//------------------------------// // Overload! // Story: Fire and Water // by arc5162 //------------------------------// Twilight and her friends then stepped through the portal to arrive in the strange store room. When they got there, the portal immediately closed behind them. Sealing them off from their homes. Rainbow dash tried to fly into the portal again, but she wasn’t quick enough. “How are we supposed to get back!” Screamed Rainbow Dash. “We have to wait until the event the spell found happens.” Said Twilight,” but on the bright side, it gives us a chance to look around.” Applejack then went over to one of the bales to see what it was. When she touched it, it was very soft but very compact. Applejack called the others over.”Girls, I think these are bales of cotton.” Pinkie pie opened of of the crates and found a white powdery substance. “Oooh,” said Pinkie pie,”A whole crate full of sugar.” She then stuffed her head into the crate of sugar and pulled back out with a mouthful. “Pinkie!,”said Twilight,”Don’t mess with that sugar, whoever is here will start to wonder.” “Who’s there.” Called out a voice, it was coming from the door. Then, the door opened. What came out was a human, dressed in a naval officer’s uniform and holding a small pistol. “A human!” Screamed Twilight,”I thought this spell was supposed to travel to the past, not another dimension.” Twilight then turned to her friends,”don’t worry, he can’t see or hear us.” The man then went to the crate and looked at it. “Okay, who’s been messing with the cargo, come out and face me.” The mane six stared at him with curiosity and fright. After a little while of searching, He then put the pistol into a holster and went to leave. “I swear, those men can’t keep their hands to themselves.” He mumbled. Once he left, twilight and the others decided to go out as well to see where they were. Once they got out, they were immediately met with dozens of people lying down on the floor and leaning against the wall. They all looked weak and malnourished with some having injuries. Twilight then looked past all of the men to see that there was nothing but water on one side, and a river bank on the other side. “Girls, I think we’re on a boat.” “Why are we on a boat?” Said rainbow dash. “I don’t know, but it looks like it’s very overcrowded. She then cast a spell to make a hologram of the ship they were on. She and her friends instantly saw that this ship was a lot bigger than the other ones that they had seen. It was very long with large paddle wheels on either side. The boat had 4 decks including the wheelhouse on top. There were 2 tall smokestacks in front of the wheelhouse and 2 gangway platforms at the front that could swing out to the side to board passengers, and to top it off, the name of the ship was painted on the side, “SULTANA” “My, such a beautiful ship.” Said Rarity. “Wow”, said Applejack,”I’ve never seen a boat this big before.” “Me either.” Said Twilight “That’s odd.” Said Rarity “What’s odd?” Said Twilight “There’s no sails on the boat.” Twilight then realized that Rarity was right, there were no sails whatsoever on this large boat. Rainbow Dash then spoke up,”if there aren’t any sails here, then what makes the boat go?” “I don’t know,”said Twilight,”lets go look to see what drives the paddle wheel.” They then began to head towards the engine room, very curious as to what makes this big ship move. All the while wondering one thing, why is the ship so overloaded, and why was it overloaded with so many injured men.