Chapter Two: Uncharted Waters
Coughs escaped my mouth in quick succession until I violently spit the water out on the sand below me. Everything around me spun. The insides of my head bumped back and forth like a game of Ping Pong.
I fell on my back, taking in deep breathes, listening to the sound of crashing waves around me. Water swam through my mane like an aquatic brush, sending shivers down my spine. My breathing slowly returned to normal as the adrenaline coursing in my veins slowly dispersed throughout the rest of my body.
Attempting to stand up, I found myself tangled up within the parachute. It took me a few minutes, but after enough wiggling I managed to pry myself free from its binding.
Brave Day lay next to me, beaten thoroughly and out of breath, passed out on the sand like she was sunbathing. My hoof splashed water over her face.
She twitched.
A groan escaped her as she slowly pushed herself up, rolling on her back in time to see the fin from the plane sinking down into the deep depths of the ocean. We sat there for several long minutes just staring.
I began to recall some of what happened. We managed to grab the parachutes that appeared from under the seats just as the plane violently shook again. I pushed several pegasi over, letting Brave go for the door that had a passenger safety spell. I tried finding the flight attendant to dispel it but a violent eruption around the cabin deactivated it to our luck. Brave pushed open the door then, for some reason, she froze. Those final moments were almost a blur, but I can vaguely recall wrapping my hooves around Brave as I tackled her out the plane.
All those other ponies though...if it wasn’t for already having other pony’s blood on my hooves, my heart would have broken for them as I didn’t see anypony else escape. Celestia, thank you, for allowing me and my sister to live, I thought to myself.
Standing up on all fours, I helped Brave Day up, noticing that she was still processing what was going on. Her hoof smacked the side of her face as her eyes widened alarmingly fast. “What the hell are we going to do?” She screamed out at the ocean, “Where the hell are we!”
The screaming continued for another few minutes, each sentence slowly bringing my hoof to my face. She kept rambling, and rambling on, and rambling, and rambling. Brave faced me in time for me to slap her. “Shut up!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. “You’re acting like this is the first time we’ve ever been in this situation. Did you forget those summers with grandpa!” I shouted as each of those miserable memories flooded my head to the point I tore my gaze to the ocean. “Now stop acting like a scared filly, I thought you were supposed to be a big bad gangster,” I scoffed pointing my hoof out at the crashing waves.
My eyes locked on the area where the plane had gone down at. Our only chance of finding some supplies was stuck at the bottom and the sun was slowly beginning to set. Maybe three hours at most. “Brave, swim out there with me. With any luck the water won’t be too deep, but I’ll need you to conjure up an air bubble.”
I mentally began crossing off each thing we needed to stay aware of. Aside from sharks coming into the area, all we had to avoid were the currents and rip tides. It should take only a few minutes before certain species of shark began poking around the wreckage site. We needed to move fast.
“You can’t do that, you don’t even know how deep it is,” Brave reminded me with more than a little concern behind her words.
One look behind me revealed a large mountain separating us from the other side of the island. Each direction seemed like an endless walk leaving us with little options to choose from. “I’ve already made up my mind, now just listen and do as I say.” I slowly tied my blue mane up into a bun, using a small band to keep it in place as not to snag on anything while in the wreckage.
We galloped into the water, finding ourselves right above the plane in just a few minutes. I took another glance over at the land, hoping that the walk around the mountain wasn’t as long as it looked from shore. It looked longer somehow.
My gaze drifted to the water. Below, I could spy the plane resting between several large boulders. “If I had to guess, I’d say that’s about...a really deep dive.” I paused for a moment, taking the sight in.
“I can make you an air bubble, but there ain’t a chance that it will withstand that.” She exchanged glances between me and the plane.
I reminded myself that we weren’t the most talented unicorns this side of…wherever we were. “Time to see if those swimming skills are as good as they used to be.”
Engulfing her horn in a magical aura, Brave slowly conjured a pink bubble around me with water passing through it leaving me more than a little uneasy. My hoof waved through the pink. “Starry, make sure you stay within the bubble while it’s going down.” I nodded in response then began to descend into the depths below.
Instincts told me to hold my breath, silly as it was, and I did. I wasn’t going to chance being taken by surprise by an unstable bubble. Using telekinesis to slowly make my descent, I let out a breath and took in some fresh air to my relief. At least one thing was going right today. Every few seconds I checked for sharks that may have been scoping the crash site out. So far, nothing, which was how I liked it.
Cracks began to form slowly around the entire bubble, eventually spider-webbing together. I took a swift look at the plane, pulling in all the air my lungs had the capacity to take in. I didn’t dare open my mouth again as the pink magic began to drift off into the water slowly fading away.
Swimming to the desired depth, I moved in front of the door, carefully poking my head inside for fear of a shark possibly jetting out from it. Thankfully, nothing more than a few minnows came my way. I entered the cabin, inspecting every nook and cranny I could visibly make out. Inside, bodies floated up to the top of the cabin. Each one had a twisted expression of fear on their faces. All I could think of was that the safety enchantment malfunctioned, letting us out, but kept everypony else in, from the explosion. The poor souls that had survived the crash had been trapped inside as the water came flooding in.
With the last of the pink bubble drifting away, I took one last breath. A burning sensation slowly began filling my lungs. I began swimming around, noticing all of the luggage floating about, but there wasn’t time for me to scavenge anything. Swimming over to the cockpit, I passed an emergency cabinet. Attempting to pull it open, I found it was locked. “Kind of stupid considering I might be able to use whatever’s inside now,” I thought to myself.
Swimming into the cockpit, I carefully went up into an air pocket that remained trapped inside. Sweet air graced my lungs reminding me that air was limited here. The pilot’s dead bodies floated past me with a keyring attached to one of their belt loops. I grabbed the keyring before swimming back to the emergency cabinet.
I tried each key one by one, noting I was beginning to feel the burning sensation. If there was anything that could give me a longer breath of a fresh air, I needed it to be somewhere in the plane. Frustrated, I smacked the wall as hard as I could, feeling the burning intensify like it was electricity coursing through me. I tried another key and to my surprise it unlocked the cabinet. I pulled it open and there floated an oxygen mask connected to a tank. I smiled, then remembered I was drowning. Frantically grabbing the mask I twisted the knob on the tank and the oxygen began to vent. Creating an air pocket in it first, I strapped it on and took in a long breath, praising both Alicorns for the sweet relief. The exhale was a little labored as I doubted this was the intended purpose of the equipment.
With more than enough time on the tanks gauge to search, I got to work rummaging through every little thing I could. In my search, I came across a container holding packaged nuts, as well as a twenty-four pack of small water bottles and a flip lighter that someone had managed to slip past security. I also took the addition oxygen mask and tank from the cabinet.
All of these went inside of a small bag I had taken that nopony would be needing anymore. The last thing I found was locked. A large chest which, because of its locked nature, held my curiosity like a cat playing with its own swishing tail hidden under a couch.
The contents of the chest was what drew me to it, because it was sitting on the floor instead of floating. I attempted to lift it through telekinesis but whatever was inside held it down firmly for me to lift. “I’ll just have to come back for it later,” I told myself checking the tank as it neared going empty.
Levitating the package of water bottles with me, I slowly swam out the door. Beginning my ascension to the surface, I couldn’t make out Brave Day’s body. My eyes darted around, being on the alert for any sharks. Without knowing where we were, I had to assume the most badass of sharks lived around the area.
I slung my body across the sand, the loot and gear weighing me down immensely, as I took in the sight before me. Between some palm trees were two beautiful hammocks made out of ripped parachute. Above that was a small pony-made roof that was constructed out of leafs.
Checking the oxygen tank, it was empty. I squirmed out from the gear, letting it rest near a tree. Brave sat near a fire while she slowly carved arrows for a makeshift bow with her custom knife. The fire cracked.
Brave spared a glance my way with the smallest hint of a smile. “You know, I honestly thought you might not make it back,” she said with a chuckle. “Glad to see your back with supplies.” Her hoof gently patted the sand.
I plopped down next to her, letting the fire warm me. The band holding my hair slowly slid out allowing my mane to fall free as I ran a hoof to untangle it. “Remember when you said your favorite story was when I was born,” Brave stated from across the fire. “You know what mine is?”
I shook my head.
A smile slowly stretched across her face. “Remember that Corvette we had that was almost nothing but carbon fiber?” Brave chuckled in response to my fast nod. That car was definitely special. “I remember. We needed that car because Chrysalis wanted two of the fastest bucking racers our side of the Badlands.”
The memories came flashing back like they had happened yesterday. It was almost unbelievable that it had been some years ago. “Yeah, I remember,” I said opening the packaged nuts that had somehow remained dry despite being submerged. “Your car was too damaged and mine had the axle ripped clean off.”
“You can always count on some old goat buying something they know nothing about. Would have been a shame to leave it behind. If he was a racer, I’d of dragged his ass to settle it.” Brave trailed off. I only recall the lights coming on as we sped off with the frame on our trailer. With carbon fiber being so lightweight it makes for perfect drag racing material. “Then we dropped that three hundred fifty cubic inch big block inside with two stages of nitrous and let that thing soar. Good thing that last race was a drag race.” Brave’s gaze moved to me. “You drove like you were on a mission. Coolest thing I ever saw you do.”
“I just remember it couldn’t turn worth beans,” I said laughing right after. We sat there staring into the fire for what felt like hours as the sun finally disappeared. I let out a yawn, feeling my heavy eyelids begin to fall.