//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Kuairu // Story: SunLight Sliders: Infinite // by Amber Spark //------------------------------// The first thing Twilight felt was nothing. Then she crashed hard into deep water. Twilight flailed her arms and legs, all thoughts stopping as memories played in repeat, her body struggling instinctively to get air. Flashbacks to a memory of her floaties popping when she played in the neighbor’s pool when she was five years old merged with the memory of getting caught under a massive float on a lake as a ten-year-old. The desperate prayer that someone, anyone would save her. No one did at first. The water was too much. She couldn’t find the surface and her lungs were burning from lack of oxygen. As she slipped deeper, she wondered where Sunset had ended up... Two hands grabbed her moments before she slipped into darkness. Sunset brought Twilight over her shoulder as she breached the surface, making sure the lavender-haired voyager had her head out into air. Sunset looked around and noticed a nearby ship. It looked bigger and taller than she expected from the surface of the water. It reminded her vaguely of a griffon trawler, but with no fishing nets. Sunset glared at the letters stenciled on the side of the ship. “Sunlight’s Dawn,” Sunset muttered. “Now there’s a name…” Sunset shook her head, took Twilight in tow and slowly worked her way to the side. After a few tries, Sunset managed to get a grip on the side of the boat. Still clutching Twilight, she pulled herself over the railing. She pushed with her legs against the boat, but failing to account for gravity, Sunset fell on her back. Twilight landed right on top of her. The strangely familiar feeling of a wet and warm body against her own made Sunset space out for a few seconds. Shaking her head, Sunset pushed Twilight off her and checked the other girl’s breathing. Her heart stopped when she didn’t hear even a gurgle, much less a struggled breath. “Okay Sunset, you’ve got this…” Sunset muttered, trying not to panic as she kneeled down next to Twilight. While she knew a couple tricks, she’d never actually performed CPR. Twilight always knew that stuff. Her Twilight. Putting two hoo—hands on Twilight’s chest, just as she’s seen others do, she began to pump her arms down. She pushed against Twilight’s chest a few times, but nothing happened. In any other situation, she may hesitate or even blush at the prospect of connecting Twilight’s mouth with her own. She wasn’t kissing her, but it was the same motions. However, Sunset pushed such thoughts away as quickly as they came and focused on saving her companion. She could deal to think about the circumstances later. Not sure of how long she should breathe into Twilight, Sunset settled on two seconds for two breaths each. Still no response. Sunset grew even more worried and desperate. Her heart pounded in her ears as Sunset breathed quickly for a few moments, before calming her lungs and readying her hands. “C’mon Twilight, don’t die on me yet!” Sunset yelled. She began to pump her arms on Twilight’s chest again. After pumping again, she moved to breathe for Twilight again. On the last breath, Sunset opened her eyes and found Twilight blinking up at her. Time stopped., as seeing those beautiful lavender irises finally alive brought sudden hope to Sunset’s heart. She slowly lifted her mouth away from Twilight’s. In that second… everything was beautiful. This isn’t my Twilight, she forced herself to remember. And then Twilight threw up a stream of water in Sunset’s face. “AAARGH!” Sunset screamed, wiping off the offending liquids at the top of her eyebrows as Twilight rolled over and heaved, coughing and sputtering onto the deck. Once Twilight coughed up most of the water out of her lungs, she laid there on the deck, sucking in air. “Well that didn’t look pleasant,” a voice said. Sunset and Twilight turned at the sound of the voice and gasped. At the back of the boat, a purple dog with a green underside and green puffy ears stood on stairs leading up to a captain’s lookout. Something had left the furry crest around his head patchy, and his right foreleg was replaced with a metal limb that had a hand instead of a paw. Sunset stared and gaped at the animal. “Spike!” Twilight yelled, crawling quickly over to the creature. Sunset watched, amazed at Twilight cuddling a small—and oddly augmented—dog after coughing up half her organs. “Hey, finally, I get a hugger Twilight,” Spike laughed, nuzzling into the girl’s sopping wet arms. “Not that I mind if Sparky goes around hugging random one-handed dogs, but who are you?” Sunset asked, walking up to the duo at the steps. Spike hopped up to the top of the stairs. He used his hand to pull himself all the way up. “Twilight just said it! It’s Spike! At least… that’s what my Twilight called me.” Twilight opened her mouth but Spike stopped her with a wave of his… hand. “Hey, if I wasn’t used to interdimensional guests, don’t you think I’d be freaking out a little more right now?” Spike winked at her. “It’s not like I get a lot of other visitors these days.” Twilight looked around and Sunset followed her gaze. Nothing but water lay beyond the odd little ship. Not a speck of land in sight... “Why did the Talisman drop us in the middle of the ocean? Is there any land nearby?” “Wow, a bunch of newbies, looks like.” Spike whistled, then laughed. “Yeah. There’s land. Down there.” He pointed straight down. “Oh.” Sunset blinked. For once, she couldn’t find anything to say. “All the Twilight’s want to know the story. About forty years ago—long before Twilight or I were around—something happened. Flooded the whole world.” Spike padded to the side of the boat and looked down, prompting Twilight to do the same. She repressed a shiver. “There lies the ruins of the Old Ones. Houses, vehicles, and entire civilizations…” He shook his head. “As myTwilight would say, now hollow shells of their former selves. Hate whenever I have to go down there to collect mithril crystals…” Twilight stared into the void of the sea, fighting back the panic trying to overwhelm her. If she squinted just hard enough… she could see the top of what might be a skyscraper, growing from the bottom of an unseen abyss. “So, how come you’re on this boat? What happened to your world’s version of Twilight or Sunset?” Sunset asked. Twilight glanced back at her ‘companion.’ Something that looked suspiciously like greed glinted in her eyes as she stared into the depths. “Well, see, we used to be stuck on the few islands humanity still has. Twilight always said those used to be mountains, believe it or not. Then Twilight figured out the strange things we called ‘mithril crystals’ were actually condensed shards of magic. Even learned how to harness them. Pretty important since most ambient magic is gone now.” “What?!” Sunset exclaimed. She grabbed the TPT and stared at the readout. “What? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked. Sunset turned the TPT and showed Twilight. Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. The charge meter was barely moving. “Whoa whoa whoa, relax.” Spike rolled his eyes and raised his metal limb in a calming gesture. “If you use a mithril crystal in it, it’ll recharge no problem. At least, it always did with other Voyagers.” “What did they figure out with the crystals?” Twilight asked. “Well, Twilight developed three prototypes to test their capabilities. I was the first project. She gave me a voice, plus this awesome metal limb to replace one I lost to a shark.” Twilight swallowed hard. Sharks were not something she wanted to think about right now. “The other two projects? They were Twilight trying to save the world,” he grinned. “She developed a device capable of using the crystals as an energy source. The other was a transdimensional portal talisman to travel to a different universe. She hoped to find a new safe place for her family and friends, and possibly the whole Appleloosan island inhabitants. But…” Spike sighed and stared out over the water, his expression too old to be on a dog’s face. “The first test run they did, Twilight and her assistant, Sunset, vanished. I had to teach myself about the crystals, and create the energy converter from her schematics. It’s used on a good number of ships, especially combined with MOPS.” “Mops?” Twilight asked. “Why would it help for cleaning floors?” Spike chuckled and shook his head. “Musically Operated Power System. You play music, the boats go forward. Man the rudder, and you can go anywhere. Provided you have enough crystals, of course. That design was all me.” He pointed toward the front of the ship and Twilight spotted an old guitar and a bunch of drums at the bow of the boat. Sunset shook her head again. “Listen. We were sent here because a… someone told us that a ‘brilliant engineer’ could help us with our Talisman, to get us back home quicker. Looks like you’re it, Spike, even if I don’t know if we should trust a dog with an interdimensional transportation device—” “Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence there, Bacon.” “—but I guess we got no choice but to…” Sunset paused and her eyes narrowed on the dog. “What did you just call me?” “Heh, you’re touchy about that nickname too. Anyways, yeah, I can probably help with your TPT, but we need to get back to my workshop, and I still need to find more—” A deafening horn cut Spike off. Instantly, he was on his paws—and hand—his eyes wide and his ears twitching. Then he scampered to the rear of the ship, behind the captain’s lookout. Twilight shared a confused look with Sunset before they followed him. Twilight gasped. Three small dark ships tore through the ocean on a direct heading for Spike’s ship. The menacing riffs of their guitar players pounded their ears in painful bursts. “It’s pirates! Bloody Crystalheads, they're after my mithrils! Man the MOPS! Quickly!” Spike ordered. He raced up to the captain’s lookout. “I’ll get the battery and the weapons working, but you two need to get us moving!” Panic overriding questions, Twilight ran to the front of the ship, Sunset right behind her. Sunset grabbed the guitar with the confidence of an expert.  “Get the drums! I’ll get the guitar!” “You know how to play it?” Twilight asked, staring at the drums and desperately trying to find the sticks. “You learn a few things when you’re bored and caught,” Sunset shrugged. “You know how to play the drums?” “No! I played recorder in grade school. But that’s it!” Twilight pulled at her hair, still trying to find those drum sticks. “I don’t even know what to play!” “Play war drums!” Spike yelled out, a low whirring emanating from his lookout. “War drums. Okay, war drums…” Twilight found the sticks—they’d been hiding under the seat—and sat herself down at tried a few whacks at the drums, mumbling sounds that she thought might sound like drums. “War drums… war… waaaaaaaar…” “C’mon Sparky, we don’t have all day!” Sunset yelled as she settled herself into position. “I’m sorry! I’m not a soldier! I don’t know what war drums are! I’ve only gotten violent twice in my life! Once at Canterlot High against… err…” Twilight coughed and didn’t meet Sunset’s eyes.“Sunset, and that one time on Black Friday!” “Wait.” Sunset looked dumbfounded. “You have Black Fridays in your world too?” That’s what she asks? Not about Sunset but about Black Friday? Suddenly, a large projectile crashed into the ocean just beyond the front of the boat, sending a plume of water into the air. Twilight shrieked and almost threw her drumsticks overboard. “While we’re young and alive, girls!” Spike shouted from his lookout. Guitar riffs and drums echoed over the waves. Twilight wondered how close they were and how come their hearing wasn’t already impaired. Twilight took a breath and focused on the drums. She pounded her drumsticks against the drums, trying to put her terror into the ‘music’. Another splash on their right sent a wave of freezing ocean right on Twilight’s head, which made her start hyperventilating. “SPARKY, JUST POUND IT HARD!” Twilight threw sanity to the wind and just started screaming and pounding even harder. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” And thus, the drums of war began.