canterlot Voice by now but still heard the voices of Stallions in command acting like little arguing colts. Even Captain Shining Armor hadn't stepped in yet from what she could hear so she had a feeling something was coming.
Suddenly, she felt a tap on her hoof and turned to see Rusty Chain looking at her. His face clearly showed strains of some probable "medicinal alcohol" he had stashed around his office but he seemed alright.
"So, what is the situation inside?" He asked, turning his head towards the room.
"Oh nothing... just the typical inter-service rivalry and ranging insults, that's all." She said with a hint of sarcasm. Rusty chuckled slightly under his breath before turning back to her.
"So... anything I should be warned about before I enter into battle?" He asked, glaring back at the conference room.
"Keep an eye out for the Princesses and Shining Armor, I have a feeling they are waiting for the right moment to break silence." She warned.
Taking in the warning, Rusty simply nodded and made his way into the room.
*** *** ***
Luna at this point was on her last nerve. Never so much had she wanted to use every single word of profanity in one rant alone. All that was keeping her from using the Royal Canterlot Voice was her sister's somewhat calming words of patience. Celestia kept telling her to wait for the right moment before lashing out like she knew her sister wanted to do. And then came in the harbormaster.... Rusty Chain.
He gave the customary bow to the Princesses and sat in his chair nonchalantly while the shouting amongst the Police, Royal Guard, and Navy officers continued. This time, even their subordinate were joining in. It probably would've gotten louder if Rusty hadn't suddenly picked up the metal cup that was beside him and suddenly threw it at the wall, immediately shutting everypony up.
"Alright... I seem to have everypony's attention." He said.
"Who in the name of Tartarus are you?" The old Admiral asked. Immediately, the Manehattan Police Chief began to try and signal to the Admiral to drop the question but it was already too late.
"Oh... me? Well, I happen to be the master of this harbor that you are all currently gathering in and what YOU three..." he said pointing to Gilded Spear, Admiral Ironhoof, and Police Chief, "are currently desecrating with your very presence." He spat out. The 3 that he pointed out looked like they wanted to say something but he shut them up as he continuted.
"You 3 idiots have single handedly muddled up a simple situation that is not only effecting your own subordinates and my dockhooves but the entire bucking Equestrian economy. Now... to start off, lets look at what you have done Admiral . You are most likely the damned cause of this entire situation because YOU STOOD BY AND DID NOTHING." He nearly screamed.
"Now, how about you and your "elite guards". Thanks to your damned idiocy, I now have half the entire port converted into a hospital because you decided to get geared up ready to fight a war without even proper planning! Now I have half the port out of action and trade coming from the Gryphons has nearly halted because my dock workers cannot even navigate the sea of bodies your hottailedness caused." He said, making the Guard Captain nearly shrink in his seat.
"And now you... Lawful Strike... you have always been a nuisance in port activities. I understand the whole bucking contraband shit and what not but..." He got up on top of the table and began to bang his hoof on top of it with each word he uttered.
"DO... NOT... SEND... YOUR... DAMN... OFFICERS... IN... HERE... TO... TELL... ME... MY... DAMNED... BUSINESS!" He screamed, then picking up a nearby coffee cup and smashing it right in front of the Police Chief who was too scared to even flinch.
Luna was quite amused at the whole rant and looked to her sister to see if now was the time. When Celestia nodded back. Luna, for the first time in the hour that she had sat in the conference room, stood up and spoke while Rusty Chain sat back down, downing a pill in the process.
"Thank you for that... presentation, Harbormaster Chain. Now... for today's business, I want these people to stay in the room." She began, with a hint of near evil in her voice as she read out the names.
"Gilded Spear, Ironhoof, Lawful Strike, and Samuel Hoof." She said. Immediately, everyone else in the room began to file out, someponies even nearly trampling each other as they made their way through the small exit. When everyone finally exited, then it began...
*** *** ***
It had been almost 5 hours since he had to wake up in the middle of the night to find his officers in a drunken mess on the Dining Room floor and Smith was not in the mood to really get up... considering the entire situation he was currently in. However, the near ear-deafening sound of a female voice berating someone woke him, and most likely all the other passengers, up early in the morning.
After getting dressed and having his morning tea made, Smith made his way to the bridge to find the rest of his officers up and sober (thankfully). It was still nighttime and the city's lights were still burning brightly but the berating went on for a few more minutes, much to the annoyance of the bridge officers. When the screaming finally stopped, Smith could finally get down to business.
"Good morning gentlemen... I hope you all slept well last night." He began. The statement made Moody and Murdoch cringe but they kept their faces straight as Smith continued.
"Duties for today will be rather light, considering our situation. Mr Murdoch, Mr Wilde, Mr Moody, and Mr Pitman, I want all you men of passenger control. Mr Boxhall, please get me the ship's current inventory, we may need to ration when we get low. Mr Lightoller and Mr Lowe, go get the pistols... I want you guarding that gangway door. If any passenger gets within 6 ft of it, please... direct them away. I want to know if any messages come for us and brought to me immediately as well. Is that clear gentlemen?" All of the officers nodded.
"Alright, let us get to work then. I will be up here if anybody needs me." Smith said. When all was said and done, the officers left for their duties while Smith returned to his cabin for at least one more hour of sleep.
*** *** ***
The door... it just would not stop tapping. When he was making his rounds to the bakery in the early hours of the morning, Charles Joughin stopped as the tapping sound began near the gangway door. For a while, he thought it was nothing and continued onto the bakery, regardless of the current situation. However, when he returned, he found numerous stewards gathered around the door as the tapping continued. Then he began to worry. Every now and then, the tapping stopped but no Steward dared move toward the door. For a time unknown to him, they all just stood there, staring at the door, waiting for something to happen. Their attention only seemed to be drawn away from the door as soon of Officers Lightoller and Lowe appeared descending down the stairs, the grips of their pistols showing from their coat pockets.
"Joughin, what the bloody hell is going on? Why is everyone just staring at the door?" He asked, somewhat curious himself.
"Sir, the door... it won't stop tapping." Joughin said.
"Tapping? What the bloody hell do you mean tapping? Have you been drinking Mr Joughin?" Lightoller asked suspiciously.
"I have not had a drink since... that night... thank you very much Mr Lightoller. If anything, you and Mr Lowe look like you both had a near keg of ail by the looks of it." Before Lightoller could answer, Lowe stepped in.
"That is beside the point, now... what do you mean by tapping?" Lowe asked.
"What do you mean by tapping? There is tapping coming from the door... I don't know bloody Morse code by I sure as hell will not touch that damned door." Joughin said. For a minute, Lowe and Lightoller looked for each other, each pondering what to do until they broke their silence.
"Alright then Joughin, you stay here with Mr Lowe while I'll go get the Captain." Lightoller said, before dashing up, and nearly slipping on, the Grand Staircase.
*** *** ***
Of all ponies, they had to pick him. After when they last tried to open that cursed gangway door, Private Swift Sword vowed to never go near it again. But being the low ranking Private that he was, he could not disobey an order, especially considering the current situation that he now found himself in.
When he had first woken up, he was greeted to what only could be the infamous "Royal Canterlot Voice" that Princess Luna had possessed. This was followed by his commanding Sergeant bursting into the barracks asking for a messenger volunteer. Since nopony answered, fate decided upon that hour that the Sergeant would pick him of all ponies to deliver a message to the creatures that nearly threatened to "blow his brains out". His ever generous Sergeant though elected to send at least 2 Manehattan Policeponies to provide whatever support they could provide.
So here they all stood, knocking on the door for over 30 minutes to deliver the letter. By now, the morning dawn was beginning to show and light began to pour from the sky. After 15 minutes of waiting, one of the police ponies pulled out a deck of cards and the 3 ponies sat around the gangway to play a game of poker. He was actually winning and scored himself a few bits until the gangway door began to creek and slowly open. Immediately, the 3 of the stuffed the cards away and waited for the door to open. However, the door did not move any further and only a faintly similar voice from the previous day came from the other side.
"Who the hell is there?" It said. Not knowing what to say... they all stood silent until one of the policeponies spoke up.
"We... we have a letter to deliver to whoever is the captain of this ship." He said. For a moment, the voice did not speak, probably pondering what to say. Finally though, the voice did speak.
"Alright then, hand the bloody letter over. We'll send the response through this door so don't bloody go anywhere." The voice said before sticking an appendage similar to claws out of the door so that it may take the letter. Once the exchange was made, the door slammed shut and was locked leaving the 3 ponies to sit back down and wait.
*** *** ***
"They request an audience with me?" Smith said, looking over the regal looking letter.
"So that's what it said." Lightoller whispered into Lowe's ear.
"Do you need anything else Sir?" Lowe asked as Smith looked over the letter once again.
"Yes, please get me Purser McElroy, Mr Bell, Mr Ismay, Mr Wilde, and Mr Andrews. I must speak with them at once. Without another word, Smith gestured for the two officers to leave as he turned away and looked over the letter again.
*** *** ***
Passengers are many things: delightful, painful, annoying, or disgusting. However, this was something new... a near stampede. As soon as the loud screaming had stopped, a lot of first class passengers got dressed and began to demand that they have their personal belongings returned from the Cargo Hold and could've nearly broken into the Purser's officer if Officers Wilde and Murdoch had not arrived to keep the peace. However, that did not stop the passengers from still being rude and disrespectful. As much as he wanted to return their insults, McElroy still had to keep up a good face for the sake of his own reputation as well as the company's as well. His only saving grace was when Officer Lowe came to tell him that he was needed by the Captain.
*** *** ***
The chaos that always seemed to happen in any engine room of a ship is always orderly... well... unless your ship is forcibly lifted out of the sea and into a dock by some sort of force of divine providence. But if there is anything an engine room is, it is efficient. So when Officer Lightoller came down to fetch Joseph Bell, the man of jokes found the chief engineer fast asleep after the previous day's ordeal. It took a little shaking but the Bell finally did wake up, albeit in a groggy early morning state.
*** *** ***
When everyone finally arrived, Smith had led them into the ship's chart room on the bridge so that they could converse privately. When the door was shut, Smith silently handed the letter over to Ismay so that it could be passed around to everyone on the ship. When all was said an done, Smith was handed back the letter and the conversation soon began.
"So... they wish to have an audience and a tour of the ship? I find that a bit lacking diplomatically, especially if this were to come from a head of state." Ismay said.
"I would have to agree with you there Mr Ismay, but what position in terms of bargaining do we have? As far as we know, we nearly barged in like the Americans did in Japan." Officer Wilde said.
"Well, we did not come in demanding trade. If anything, they could've at least provided an escort instead of nearly attacking us." McElroy pointed out.
"You make a valid point McElroy. But what can we do? We may have some coal left but it won't get us very far for one. Hell, they weren't even topped off because of the coal strike! We had to siphon a bunch off some ships in Southampton. Secondly, if we do managed to bugger off from this port, what makes you think those horses won't send their fleet after us with a somewhat more competent officer this time?" Bell said.
"What makes you say that their commanding officer was incompetent Mr Bell?" Smith asked, slightly curious.
"No competent officer would fall for a Morse message if the ship clearly isn't slowing down." Bell said, leaning back in the chair he was sitting on.
"And how do you know that happened Mr Bell?" Andrews said, now intrigued himself.
"Simple, those two young wireless lads have big mouths." Bell chuckled.
"Well, that is beside the point but thank you for that... insight Mr Bell. But back to the question at hand... do we give them an audience or not gentlemen." Smith reiterated causing the room to fall silent. Nobody spoke for a few minutes as they all pondered the question. Finally, and surprisingly, Andrews was the first to speak.
"I honestly say we at least give them the audience, but don't give them the tour." He began to state. "If anything, an audience would be well enough so that we may explain ourselves to these Equines and our current situation. I would not give them the tour for the sake of the passengers if anything." With that, the men in the room nodded in agreement.
"That sounds alright to me but my question is, where will we even put them?" Wilde asked.
"Well, we could simply put them in the dining room. I am sure that they may fit inside if we simply move about the tables. However, we would have to ask them to bring their own furniture since well... they are horses after all." Andrews stated.
"Do you think they can fit through the gangway doors though? That is my main question." McElroy asked.
"How tall are you Mr Ismay?" Andrews asked turning towards Ismay.
"6 feet and 4 inches. Ismay said.
"There is your answer Mr Bell."
*** *** ***
Luck had finally run out for Swift Sword. He still had some winnings from the Poker game but he eventually lost his streak and ended up loosing 36 bits. He had a feeling one of the policeponies was crab-eyeing him but before he could even asked, the gangway door to the ship opened and the same voice spoke.
"Oi, you lot still there?" It asked.
"Do you have a response for us?" Replied Swift Sword.
"Yeah, here... take the bloody letter and piss off. I'm pretty sure you lot won't need to be waiting at this damned door after that letter gets read by your leader." It said, swiftly tossing the letter on the gangway before closing the door and locking it up again leaving the 3 ponies to gather their things and present the letter.
*** *** ***
4 Hours Later
"Be careful with that... I have already had to go through enough tongue-lashings today." said Ironhoof as he watched his men carry the furniture up the gangway.
"Don't single yourself out... we all had to go through it, remember that." Gilded Spear said.
"Oh be quiet you hottailed..."
"Be quiet you two... you know very well that another tongue-lashing will not end well for all of us." Lawful Strike said in a lowered voice.
Up ahead of them, the two diarchs of Equestria snickered between themselves as they listened to the 3 ponies try not to argue amongst themselves. Granted, the tongue-lashing was needed... but who said nopony could laugh at the display of fear currently? When they finally made it to the door, Twilight (who was trailing behind them with the rest of the elements of harmony) came up to ask the Princesses a question.
"Forgive me Princess but... what happened with those 3 Stallions back there?" She asked.
"Twilight, how did you wake up this morning?" Celestia asked.
"Well, I woke up when I heard scr-... is that why they are like that?"
"Yes, Twilight."
"It was that bad?"
"It could've been worse Twilight. Needless to say, their punishments have not even begun and I do sense a few demotions in the future, would you agree sister?" Luna said.
"Yes... I think it would be very much well needed." Celestia responded.
With that, all those on the gangway went silent as guardsponies, navyponies, and policeponies stood at the edge of the docks and in the air around the entrance to the gangway... waiting for anything to happen once the gangway doors were opened. One swift knock later, and the party of royalty, military high command, and the elements of harmony, made their way inside the Titanic.
Author's Note
Woo! Four thousand and four hundred words later and this chapter is finally completed! I once again opted for multiple perspectives as focusing on just one character or party of people/ponies just doesn't seem right, especially with this type of story and after that.... chapter which is still in need of many... many revisions and typo corrections.
Now for the fun facts!
Fun fact No.1: Charles Joughin technically was the last person to leave the ship. Funny enough, he rode the stern down to the end actually and survived for possibly an hour and a half in the water... smashed on alcohol. It is odd as alcohol is supposed to actually speed up hypothermia. But then again... alcohol does numb the sense quite a bit. But I am not a medical professional... I am just a Titanic enthusiast!
Fun fact No.2: J Bruce Ismay was actually 6ft 4in. He was quite a tall man, especially for those times. This is in contrary to the portrayals that show Ismay as a short, somewhat plump businessman with the trademark mustache. Ismay, though aged 49 at the time, was quite an active sportsman before and after the disaster. Now, there are conflicting debates on his conduct when he got into the lifeboat as it is a possibility that he did help row the lifeboat as he was an experienced oarsman but he was facing away from the ship as it sank. I myself believe in this theory but in the terms that he helped row away when the boat was rowing away from the Titanic in general and after the Titanic had gone under. However, we must not forget the lives that Ismay helped save that night as he did put people into the boats... not as a crewman but as a passenger. The whole myth regarding that he had Smith speed the ship up is false as there is only 1 survivor who actually "heard" him say that. If anything, Ismay was a passenger throughout the voyage and did not seem to exercise any sort of authority over the crew during the voyage.
Extra stuff: Did anyone of you catch the Downfall reference before Luna's rant? If you did, react in the comments below.
As always... I am open to any comments or criticism, as long as everything is kept respectful and civil. If you want to have friendly banter, do so by all means. Heck, even if you wish to have a nice friendly debate in the comments, do as you please. Just please keep away from controversial subjects outside of the Titanic disaster and such.
And remember guys!
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On a Sea of Glass.... And Ponies
Extra Snippet: What goes on over the Wireless
Official Transcript
~~CLASSIFIED~~
What is transcribed in this document before you is the official Moose code transcripts between the Steamer Titanic and Equestrian Naval Forces on the days of April 16th and 17th.
April 16th
Titanic: "Cape Race, this is MGY, please respond. Again, Cape Race, this is MGY, please respond."
"Any ships in area, MGY in heavy storms, requesting contact."
"To any ships in area, please respond. This is Titanic."
The messages above are repeated throughout the rest of the day and into the early morning
April 17th
ENS Baltimare: "Steamer Titanic, turn back immediately and be prepared to be boarded for an inspection."
Titanic: "State your identification."
ENS Baltimare: "Repeat, Titanic, turn back immediately and be prepared to be boarded for an inspection."
Titanic: "Repeat, State your identification."
ENS Baltimare: "Turn back from course immediately."
Titanic: "Who is this? Hunston, get off the wire."
ENS Baltimare: "Who is Hunston?"
Titanic: "Hunston, get off line before we log this."
ENS Baltimare: "Repeat, who is Hunston?"
Titanic does not reply for another 10 minutes
Titanic: "Cape Race, do you bloody copy."
Titanic: "Repeat, Cape Race, do you copy."
ENS Baltimare: "Titanic, turn around, stop ship, prepare to be boarded."
Titanic: "Is this a bloody joke. Who is this."
ENS Baltimare: "Titanic, comply with orders or face consequences."
Titanic cuts contact for nearly an hour and a half while steaming for Manehattan.
Titanic: "To any ships, engines are running overtime, slowing down, request assistance."
ENS Stallion: "Report recieved Titanic. How long before stop."
Titanic: "Reckon 10 minutes before stop. Requesting identification."
ENS Stallion: "None of your concern. We are here to help."
Titanic: "Changing course southeast."
At this point, it appears that the Stallion and Iron Grail were fooled into turning south east under pretense that Titanic was. It is not until ENS Baltimare hears of this when they get back on course to intercept Tianic.
ENS Baltimare: "Steamer Titanic, turn around now or face severe consequences."
Titanic: Message Garbled by incoming messages from Stallion and Iron Grail
ENS Baltimare: "Repeat Titanic."
Titanic: "Sod off you bloody yank."
ENS Baltimare: "What is a yank."
Titanic: "Don't play funny with me."
ENS Baltimare: "Titanic, turn back now or you may be forced to do so."
Titanic: "Force a passenger ship. On what charge."
Titanic: "Unknown ship, respond. On what charge will you forcefully stop a passenger ship."
The Baltimare for some reason did not respond to the Titanic's calls for an answer. That was the last transmission between the ship and fleet before the Manehattan incident occurred that afternoon.
Author's Note
Might get in trouble with mods but the purpose for this little snippet was to provide a scene for what was going on between each ship's wireless rooms. Reason why I might get in trouble is because of the way it is formatted. It is supposed to be a message log so it should not be a problem but you never know.
Back on topic now... this little extra snippet also gives hints into what might happen in the next chapter as well as how the ships were communicating with each other (or well, rather the lack of communication between them). Hope you all like it.
Quick note, Robert Hunston was one of the Cape Race operators during the Titanic's voyage for clarification.
