//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty-Three – Intercontinental Voyage (Twilight) // Story: Reality is a Blur // by lLoveRainbowDash //------------------------------// Foresight had left Las Pegasus several hours ago. Twilight was stood at the stern of the ship with her forelegs rested on the railing, looking out over the countless waves of the limitless ocean. She watched as Equestria slowly grew smaller and smaller. She took in a deep breath. The overwhelming smell of seawater lingered in the air all around her. Every breath she exhaled condensed as it made contact with the cold air. She looked down over the railing, and saw dozens of small jellyfish aimlessly pushing themselves around in the water. The wake behind the massive shipping vessel left large amounts of bubbles in the dark green water. The clouds above were thick and grey, adding to the darkness of the night. The inevitable storm loomed ahead, threatening to drench anything in its path. “It’s magnificent, isn’t it?” Rarity said, standing beside her. “Y-yeah,” she responded, still looking at Equestria. They stood together for a long while, looking out over the ocean. “How are you holding up?” Rarity finally asked. Twilight felt a hoof touch her shoulder. “I... still feel sick.” “Still? Well, just stay out here. Breathe the fresh air, and keep your eyes on the horizon. It should help you.” “Thanks, Rarity, but I’ve been out here for an hour and I still feel sick.” “It takes time, Darling. Just be patient.” “How come you aren’t seasick?” Twilight asked, turning to face her. “I’m lucky, I guess,” Rarity answered, smiling. Twilight sighed. “I’m going to go back inside, it’s getting cold out here.” “Are you sure?” “Yeah. Are you coming with?” “I suppose so; I’ve got nothing better to do,” Rarity replied, joining Twilight in her walk back towards their cabin. Twilight walked slowly through the passageways, not wanting to make any sudden movements. The rocking of the large ship with the waves nauseated her, and at the same time calmed her. All for Rainbow Dash, she repeated in her mind, over and over again. Twilight finally reached the door to their cabin and slowly opened it. She walked over to her bunk and climbed up into it. Rarity closed the door behind her and asked, “What are you doing?” “Getting some rest,” Twilight answered with her head stuffed under her pillow. “But... it’s only eight.” Twilight lifted her head from below the pillow and seemed to be considering it. After a brief moment, she laid her head back down and yawned, “Goodnight, Rarity.” “Alright, Darling. Have a good night,” Rarity responded as she left the room. Twilight was awoken by a loud ringing. The breakfast bell had gone off. “Ma’am, it’s time for the first meal of the day. It is required that everypony eats,” a pony said. “Oh, I-I’m sorry!” Twilight jumped off of the bunk and finally got a clear look at the mare. Her fur coat was a light green, and her mane was a darker shade of green. She wore a dark blue uniform. She held a hoof out to Twilight, to which she accepted. “Name’s Wayfarer,” she said as she shook Twilight’s hoof. “I’m Twilight. It’s nice to meet you, Wayfarer,” Twilight said as she smiled at her. “Nice to meet you too, Twilight. I’m one of your cabinmates. I spoke with your friend, Rarity. She wanted me to come back and get you.” “Oh, she did?” “Yeah, let’s go. She’s waiting for you in the cafeteria,” Wayfarer said, leading her out of the room and down to the stairwell in the passageway. Twilight didn’t like the stairways, as they were extremely steep. They were almost ladders. After a bit of walking through the similar passageways, they finally made it to the large cafeteria. Twilight walked to the end of the line and picked up a tray. The line moved along slowly, giving her the time to let everything set in. The smells of different foods fought each other. From where she was waiting in line, she could see that there was food sitting out on a long counter, resembling a buffet. None of the stuff sitting out on the counter even looked like food. Disgusted, Twilight placed the tray back down and headed to the nearby table that Rarity was seated at. “Where’s your food?” Rarity asked. “Did you see that? I don’t think that’s healthy!” Twilight said, pointing a hoof to the counter. “I thought it was quite good, actually,” she replied. “You ate it?! But... Rarity, did you even look at it?” “Well, yes, but you should never judge a book by its cover, Twilight,” Rarity teased. Twilight blinked. She cleared her throat before speaking, “I um, I’m not that hungry.” “Hmm, suit yourself.” Before Twilight could respond, Wayfarer came up to the table, saying, “You finished fast. C’mon, I want to show you two something.” “Where are we going?” Twilight asked, standing up from the table. “Up,” Wayfarer simply said. Rarity and Twilight followed her up to the bridge of the ship. It was a wide room with control panels lining the frontmost wall. The helm was on its own in the middle of the large room, with the largest window directly in front of it. The large window wipers swiped the rain water away, but more water came down from the dark clouds. Foresight had gone straight into a large storm. The rocking of the ship had worsened since then. Every single button and switch inside of the bridge was lit up for visibility. As Twilight and Rarity made their way into the bridge, they saw Princess Luna talking with one of the captains of the shipping vessel. “Oh, hello Twilight and Rarity,” she greeted. “This is the captain, Cario.” “Hello, you two,” he said. “Like she said, I am one of the captains of Foresight. This ship has gone through so much, and yet, here it is, still goin’ strong. Anyway, enough about me and the ship, what about you two?” “W-well, my name is Twilight Sparkle... and we’re going to Pyrathia to... find... somepony.” She looked down, taking sudden interest in the smooth wood floor. “Like Princess Luna said, I’m Rarity. It’s very nice to meet you, Captain Cario.” “Oh, please, just call me Cario,” he said, smiling. The lights flickered, causing them to look up. “Oh, don’t mind the lights. That’s just the backup generator kickin’ in,” Cario said. “Backup generator?” Twilight asked. “Yes, every now and then, the ponies that work in the engine room will switch the power output to the backups, just to make sure they still work. They leave it runnin’ for a few minutes, then switch it back to the main generators.” “So, Cario, how long until we reach Pyrathia?” Luna asked. “Well,” he checked the map on the table beside them, “a little less than three days.” “How do you know where we are on that map?” Twilight asked. “I don’t. Well, not exactly. I traveled this route so many times that I basically know where the sun should be, at all times. Other than that, I use a sextant, which is a device to determine the angular distance between the horizon and the sun. It’s called celestial navigation, which helps find out our location on this planet, but with this storm, I have to rely on the information from yesterday,” Cario answered. “Last time I checked, we were at longitude -3.21, and latitude -30.26.” “Wow, that’s... amazing,” Twilight said. Wayfarer cleared her throat. “Once you girls are done, I would like to show you something,” she said. “Oh, sorry to keep you waiting,” Rarity apologized. “Let’s go.” They exited the side door that led outside of the bridge and walked up another set of stairs. They made their way to the mast. The outside walls of the bridge were all white, but the mast on top was bright yellow, evidently noticeable from miles away, no matter the time of day. Wayfarer led them towards a ladder. She climbed up with ease, leaving the two behind wondering how. “You girls coming?” she asked once she made it to the top. Rarity took the initiative to start climbing. After a lot of failed attempts at trying to get the right hold, she finally got the hang of it. She soon made it to the top. She turned and looked down to Twilight. “Your turn!” “Ponies are not supposed to be climbing ladders,” Twilight whispered to herself. She placed her forelegs around the bottom ladder step and looked up. The mast was tall, and she was going to climb up without a safety harness. She gulped. “Come on, Twilight! It’s not that hard!” Rarity yelled from above. “And the view is... simply divine!” “I don’t need a high altitude to see anything, Rarity. We’re surrounded by nothing but flatness; no mountains to get in the way of the views!” Twilight shouted back. “Just climb up! I believe in you!” “Alright, alright, fine!” Twilight brought her forelegs to a higher step and pulled up enough to get her right hind leg on the bottom step. With that, she lifted her right foreleg up another step, at the same time bringing her left hind leg up. “You're doing it, Twilight!” Rarity shouted down. “C'mon, keep going!” Wayfarer encouraged. Twilight followed those same steps over and over again. She heard the two talking to each other from the platform above her. “So, Rarity, what do you do in Equestria?” Wayfarer asked. “Well, I work at my boutique in Ponyville. Sometimes, me and my friends go out and save Equestria from severe threats.” “So what threat are you going after right now?” “Oh, I, uh, we aren’t going to face any threats. We just... We’re heading to Pyrathia to find a missing friend.” Twilight had made it to the last step to climb up. “Finally, I made it!” she exclaimed. She was still on the ladder, only holding herself at the top with her forelegs hung over the ledge. She lifted her right hind leg up, but lost her balance doing so. “Oh crud.” “Twilight!” Twilight spent almost two days in the sick bay recovering from her fall. The on board nurse had told her she had a minor sprain in her left foreleg. Most of the time she spent in the sick bay was just her reading a book. Rarity would come in to check on her, and apologize for not catching her in time. Wayfarer, too, would come in and apologize for not following proper safety protocols. Once Princess Luna found out about her fall, she came in and asked her of what happened. A little over a day, and we’re off of this thing, she thought as she looked around at the solid metal walls and pipes. There was a digital clock on the wall directly in front of her, reading 2:34 PM. Just then, she heard the door creak open, and not too long after, the curtains were pulled back. The nurse stepped up to the side of the bed. “Hi,” she said as she checked the monitor with Twilight’s vitals. “How are you feeling?” “I’m feeling better, but there’s still a little bit of an ache in my hoof.” “This should help with the pain,” the nurse said, giving Twilight a small pill and a cup of water. “By the looks of how much the swelling has gone down, I feel like it’s okay to let you go. If you want to stay, you may, but you can leave whenever you want. Just don’t be putting too much weight on your foreleg, alright?” Twilight nodded, “Yes.” “Okay, good. Here, let me take that.” The nurse grabbed Twilight’s empty cup and placed it into the trashcan behind her. “So, I can go ahead and leave when I want?” Twilight asked, just to be sure. “Yup,” the nurse clarified. “Just don’t be doing anything crazy with that leg.” Twilight smiled as she sat up in the bed. “I know.” She slowly let herself down from the bed and limped towards the door. Before she could open it, somepony else did. “Oh, Twilight, you’re up! I need to show you something, quickly!” Rarity said. She bounced in place while grinning. “What is it?” Twilight asked. “We better not be climbing anything!” “No, of course not! Just... follow me, fast!” Rarity turned and ran down the passageway, Twilight right behind her. Although it hurt with each step of her left foreleg, it felt good to stretch her muscles after being in the bed for a while. They soon made it to the main deck where they made their way to the starboard side of the ship. The air was just as salty, but felt warmer than when they first left Equestria. “Look, look!” Rarity pointed out into the slight fog. Twilight followed where she was pointing and her eyes laid upon another ship. It looked to be a large passenger ship, much like a cruise liner. It was heading the opposite way of where they were headed. Right on the starboard side of the bow, the name “Prosperity” was placed. The draft of the other ship was red, and the freeboard was white. There was two large smokestacks towards the center of the other ship, spewing out smoke. It also seemed to be in much better condition than Foresight. Through the slight fog, Twilight could just barely make out ponies walking around on the main deck of Prosperity. As the two large ships passed each other, they walked to the stern to keep sight of the other vessel. Then, Twilight noticed that Foresight was turning. Suddenly, the speaker system started up with static. “Everypony, we are taking a detour North, as the Port of Wynmeda is closed to all arrivals due to threats of siege. Don’t be alarmed, the detour will only add several more hours to our travels; we are headed for Moenum Harbour. That’s all, back to work everypony,” Captain Cario said. While Rarity and Twilight still watched on as Prosperity faded into the fog, Princess Luna landed behind them. “How’s your leg feeling, Twilight?” she asked. Twilight turned around and answered, “It’s feeling a lot better, though, there’s still an ache, but it’s nothing too bad.” “That’s good. If you need me, I’ll be in my room,” she said before turning to leave. “Wait!” Rarity called out. “Do you know how long until we get there?” “Um... just over a day, I believe.” “Oh, alright, thanks.” Rarity turned back to Twilight, who was still looking at the spot where Prosperity had disappeared in the fog. “T-Twilight?” “Yes?” “I am dreadfully sorry I didn’t catch you in time.” Twilight smiled. “It’s okay, Rarity. All it is is just a little sprain in my hoof, nothing serious.” “Yes, but I do not like the idea of my friends going through pain, whether it be a little or a lot.” “Rarity, don’t worry, I’m fine. But, what was the view like up there, anyway?” “Oh,” Rarity held back a giggle as she looked down towards the floor, “it was, um... not much different than from the bottom.” “I see,” Twilight deadpanned. After a few minutes of standing around, Rarity said, “I am starving, would you like to come with me to go see if there’s anything in the cafeteria yet?” Twilight winced as she remembered the horrid foods, but gave in to hunger. “Sure.”