Titanic Sinking in Real Time The full Novel
By Sunny Meadows
My name is Amber Spark. I was on the Titanic that night when it sank. It was being touted as the most luxurious ship in the world. They called her practically unsinkable. My daughter, Evening Breeze and I were excited about our upcoming journey but were also travelling for unfortunate reasons. My husband had recently fallen ill and we were on our way to see him. Despite my concerns, I was still excited at the prospect of being aboard such a magnificent ship - I no idea however that I was walking into a nightmare.
Not long after the ship set off, I entered my cabin to get settled in. The Titanic was much larger than I had anticipated – 100 feet longer than the Lusitania! I found the opulence rather intimidating but was keen to have the chance to get used to it. My daughter had been a little restless over the change in her usual routine but I tended to her fussiness as best I could. The time went by at a leisurely pace and all the other passengers seemed just as excited as we to be experiencing such an exciting ride.
On the night of April 10, 1912, I changed Evening Breeze’s clothing and we settled into an evening of relaxation. Whilst letting Evening Breeze toddle about, I had closed my eyes for only moment when I heard her cry out. My attempts to calm her were falling on deaf ears and I couldn't figure out what was wrong.
“Oh Evening Breeze,” I said quietly, as I patted her back soothingly. “What happened? Can you tell Mum?”
She explained to me that she had tripped over a piece of coal.
“Oh you don’t have to be afraid of a little piece of coal but I know it hurts…I know…here, I’ll put a healing spell on you,” I said.
I cast the spell and she felt better immediately. I was thankful that her crying had now ceased.
On April 11, Evening Breeze was crying again but this time it was due to her missing her Father. The stress of travelling alone with a little one and the contents worry I had about my husband was becoming too much. I relayed my exhausted feelings to one of the ship's officers and he suggested I visit the ships bar. He agreedto look after little Evening Breeze and reassured me that he would treat her well, in just the same way that I do. I said thank you to the kind stallion and tried to push out the worry that I had regarding my husband.
I knew this journey would be a tough one. That's the whole reason I decided to take Titanic – if I had to travel toward potential heartache, at least I could do it in style. I had a few drinks at the bar to relaxed my muscles and ease my weary mind but I soon knew it was time to get back to Evening Breeze. I thanked the officer for watching my little one and mentioned that she seemed content…almost happy…but in a strange way she also seemed sad at the same time. She wasn’t crying, she just seemed contemplative. The Officer explained that Evening Breeze had been sharing cute stories about her Father and I was touched that the officer had taken the time to listen.
Later that night, Evening Breeze slept in her bed for a few a short hours before suddenly crying out.
“Muuum…!”
I had been dozing for a few minutes myself and came to with a start.
“Huh? Yes Evening Breeze?”
“I had a nightmare,” she exclaimed in a tiny voice.
“Ohhh, ohhh Evening Breeze…you can come and sleep beside me if you want.”
“Really Mum?”
“Of course you can, my little Evening Breeze. Mwah,” I gave her a kiss on the cheek and both of us fell asleep once more.
On the morning of April 12 I fetched Evening Breeze a few pancakes and treated myself to something that most other ponies dislike…fish. I love eating fish – not fish rings – not calamari - just plain old fish.
“I swear, this fish is absolutely magnificent,” I declared.
“Ewww…I hate fish,” Evening Breeze announced with a disgusted look on her face.
“Oh Evening Breeze, you’ll learn someday," I told her, not realising that someday would be sooner than both she and I thought.
I then asked the waiter for a second serving and a another little pancake for Evening Breeze. For a little two year old pony, she sure could put 'em away! My mind went back to when I gave birth to this little baby girl. I named her Evening Breeze because it was the most eventual evening of my life and there had been such a gentle breeze that night. I would be absolutely bereft if anything happened to my little one.
At around 7:30pm, it was time for bed. Evening Breeze accepted this without her usual moaning.
“Goodnight Mum…I love you…” she whispered tiredly.
This made me cry a little. Evening Breeze had never said ‘I love you’ so clearly before.
On April 13, whilst we were having the usual for breakfast, I noticed that Evening Breeze seemed to be developing a little cold. Although normally of the mind that it's better to just ride these things out, I decided I would heal her at bedtime when she wasn’t even realising it. I wanted our journey to go ahead as planned without the added drama of illness. If only my spells worked as well on grown adult ponies, I thought, as my mind drifted back to my husband.
To take my mind of my worries, I decided to fill the day with activities. I went in search of the kind Officer from the night before - maybe he could suggest some activities. To my surprise, he need up offering me a job!
"Oh Miss Amber, I actually need your help.”
"Oh? How so?” I replied.
“One of our coal workers has, well, unfortunately fallen ill.”
I felt myself feel a fleeting pull of sadness for the poor pony.
"Oh no! So how can I help? Do you need assistance finding a replacement?”
“Well...how about you take on the job?”
“Me? But I’m a mare…I'm not in the habit of getting my hooves dirty.”
“C’mon. I think it’s time that you did.”
“Okay…maybe you're right! I used to quite like mucking about in the mud as young pony.”
“Did you?”
“When I was younger yes. But that was before my Mum laid down the 'no mud' rule.’”
I didn’t often listen to my Mother as a younger pony but I wasn't about to tell him that. He would have thought twice about hiring me if I did.
Turns out it was actually quite fun working as a coalman because I cheated a little and used magic! Heck, it didn't hurt to bend the rules a little. I was helping them out after all. I spent a few hours with the coalmen, even making friends with one of the workers that reminded me a little of my husband - this made me quite sad and I despaired once more over what may be waiting for us at the end of this journey.
On the night of April 13, the Officer that had been looking after Evening Breeze informed me that I could got back relaxing with my daughter.
“You can go now Miss Amber, we found a more permanent replacement.”
“Mmm,” I said. “Alright, I was actually quite enjoying myself….”
“Oh... you can do it for longer if you want to.”
I paused and looked about the room, a sudden shudder enveloping my body.
"Actually, no its okay - thanks though. It's the strangest thing - but I suddenly feel quite unsafe down here.”
The Officer just shrugged as I returned to the upper decks. As I as walking out, I found myself imagining something horrible – water was flooding into the Titanic's compartments and the faint sound of screaming merponies was filling my head.
I shrugged off the disturbing thoughts as nothing more than an odd delusion – being a magical pony, my mind was known to sometimes play tricks on me every now and again.
I returned to our room and settled in for the night.
“Goodnight Evening Breeze,” I spoke gently as I lay her down to sleep.
“Hehe, Night Mum.”
She fell fast asleep a few minutes later but I found myself lying awake for almost an hour. As I finally drifted off, the strange vision from earlier turned into a nightmare…I was now slap bang in the middle of it: getting sucked up and taken away into the water, straight down into the depths of the sea…it was so terrifying that I jerked back awake and it took hours to fall asleep again.
The next morning of April 14, I’d had hardly any sleep at all. My daughter asked me why I was so tired but I just told her that I didn’t get enough rest.
“Then go back to bed Mum,” she suggested.
“No Evening Breeze, I’m fine. I got at least four hours sleep. I think that’s enough for me.”
“But Mum…”
“No buts Evening Breeze,” I told her.
“Uh,” and then she said, “Alright.”
I told her that I was glad that she thought twice before finishing that sentence. The sleep deprivation was making me irritable.
By around 9am – many hours before the tragedy – Evening Breeze was sick again with that cough. It was getting worse and worse. I had to tap into my full power to heal her for good. But it paled in comparison to what I was forced to do for her later that night. Come lunchtime I was exhausted.
I asked the stallion to look after Evening Breeze again as she rested, whilst I attended the ship's bar.
“Maybe you should stop going to the bars too often - too much of a good thing can do bad stuff to you.”
“Don’t worry," I said. " I’m not an over-drinker.”
I then kissed him on the cheek. To my surprise, he fainted. I had to ‘magic’ him back to consciousness.
“What happened?" he spluttered out.
“You fainted,” I told him with a chuckle.
“Really? Did I? Oh, of what?”
I felt embarrassed for the poor stallion so pretended it was something else.
“Um…ahhh…by smelling a bad smell?”
“Oh, yeah...right. Of course,” he said sheepishly.
"I think little Miss here needs to visit a restroom. If you're good to watch her for a bit I’ll be back in a couple of hours to put her down for her afternoon nap. Okay?”
“Alright," he agreed. "Go on Miss Amber."
I then went in search of the bar – ordering myself a small glass of Coke - maybe the caffeine hit would give me the energy I needed.....but for what? There's that strange premonition feeling again. Another pony joined me and insisted I have a 'real' drink - remembering the stallion's warning, I decided to only have a little bit of alcohol and then I drank no more. More ponies arrived however and urged for me to have more. I just said ‘no’ every single time. A couple of them were so persistent that I had to hypnotise them into leaving me alone. It was just a short term effect so that they'd get off my back. Heck, if they'd shown more manners and been kind ponies, it wouldn't have been necessary.
The time soon came for me to return to my little daughter, Evening Breeze.
At around 1pm I sat Evening Breeze down to read a book with her. We chose a story about Saddle Whippers. This made me think of Discord, who was an imaginary friend from my philly years. He was based on a statue I'd seen in Canterlot Gardens many years ago during the early 1900s. Discord didn’t really like Saddle Whippers but my daughter seemed to be enjoying it. Why my mind was going back to my childhood and imaginary friends, I couldn't say. Not even to this day.
Meanwhile, Evening Breeze and I were playing a game with each other. We were playing a game that she had invented all by herself called Magic Ball. By now her magic was a little bit advanced but not to the point of my power – just enough so that she could levitate a ball off the ground….huh….strange…I couldn’t levitate a ball until I was about four. I sometimes wonder, is she going to be twice as powerful as me in the future?
The rules of the game are as follows: the one who holds the ball the longest – wins! Easy! I won of course…and she cried. I then asked to play the game again but on the third try, she won! I was completely shocked at this! Maybe it was time for me to retire...hee...hee. I am getting old after all.
By 2pm, Evening Breeze wanted to play games again but I was getting a little bit tired because I hadn’t gotten much sleep from the night before. I played with her anyway, just to keep her happy and to not ruin this voyage for the both of us. Little did we know what was to come.....
As the time passed by, I could feel my nerves begin to rise. But why? Why did I feel my nerves rise? Wasn't this supposed to be a calm voyage to ease the pain of seeing my husband unwell? Not to mention the fact that the sea was calm, flat and still. What would possibly go wrong on the world's most unsinkable ship?
At around 2:30pm, Evening Breeze wanted to play hockey with me. I was still exhausted and in no way up for a game but I agreed on one exception: that she would go to bed on time tonight.
"Mm mm - yes Mum," Evening Breeze replied in agreement.