Side by side, Swab and Croche limped up out of the brig within the southern strut. They immediately had to step sideways to avoid the bleeding, breathless corpse of a slain pirate. As they reached the top deck, they spotted several more slain privateers. Dredgers were marching back and forth, piling the foreign bodies into a corner—flinging the invaders' weapons into another. As the clatter of rattling blades ended, a salty wind blew through, carrying the sound of dozens upon hundreds of wailing voices.
Swab winced from his injured head. Nevertheless, he pivoted about, leaning his weight on Croche's shoulder as he peered across the struts. His yellow eyes fell upon multiple families—each huddled around the dead stallion of the household while wives and foals wept for a father who would never move again. Elders stood in frayed circles, leaning against one another as they gazed across the chaotic remnants of a bloody war-at-sea.
Flaming wreckage still billowed from random spots across Red Barge. The smoky fumes of charred hulls added to the soot and grime in the air. It was through this smoldering mess that a trio of pegasi returned from the east. Multiple dredgers raised their spears and crossbows—but relaxed as soon as they recognized the ponies in flight as belonging to Monket. The looks of horror plastered across the pegasi's muzzles were beyond vomitous. They gaped at the burning metalscape, then landed awkwardly on Monket's lone surviving steamship as it moored along the remains of the northern strut. Coiling their aching wings, the pegasus servants stumbled back and forth across the shattered top deck, calling out for their loved ones—but to no avail. Even from a distance, Swab could make out a distraught mare tearing off her flight jacket and falling to her knees to cradle the bloody remains of her dead brother. She buried her muzzle in his chest and howled with a voice so loud and mournful that it rattled the muck and water beneath the barge.
Monket—meanwhile—stumbled off his ship and trudged across the struts of the Barge, limping. His muzzle was stuck in an iron-wrought frown as he took in the dismantled lengths of the place. He trotted vaguely in the direction of the western strut—and he wasn't alone. Several dredgers were shuffling in that direction as well. A mild commotion rose through the air, bleeding into a panicked roar. Soon, Red Bargers were running... dashing... galloping towards where the damage along the struts was most severe.
“Swab...” Croche lifted a hoof and pointed up high. “Look.”
He did. To the colt's horror, the air towards the west end of the Barge was turning thick and gray. An ear-piercing howl filled the air as multiple pipes and vents began to buckle.
“Verlaxion spare us...” Swab gulped. “...the steam reserves...”
At precisely that moment, multiple dredgers' voices shouted through the wispy air:
“To the west strut!”
“All hooves!”
“Move! Move!”
“Grab any tool you can!”
By then, a thick line of orphans was running by. More than one of them flashed a panicked look at Swab and Croche, panting. “There you are! C-can't you hear the shouts?!”
“The... the steam tanks—” Croche stammered.
“If it blows, there's no Red Barge!” Whony's voice rang as he and several other foals galloped by. “Much less any nibbles! Move your asses!”
“Friggin' move!”
“Oh gosh... oh g-gosh!” Croche winced, bursting into a full sprint.
Swab panted, limping to keep up with her and the mass of Dredgers flooding west.
The west struts were a mess of epic proportions. The bloody corpses of pirates were draped across many of the bulkheads. Meanwhile, remnants of motorboats and landing craft scraped against the outer hulls between spots where cannonballs and dredge coal explosives had shattered the rusted framework to bits.
This wasn't the worst of it...
Countless steam pipes and valves had burst, rupturing from the intense heat billowing upward from the lower holds of the welded vessels. Dredgers scampered all across the metal lengths of the struts, struggling to tighten the framework, sealing off the leaks so that they could redirect the searing hot air flow. It was a losing battle from the start, and the frantic, angry shouts being flung from group to group wasn't helping the matter get any better.
“No! No, dammit!” Nixkit snarled, waving his hooves dramatically at the chaotic group of panicked dredgers. “Keep away from the lateral manifolds! They're too far gone and you'll bloat in an instant if they burst even further!”
“It's the outermost strut!”
“It's taken on too much damage!”
“I can see that, you imbeciles!” Nixkit shouted, waving cloudbursts of industrial fog out of his muzzle. “Grnngh... but can you localize it?!”
“Too early to tell!” Digiff's voice shouted. He poked his head out of a metal compartment, drenched in sweat. “This whole thing is shot to Hell! Chandler's shit did a number to us!”
“Can you prevent a cascade?”
“Not at this rate.” Panting, Digiff slid out of the compartment with help from another dredger. He looked at Nixkit with a dazed expression. “And the motors are fried.”
“You mean...?”
Digiff nodded weakly. “Not enough power to move the struts away from the rest of the Barge before this part of the platform blows.”
“Verlaxion's sleet...” Monket grumbled as he shuffled up with a few bruised servants. “I sacrifice a ship full of property to save your sorry flanks and this is what you've got to show for it?”
“Hey!” Digiff frowned, pointing across the bulkheads. “Why don't you floss your ass with those dreads of yours and give us something to really patch up the pipes with!”
Schiiiing! Monket unsheathed a rapier. “How about you trot over here and kiss it instead?”
“Easy there, Nasty Mister Mucker...” Skagra drifted by, pressing Monket's forelimb down with a graceful hoof. “Don't lose your 'hero-of-the-hour' status over a bearded back-biter.”
“You're one to talk, Skagra!” Monket hissed through soot-stained teeth. “Defending your sorry ass barge has cost me big time! And—”
“AND... there'll be no paybacks whatsoever if we don't get our collective shits together.”
“What are we even going to do about Chandler and the Rainbow Rogue now?!” Monket gestured, cackling. “We've made far too many damn explosions for the seven seas to ignore! They'll be sending the Talon at any point! And just how are you going to explain the griffon in your hold now, dredger?!”
“Shhhhh...” Skagra calmly paced through the fidgeting group of panicked dredgers. “...let's all take a deep breath and deal with this in the same way I like to approach waking up in the morning.” He brushed his bangs back. “One holocaust at a time.” The red hair flounced back as he turned to gaze at Nixkit. “Lay it on me, Nixxy.”
Nixkit took a deep breath. “Boss, we may have a problem.”
“And I might have kidney stones. Out with it already.”
Croche and Swab arrived at this point, standing on the sidelines with multiple orphans. They held tools at the ready, staring nervously across the canal of the nearest strut.
Nixkit strolled across the steaming deck, pointing at Digiff and the other dredgers' frantic work. “The surface damage to the struts will be easy to fix. But the dredge coal explosions must have rattled the structure too hard. Digiff thinks the steam reserves down in the hold have ruptured.”
Digiff shook his head. “There's no way down there, Skagra. The cabins have collapsed.” He wiped the sweat and grime from his brow, trembling. “We've tried redirecting the heat from above, but we can't properly channel the excess steam. It's too busted up top as well.”
“So it's gonna blow, is what you're saying,” Monket slurred from the sidelines. He shrugged wildly. “All of this melee and mayhem?! For what?!”
Digiff frowned at him, then looked at Skagra. “Boss, if we can uncouple the struts and then rotate the Barge away, we might be able to gain some distance—”
“No use,” Skagra grunted, staring gravely at the steamy mess. “The engines are fried. It took hell and high water just to get the thing to move so Monket could disembark and do his high seas hero shit.”
“So you're saying that moving Red Barge is not an option?” Nixkit remarked.
“Not in time to avoid what's boiling up here,” Skagra said.
“Look out!” a stallion's voice shouted.
“Get away from the panels—!”
Two hulls away, several pipes burst. A stallion shrieked in pain as his lower legs were instantly scalded. The other dredgers dragged him away from a veritable explosion of burning vapors. Croche, Swab, and the other orphans grimaced as they saw the steam geyser climb high into the air, accompanied by an ear-piercing whistle.
Digiff clenched his teeth. “That's it!” He flashed a wild look at Skagra. “That's the start of a cascade! We can't regulate it at this point!”
“Can you localize it?” Nixkit breathlessly asked. “If... if perhaps we could keep the explosion contained to—”
“Impossible.” Digiff shook his head. “It'll rupture all the way through the strut, bringing the western platforms under. The impact to the rest of the Barge will be catastrophic.”
“Then what are we standing around here for?!” Monket frowned. “Move your dredgers to the opposite end of the Barge—”
“Shhhh!” Skagra hissed with such sudden authority that it even silenced the slaver. He paced across the steaming hull, pondering darkly. “... ... ...what about the crawlspaces?”
Digiff blinked. “The maintenance corridors?”
“Are they accessible?”
“None of my stallions can even fit in—”
“I wasn't talking about the stallions, Digiff.”
Digiff's muzzle hung open. He turned, gazing dully across the canal.
A hundred little eyes gazed back.
“Answer the question, Digiff,” Skagra droned.
“It's...” Digiff gulped. “...it's got to be over one hundred and twenty degrees down there and rising—”
“How long will it take to access the steam reserves and vent them from inside?”
Digiff took a deep breath. His jaws clenched. “Not that long... boss.”
Skagra swiveled around. His crooked eyes bounced from foal to foal. He shuffled down the line of orphans... until at last his gaze fell upon the smallest body he could see. He pointed. “Canteloupe.”
Nixkit whistled to Digiff.
Instantly, Digiff marched across the bridge, reached a hoof out, and grabbed Swab by the shoulder.
Swab gasped. His eyes darted between Skagra and the steam. He gasped again, harder. “But... b-but...”
“Just be quiet already, ya little shit,” Digiff grumbled under his breath, staring ahead.
“Wait!” Croche suddenly gasped. She scampered after the dredger as he dragged Swab back across the bridge. “There's got to be another way! Sending him down there?! It'll... it'll kill him!”
“Mind your place, seafoam,” Digiff huffed, yanking a wincing, bandaged Swab after him.
“No! You can't!”
“Nixxy...” Skagra yawned, shuffling off. “...a leash, if you will.”
Nixkit firmly reached out and grabbed Croche. “That's far enough—”
“Stop it!” Croche's voice cracked as she struggled in the dredger's grasp. “Grnnngh... somepony! Please! Stop him!”
Digiff dragged Swab over to the nearest maintenance hatch. A pair of stallions were already grabbing a length of rope and chain to affix to the shivering colt's leg. A line of dredgers solemnly stood at a distance. Nopony moved an inch, despite Croche's shrieks.
“You all fought so hard to save each other! To save this Barge!” She stammered, wept. “Why do this to ourselves?!” She looked at the orphans—but they merely hung their heads, staring into the muck below the Barge. “Why c-can't we just... just b-be nice to each other?!”
“That's enough, child,” Nixkit droned, shoving her back towards the rest of the orphans. “Get it out of your head or you won't see twenty winters.” He turned towards Digiff and nodded.
“Please...” Croche fell to her knees, shivering. “...pl-please, can't we just ch-change...?”
Swab stared at her, wincing. He shivered as the metal-and-rope tether was brought to his rear leg. His lips moved, murmuring Verlaxion's name.
Just before the cuff could latch on, a dull olive forelimb reached in, holding it in place. “Wait...” Quint shoved Swab aside and grasped the tether in his own hooves. “Don't bother. The little seafoam scrap is useless.”
Digiff did a double-take. He marched forward, snarling at the older colt: “Boy—”
“He's a half-headed moron,” Quint said, frowning up at the dredger. “You shove him down there and in ten seconds he'll be sobbing for his worthless parents... not saving the Barge.”
“He's tiny! He can get the job done—”
“But he doesn't have the experience.” Quint's nostrils flared. “Not like I do.” That said, he clasped the tether around his leg with a sigh. “You want to prevent the cascade? Leave it to the experts.”
From afar, Whony gasped. He shoved his way through the crowd of orphans and dredgers and rushed across the bridge.
Digiff gnashed his teeth. “Kid—listen! This ain't no time for—”
“No, you listen!” Quint snarled back. “The kids here are my responsibility. Just like the rest of the dredgers are yours. You wanna put the steam in responsible hooves or risk it on a useless nopony?”
Swab stared from aside, breathless.
Digiff fidgeted. He looked at the venting steam, then across the way at Skagra.
Skagra glared back through one sickly eye.
Frowning, Digiff spun away from Quint. He grunted over his shoulder, “Go under.”
“Right...” Quint grabbed a tool satchel, flinging it around himself. “About time somepony was an adult about this.”
“Quint!” Whony stammered. He galloped past Swab and stood before the older colt. “Quint! Are you crazy?!”
“Only the craziest,” Quint muttered. He stared at the lid to the maintenance compartment while two stallions rushed over, hooking their crowbars into the notches and lifting.
“This is beyond us! Beyond you!” Whony squeaked through clenched teeth. “Quint... you stay down there for five minutes and you'll be dead!”
“All things considered, it'll be an upgrade,” Quint droned.
“But... but...” Whony clenched his eyes shut as he buckled.
“Shhhh...” Quint reached over, hooking a forelimb around Whony's neck. He leaned his forehead against the other colt's as Whony shuddered. “...they're your responsibility now.”
“I can't...” Whony whimpered, gnashing his teeth. “I... I-I just can't...”
“You can do many things, dude,” Quint murmured. “But just make sure you it's not everything he can do. Or will do.” He leaned back, facing the hatch once more. “Or you'll be headed to the same place.”
At last, the stallions opened the lid. Steam vented out in a ghostly gray burst. The hairs of everypony within fifteen feet instantly curled.
Quint took one last breath... and shuffled effortlessly towards the hole. He clenched his jaw shut so as not to whimper when his hooves made hissing contact with the ladder. Some shuffling, and the colt's eyes watered as he descended into the torturous corridor. He gazed one last time at the grimy metal... the polluted sky. He caught an eye-full of Swab, and disappeared.
Swab blinked.
Croche watched as the tether snaked its way down into the corridor, gliding slower and slower. She hung her head while a dull hush hung over the party.
Everypony waited in tense silence for the steam problem to be fixed from within. Digiff said nothing. Nixkit paced and paced while Skagra held a private, murmuring conversation with Monket a few spaces over.
And Swab...
Swab gazed at the scene, muzzle agape. He blinked, shivering. At last, he tilted his head over to the side. “... ... ...Whony?”
The colt sat with his back to the orphan, gazing ceaselessly at the steaming hatch and the snaking tether.
Slowly, Swab shuffled over to Whony. Swallowing a lump down his throat, he reached a hoof out to the colt's shoulder. “Whony... I'm... I-I'm so—”
“Rrrrgh!” Whony spun about, teeth gnashing. He swung at Swab's chin.
The hoof barely made contact. Swab fell back on his haunches all the same.
Whony leered over him, eyes streaming with tears. “You happy?! You stupid piece of seafoam?!” He rubbed his muzzle, shaking from head to tail. “You've killed him! The best thing to c-come out of this damn place is dead now and it's all your fault!” He sobbed into his forelimb, shivering all over. “Friggin'... one-eared freak! What are you ever g-good for?!” Whimpering, Whony broke into a crooked gallop, running far... far away from the strut.
Swab stared after him, lips quivering. At last, he buried his face in his hooves.
Not long after, the steam venting out from the lower struts dissipated. The pipes stopped hissing. The muck-stained waters stopped boiling.
And the tether...
The tether was no longer moving.
Well shit. Didn't think Quint was going to be the one to buck up and throw his life away for the team. For a second I thought Swab was going to have to go down there and pull so miracle bullshit to survive.
...still kinda upset Red Barge didn't blow sky-high, though. Seriously, this place better be a pile of scrap at the bottom of the ocean before much longer. We got a whole 'nother continent to explore!
...Something's got to give eventually in this miserable hellhole that is Red Barge. Something's got to give...
Goddamit. This chapter just left me with a cringing feeling of emptiness.
Whoa.
As soon as I read the chapter title, I could only think of one word.
Fuck.
Hmm... Looks like Swifty there rattled Quint enough to want to make the ultimate sacrifice.
and exposure to the High Priestess of Awesome has turned Croche into a believer.
...but was it worth it Quint? Not just for yourself, but knowing that you've just consigned Swifty to even worse torture without you holding Whony's leash?
Now part of me wants to say you should have sent Whony down there, the bastard seems to have been absolutely taken with you, and would have done it without question.. but then, you wouldn't have lived with that huh? Lead by example Quint... be willing to throw yourself into danger first, show that you deserve that leadership position. Be an example... and self sacrifice to save others, well you can hope that it will send a good message, but..
Well... we can hope he takes those words to heart.
-In the end isolation, hunted by a nation. Utaan.
6638161
I dunno, man. Whony looks like he's gonna alternate between revenge-mad and guilt-ridden.
I kinda liked Quint. Kinda didn't. Still sad that the kid ended up making this sacrifice. Though I don't know what he saw in Whony. He's only going to make things that much miserable, especially for Swab.
Woah. Quint really rose above and beyond there. Hopefully Whony will get himself together too.
6638168 He already hates Swifty enough as it is, so my guess is revenge mad.
We can hope that Whony will resign himself to the knowledge that it was Quint's choice and won't become the revenger.
But I doubt it somehow.
If he doesn't shut down entirely, he's going to work to make Swifty's life even more miserable.
and by extension, Croche's, since she's bonded with him.
And suddenly, I like Quint again. Stop playing with my feels, IC.
...dammit, I said Stop! Now he seems stupid again.
dammit.
Did you see his head explode?
I didn't see his head explode.
Rule #2341 of Austraeoh: they ain't dead till they're 'sploded in the head
... Aw...
Huh. I guess, in the end, Quint wasn't such a bad guy after all.
Damn it Quint! What a way to go out, he was clearly the type of person that place needed.
Best case scenario for Red Barge is to get rid of Skagra, link up with White Barge, and gradually disassemble the entire rust bucket and rebuild something better from the ground up.
Someone could at least go down there to make sure the kid's dead and not just passed out. Confirm with a body.
Also, can I say that, while I respect Keris' general disposition, I really wish IC would stop giving him the Idiot Ball. He was so intelligent before he arrived on the Barge, and then his brains just seemed to depart his body. Seriously, why would he, when even remotely free to move, allow Skagra to get behind him? At all? *sigh*
Final note; I would really like to get some kind of confirmation or something regarding just what's going on here with the rest of the Mane6. Can they or can they not communicate with Fluttershy? So far Dash is talking like she can, but that could just be Dash being quasi-insane. While I could consider it within character for the girls to have trouble dealing with things withing a short time frame, its starting to feel real out of character if they'd continue to ignore Dash even knowing just how bad things are for her and how much Fluttershy is trying to help. IC is treading a little too close to melodrama here and I'd rather we just skip the bull and get the girls out of purgatory and for Celestia's sake just switch to Dash's perspective already. I was joking when I said I suspected this whole story wouldn't give us Dash's POV. J-O-K-I-N-G.
6638198 So... Shell's still alive?
6638252
Chances are that Fluttershy gets walked all over whenever she tries to talk, as the girls either interrupt with assumptions of dash or attempts to smother fluttershy with comforting, upsetting Fluttershy enough to escape back to Dash without a word.
6638281 Nah, his head got a pretty good 'splodin' back in Lerris.
6638252
I kind of have to agree on how the rest of the mane 6 are acting here. For one thing I know that they are from the beginning of season 2 but given the finale of that season they are being way harder on Dash (even if what happened to her and what she has done is way more extreme than the Changeling Fight) then I think they would in canon, to the point where yes I think it borders on out of character for them.
6638286
I don't know, I have a hard time buying that the girls wouldn't be able to figure out by now that Dash is in dire need of help. It feels wrong to sell the girls that short on their own inner strengths. I get that the violence would cause their initial retreat, but I kind of predicate that acceptance on the notion that after this much time and with Dash being in this much danger and in need of help that the girl's continued absence is based more on not being aware of how bad things are rather than willfully deciding not to come out to help. I just can't see Twilight or any of the others, if they know Dash is in terrible danger and in need of help, would still refuse. I rather have to believe that they don't know what's happening, because otherwise it'd feel entirely too far out of character for them.
Think about what the steam system damage did to all the ponies in the Harvest Chambers!!!
6638252 Dash said it best during one of her first appearances in the hold
"You're the only one they'll even pretend to listen to!"
implying that they ignore Dash, and any attempts that Shy makes to try and get them out to help are met with dismissal or them talking down to her like she's a little filly taking pity on a dying viper.
Though I am surprised at Pinkie not coming out at the very least.
Twilight and Rarity seemed the most determined to stay away, Pinkie just wanted the old Dash back.
To which I'm surprised Shy hasn't hit her with "If you want the old Rainbow back that badly, then help bring her back!"
Except with less shouting and more motherly scolding.
That guy, strikes again:
Steam Ruptures (especially in confined spaces such as boiler rooms, or crawlspaces) are one of the more terrifying hazards I could encounter where I work. Not only will the heat cook you like a lobster, but the change in pressure can be enough to knock you unconscious within seconds. While SS&E has done an excellent job demonstrating the suicidal nature of doing unprotected work in such an environment, his details weren't quite technically correct.
Steam Reserves are for Red Barge would be silly. Steam storage is an Industrial Era solution for a specific problem (moving trains without burning oil/wood/coal directly). To this end, steam was collected from factories where it was a byproduct, and it was stowed, and then used before it could cool into water.
For Red Barge to store steam, it would have to be heated constantly to prevent it from condensing. This is an inherently wasteful use of energy.
Steam Generators actually do an excellent job of producing enough steam at too high of a volume to be used anyways.
Simply by adding more heat, and more water to a steam generator, you generate a higher volume steam.
Finally, a steam explosion is just a steam leak on a bigger scale. Both happen because too much pressure is applied to a component which cannot handle it. In both cases, the component will break, and steam will jet out. This causes the pressure in the whole system to go down. This would make it impossible for a steam explosion to happen after a steam leak in the same system.
I could expound on this subject quite a bit more but I think I've done so enough for tonight.
tl;dr: SS&E got the emotions right, but the mechanics wrong
And that's how you get folk like Skagra running the show. Ain't nothing to do with strength of will or physical presence or balls, it's actually just 'cause a place like Red Barge is gonna throw out suicidal moments every now and then, and they keep claiming everyone who might've balanced the insanity.
Ah, damn. I feel vindicated and sad. A salute for Quint, the little urchin who cared.
6638309
And like I said, I could buy that within the initial heat of the moment, and within perhaps the first few days after the Quade. But with Dash imprisoned, in danger, and that much time passing... no I don't buy it. If that's the case, fine, IC can write what he wants, but to me it would feel out of character for the girls to stay that mad and ignorant for that long without making an attempt to communicate with Dash. Just doesn't jive with me. *shrugs*
well...
fuck
A noble death. Perhaps there was enough of him left to see himself after all. Swab did his part in this. He told Quint the truth about their situation numerous times. It was thus far uncertain if his words had any impact, if Quint had been made aware of himself turning into Skagra - but the fact that whatever of himself still remained now decided to rather end it there than let himself be corrupted even further does settle that question.
Which is a funny detail, if you think about it. Prolonged kidney stones are amongst the most torturous pains known to mankind. Most people are a crying, convulsing mess with those. The fact that you never even notice with Skag is rather telling.
Poor Whony. (And Quint, but he's dead now.)
He has a point. Tossing a sobbing colt into the steam vents probably wouldn't actually save the barge.
Well I just gained a massive amount of respect for Quint, love him or hate him he might well have just saved Swab's life.
Still I don't think he's dead, it's the Rule of Shell: if ya didn't see it, it didn't happen.
6638315 My thoughts, to a point.
Also, why does the Red Barge need steam anyways? They seem to be able to drill the seas using slave work alone.
Quint was always protective about his fellow foals. he just had his special way of showing it, trying to emotionally harden himself and them in order to have a chance in this place. But at his core he was as lost as the rest of them and i think swab just made him realize this.
I didn't think he would do something so selfless for Swab, maybe for Whony but not for swab, Quint let foals die/starve before.
So i guess his decision was partially inspired by Swab because he didn't want to become like Skagra and to the other part by his overall protectiveness about the foals, maybe there was enough truth in his speech, he just didn't expect swab to be able to finish the job and that would have killed anyone he cared for so far and ended his life anyway.
Now there is the problem that red barge is still floating, Whony is pretty impulsive and i guess he might could do something stupid to swab (again) before he may or may not comes to senses.
Skagra is still in charge and now that chandler re-betrayed him he is running out of options, rainbow would only have value to him if he continues to try to pull money out of chandler but by now he should probably know that this isn't going to happen.
Keris also has no value to him, he could use him to send the talon after chandler but in doing so he would also make an appointment with the talon for himself.
So sooner or later he will have to get rid of both, so its high time that they start working on a escape plan.
As for rainbows 3 no show friends i am still curious how IC plans to fix this because the rift between them only widens at the moment, i could imagine Fluttershy having one of her assertive talks to them, something they would not expect, that wakes them up in more than one way but that would still leave a mark.
This needs to happen to the 3 Idiots.
Preferably done by Luna. Verbally of course, but you get the idea.
Rip Quint. You at least tried to keep the kiddies safe.
Someone read Footfall.
Ill be in the bathroom.
6638398 Is the steam not a biproduct of cooling the immensely hot inner workings of Red Barge? If the cooling system goes offline then BOOM. No more Red Barge.
6638297
considering dash had need months to come to understand that "kill or be killed" was normal outside of equesteria, even when she was already an adept of hoof-fight before the journey, I think the "3 idiots" are just cowering in the corner of the vanilla zone, telling themselves that nothing is real and that it's all a dream. plus, the vanilla zone make time pass more quickly, they may not feel like so much time has happened since the talk with Mrs. Awesome. hopefully they'll at least come out when it will be time for the moon-talk.
If the Talon comes, they will notice the aftermath of a battle. They should have killed Keris and blame it on the attackers. Well, probably that hit to his head made him forget someone mentioned Chandler around him.
6638198
Isn't that just the gospel truth of this series.
Verse 2431: Thou shalt not assume death til thy see them witheth their head splodeth inwards or outwards.
Also, Quiny is going out fulfilling his duty: protecting the kids. Course Whony, being a lackey if anything, is going to do a shit job at this.
Also, my 2 cents on why Swab 'Canteloupe' was chosen originally: he's been excelling in an attempt to get more food to feed Dashie.
6638300 If that's the case, there's no going back for Red Barge now unless they replenish their slave numbers.
6638315 I think it might be along the lines of this.
Sealed bulkhead chamber underneath can take several atmospheres of external pressure (to hold back water and whatnot).
Steam pipes can hold hundreds+ atmospheres with water vapor at 100+degrees C.
Red Barge doesn't have anywhere near the amount of failsafes our society would demand in a steam driven/powered system.
A pipe leaking into a sealed chamber would slowly build pressure until there's another leak or catastrophic failure (i.e. explosion).
Vibrations of an explosion would cause other chambers to have internal steam leaks, potentially causing this 'cascade' they fear.
As far as explosions, I'm thinking something along the lines of Mythbusters' "Hot Water Heater" or how Nuclear Reactors can explode (just a different gas build up).
The concept is realistic, yes. I'll argue that with enough safety features in place, everything should just leak/vent steam. With the Mythbusters, they needed to disable all the safety features in a modern hot water heater to get their result. I don't expect the Red Barge to put that much forethought nor care for workers instead of production. This is one of those cases of a scenario only happening in Hollywood because no one communicates like anyone in real life. I can accept a plot magguffin of steam explosion to off a character and stress a bunch of others.
Also, as far as it seems with the dredge coal it
burnscombusts almost explosively and seems to have a higher energy density than our coal or gasoline, because magic I presume. Maybe what the barge pulls up in a day can last them several months of constant fuel.Tl;dr: It's silly, yes. It might be a plot contrivance, yes. I presume there's a few other unseen variables that contribute to this scenario, but not in any OSHA respecting society. I agree with you that it is a stretch based on what we know of steam powered things.
I think it says something about the misery of this place when dying on your own terms is about the best you can hope for.
Hopefully the kid at least found solace in breaking the cycle of cruelty.
Oh jeez...
He wasn't the best, but at least he was selfless at the end.
Quint always said he protected the other foals, but I didn't think he truly understood what that meant until now. The whole place needs a Rainbow style makeover.
Unlikeable. But respect gained in a most selfless display of heroism is respect all the same. The dredger that Quint feared of becoming never would have been so altruistic. That much Swab and the others can't deny.
Difficult to say whether his faith in Whony was well founded or not. He may be an enraged/depressed mess now and little more than a thug prior to the attack. But he will have to come to accept this loss and really take responsibility for the young folk if he wants to respecting Quint's wishes, which sounds more likely than having him hoof those duties over to someone else. Especially with radical changes being forecast since Dash's arrival.
This isn't a time to lack self-assurance.
Frequent consumption of Dr. Pony?
He was a douche, but at least he was a noble douche.
And people need to listen to Croche. This entire place is one puss-oozing cyst, and it either needs to heal or be removed.
6638354
Agreed.
Quint just earned some major respect
6638198 6638379
This is what I'm desperately hoping for. That being said, that is a very nasty situation he crawled into. Several minutes in a cramped crawlspace, made of metal, full of humid air, with an ambient temperature of over a hundred and twenty degrees and climbing. That's already enough of a situation to cause burns to the touch, much less make breathing at all possible. Air like that is going to be extremely painful to breathe. And there might be other leaking steam pipes.
No, my money's on Quint being a bloodied lump, dying an agonizing death from being a steam-cooked inside and out. And if he does somehow make it out, well...I don't give him long for this world.
Does anyone else get the vibe Whony might have had a bit of a crush on Quint?
R.I.P, Cloud Wolf.
Quint no
I wouldn't call you brave
but that takes some guts