As was common for her in the True North, Rainbow Dash was once again flying over some snowy mountains. Long tired of the sight she wasn’t even really looking down at them to see if there was anything to check out. How many mountains had she flown over now? Probably more than ponies she could name back in Ponyville.
At least she was making really good progress today. She had flown all morning and afternoon and the weather was perfect the entire time. Even now as the sun was just barely starting to go down it was still bright and warm out. If every day was like this she was certain she’d make it to her next adventure soon.
Wherever that was.
She just knew it was close.
Rainbow Dash yawned. More out of reflex of what time of day it was than actual tiredness. While she had flown a lot she was still disappointed that nothing had come up and there was nothing cool to look at the whole time. She felt like she was just waiting until her next stop. It was almost like she was on auto-pilot when flying like this, above lands indistinguishable from anywhere else in the world with how boring they were. So even though she was happy to be able to go so far the day being uneventful still made her resentful of it.
She was just impossible to please when she was aching for adventure.
Out of sheer coincidence—the moment after she yawned she happened to hang her head low and scan the previously ignored mountains. And thus her eyes just barely caught sight of something out of place.
“Hello?” Rainbow Dash halted with a screech in the air and peered down harder.
At first it looked like a wooden building built on the side of one of the mountains, but it was shaped kind of weird and was lopsided like it had maybe fallen over or something. Rainbow Dash slowly descended to get a better look at it. As it came into view she realized it wasn’t a building at all but an airship. A large one, with a great wingspan and propellers that powered it instead of the balloons and hot air more commonly used in Equestria. But as Rainbow Dash got closer she noticed that this airship certainly hadn’t landed on any runway, the nose was caved in and broken, the wings snapped, the propellers bent, and the body had holes in it all over.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened and she shot down to the crash as fast as possible. “Hey!”
The pegasus flew around the downed airship, looking for anyone. “Hey?! Is there anyone here? Are you okay?!” She yelled in her search to see if there was anybody who needed help.
She looked over the airship and noticed how it was half-buried in the snow and how weather damaged most of its body and outer layer was. Calming down, she landed on a wing. This thing had crashed here a while ago. A quick walk and hopeful peer into the large cockpit showed her that it was empty (and almost completely destroyed from the crash) proving that at least somebody was still alive after the crash and was likely long gone now. The ponies, or whoever had flown in this, had probably gotten help or walked off the mountain and back to wherever they came from.
Still though, the whole thing made her uneasy. Looking at that cockpit… from the damage to it and the fact that this thing clearly landed nose first… the pilots probably weren’t part of the group that walked away from this crash site.
And then if this thing had crashed a while ago how come no one had come back for it or cleaned it up? This airship was pretty impressive, even the Storm King still only used zeppelins, this was more advanced even though it was mostly wood by the look of things. Rainbow Dash decided to hop through one of the jagged holes in the side of the ship and check it out. At worst there might’ve just been one survivor who decided to take the pilots out and give them a proper burial somewhere… she hoped she found evidence to suggest something happier. This crash site had a grim feeling to it that she couldn’t shake.
“Hello? Is there anybody in here?” She still asked to the inside of the airship just to make sure.
No answer. She was lucky there was still some light from outside or it would’ve been totally pitch black in here. And the inside of the ship was very spacious, with a lot of different rooms that she could see. It looked like she had entered into a hallway behind the cockpit and there was an open door leading to a large room full of broken and knocked over tables and chairs deeper in the ship. There was an opening in the floor with a ladder leading down to a lower level and a side door that looks like it was for a big closet. The whole bottom half of the ship might’ve been buried in snow so Dash stayed on this level for now and just went down the length of the ship.
The room with all the tables and chairs looked like some sort of lounge, Rainbow Dash saw some panels on the wall and went up to one, sliding it to the side revealed a glass window that had been covered up. It looked like they ran down the entire room on both sides. So this was like what? A flying yacht? Something for fun vacations and tours? She walked into the hallway leading to the tail of the ship, seeing an assortment of rooms and offices, and what she thought might’ve even been a kitchen, but a lot of it was destroyed or dilapidated. At about the last third of the ship she came to a closed door and two stairwells on the sides leading down. Opening up the door she checked inside it first.
And her dismay only increased.
This last room was the cargo hold and it was full of personal luggage and boxes of supplies, all of them plainly untouched since the crash. She saw suitcases and briefcases for well over a hundred individuals along with crates marked “peanuts”, “carrots”, “pillows”, “candles”, etc.
What had happened here? If they crashed then why wouldn’t they come back here to the cargo hold?
Rainbow Dash frowned and rubbed her head. “I don’t get it.”
Going outside and looking for tracks would be pointless with the amount of snowfall. There had to be some kind of answer or explanation for all this so Rainbow Dash was going to continue to explore the ship. Shutting the door to the hold she turned and went to one of the stairs, beginning her journey to the lower level of the ship. It was darker down here, almost too dark to see, but she made it work. One of those candles from above might be useful but she didn’t have anything to light it with or know where the matches were. The wood boards creaked beneath her with each step until she left the stairs, seeing a narrow hallway with small rooms leading the entire length of this level. Between the two stairwells at the bottom was another open hatch, the covering had broken off and was lying on the floor, with a ladder that led further down into the completely dark belly of the airship.
Rainbow Dash ignored that for now and checked out the rooms here. Opening up the very first door gave her a glimpse into a small chamber with two bunk beds and a closet. Did the passengers stay in these rooms?
Rainbow Dash checked and checked every last one of them. All the same. All empty.
It wasn’t until she was further down the ship that the rooms started getting bigger. If this thing was a flying yacht then these were probably for passengers that paid more. Looking into one she saw a larger bed and a busted up coffee table.
Glancing towards the end of the hallway showed her a wall situated at maybe the halfway point of the ship with a single door on it. When Rainbow Dash started walking towards it she tripped on something and stumbled.
“Huh?” Looking down she saw that really she hadn’t tripped on anything, there was just a gash in the floorboards that her hoof caught on. Taking a closer look she noticed that it wasn’t just any sort of hole or cut in the wood, there were five uniform marks all close together. Claw marks. Something with claws had dug them into the floorboards here. Rainbow Dash looked right beside these marks and, sure enough, saw another identical pair. And she recognized these kinds of claw marks. Griffon claws, no doubt about it.
But that was strange too, why would they claw up the floor like this? She looked up and saw more and more claw marks in sequence. Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
“Were they… pulling themselves across the floor?” She wondered.
The claw marks went in the direction of the door and Rainbow Dash decided that was her next destination. When she floated over to it she noticed that there was a plaque on it. The only door to have something like this.
CAPTAIN’S QUARTERS
Well at least now she knew what to expect. The brass knob turned easily and Rainbow Dash stepped into the darker room while the door slowly swung open all the way with a distressingly loud creak. While she wouldn’t admit it she felt a fair bit of trepidation, everything about this crash, and the claw marks leading to this room, just didn’t sit right with her. Did she even want to find out what happened? Why was everything suddenly so foreboding and heavy, Rainbow Dash could feel herself even start to sweat. And she didn’t sweat. She didn’t get scared. There was no way this was getting to her.
Her hoof wasn’t quivering and her heartbeat was just fine. The coldness of this office was probably just in her imagination too.
“Hello?” She called out to the room despite knowing it was probably pointless.
No answer again. She sighed and took a look around. Whoever the captain was he had the largest quarters she had seen so far, with a writing desk in the middle of the room and a rug that was haphazardly thrown up against one of the corners. It had probably been knocked around in the crash. There were also a number of picture frames hung up on the wall or fallen onto the floor, all of the ones she could make out in the darkness looked to be portraits of griffons. Besides that there was a large trunk that had also fallen over behind the desk. The desk must’ve been built into the floor to not move, same with the bed that was nestled in the corner opposite the rug.
The bed was large enough to be considered king size but it was bereft of sheets and the mattress hung halfway off of it and onto the floor.
Rainbow Dash frowned and looked closer at the floor. She could see the tail end of what looked like bedsheets leading behind the desk. Her heart was beating faster so she calmed it down and gulped, walking around the desk.
She froze.
“Well… so that explains the claw marks,” she tried to use a little comedy to lighten up the situation but the fact of the matter was she was looking at a dead griffon wrapped inside of a sheet and huddled under his desk.
Rainbow Dash grimaced, his face and claws were the only parts of his body that were visible outside the sheet. While his eyes were closed and the expression on his face looked surprisingly peaceful, his claws were tightly gripping a book—a journal. Rainbow Dash’s eyebrows shot up when she saw that and she reached her hoof out… and then drew it back. Did she want to touch that? First off it was kind of gross, she’d need to peel his claws off it, and secondly it was his property and all that… but she had to read it. If he was holding onto it like this it must be important to him. Maybe he had written about what happened with this ship inside it?
“Sorry dude,” Rainbow Dash apologized to the departed griffon and extricated the journal from his grasp. “Alright, let’s see if you told me what happened...”
I can say with much pride that I have proved my family wrong. The Glory of Gambien has been completed and will be a source of pride for our House for ages to come. And they called it a “foolish endeavor”, well the joke’s on them now. Hah! I’ve flown and traveled the arctic circle and now with this great creation of mine I will fly even further! The whole world will know the name of Gambien the Explorer!
Of course my funds are currently nonexistent. So my family wasn’t wrong about that part. But they were wrong about everything else. This isn’t a mid-life crisis, I turned 50 last year, and 50 isn’t mid-life it’s already old. So how can this be a mid-life crisis?
But anyways, back to my unfortunate lack of money. I was unable to even paint the hull the color I wanted so for now it will have to remain just dull brown wood. But, in my infinite ingenuity, I have thought of a great way to make money and spread the word about my unparalleled airship at the same time!
A pleasure cruise! Yes, although originally the ship was meant to ferry explorers and adventurers such as myself it will take naught but any effort at all to temporarily renovate it into a passenger liner. I’ll charge a hefty sum for anyone wanting to go on its maiden voyage to the impassable southern wall and back and then use that money to finance my finishing touches on the Glory and then get on with the true adventures the ship is meant to be taken on.
A brilliant idea if I do say so myself.
Since my family and the other Houses have made plain their lack of respect for my miraculous airship I won’t even bother asking them if they’d like to come. Instead I’m going to the city of Ice Valley. I know the denizens of that place will climb over each other to come onboard. I had thought for a second to stop at the Metal Mountain but having heard some unsavory things of what goes on there decided against it.
I have my crew ready to go, next stop; Ice Valley!
*
As I predicted there was an unlimited supply of creatures eager to board the Glory of Gambien! We ran out of rooms almost immediately but had to wait for everyone to gather their belongings. The trip south to the wall would be a long one, we had the necessary provisions but had to stress to our passengers to bring plenty of what they needed. I’m so excited though! By the end of the day we’ll be ready for takeoff and my masterpiece’s maiden voyage will go down in history. I’m sure there will be many copies of the Glory one of these days, its speed and carrying capacity makes all but the largest zeppelins look downright obsolete!
My crew shared my enthusiasm and we had a celebratory toast while waiting for everyone to board. It was quite a bit of work getting everything onto my airship but it was well worth it.
My parents were wrong about me, I knew I was destined for great things and this airship is the crown jewel of my life. Who cares if I completely threw aside my responsibilities as heir to House Stormwing? Nobody aside our small little roost of griffons up here even cares about all that rivalry nonsense. My sister can do my job just fine. I told them I didn’t want to be tied down and—it occurs to me I sound like some adventure drunk teenager. Perhaps I never grew up?
Oh well! I was still right and they were wrong, look what I’m doing compared to anyone else from any of the other Houses? My accomplishments are grand and will soon be noticed all over the world. Hah!
*
The bed in my quarters is lumpy. I’ll need a new one.
But aside from that we had out first night out in the sky! A perfectly smooth flight so far, no issues whatsoever. The Glory is a ship unlike anything else that has flown in these skies. Perhaps even the skies of the entire world? I’ll find out someday.
I was given compliment after compliment by the passengers on how much of a delight the trip has been so far as well as what a marvel the ship is in the first place. It certainly fills me with even more pride that they can appreciate this. My pilots as well have assured me that everything is going even better than expected. The instruments are top notch and infallible, the controls are perfect, even the seats are comfortable. The two have a better time flying up there than most passengers do sleeping! Speaking of that, if there was one thing I think I could’ve done better it would be room size. But the airship still wasn’t conceived of as some luxury airliner and renovating it like that is a little more difficult. I just hope no one was expecting some kind of glorious suite.
Shortly after we lifted off yesterday everyone rushed to the windows to see Ice Valley from high above. Can’t blame then if they aren’t used to flying, it can be quite the wondrous sight.
I expect we’ll have much more sightseeing the rest of the trip. Now I need to figure out what to do myself. I hadn’t really thought about that but I don’t really have anything to do considering this isn’t what I made the Glory for in the first place. I just walked around saying hello to passengers so far. Perhaps I should be up in the cockpit more? Otherwise I might just end up in my quarters doing nothing for most of the trip.
I am an explorer after all and not a concierge.
*
The excitement of the Glory’s first flight has not abated at all! Every waking moment I’m bursting with joy at my dream having come to fruition.
Partially at least. I suppose it won’t truly come to fruition until after this voyage and me and my crew can get to some real adventuring! I’ll even fly the Glory right over House Stormwing and the other boring codgers playing around up there. That’ll show them.
I had heard from the matriarch of House Lightwing that the ancestral homeland of us griffons was far to the south. Maybe I’ll go there too? I’m sure they would be amazed to see my glorious creation as well. Although considering the wall I’d be unable to simply fly straight down to it, and I do not actually know how to get around the wall. But that’s just part of the fun of adventuring! Being able to overcome things like this.
I’ll make an itinerary for my trip south someday.
Now onto the bad news. It seems the excitement of this grand voyage was too much for one passenger.
Sorry. I shouldn’t be treating this in such a light-hearted and jovial way.
An elderly passenger suffered a heart attack in his sleep. It saddens me that the Glory’s first trip has to be marred by such a thing, but that’s life. We’ll give the old griffon a proper funeral on our return to Ice Valley. For now the rest of the passengers haven’t been notified, wouldn’t want to ruin their fun. I suppose you could call it good luck but he came on the flight alone and my crew found him when checking up. Nothing to do but to keep on flying for now.
*
I am a bit apprehensive to write this down. I feel like something strange is happening on my ship but I don’t want to sully its name. Two passengers have gone completely missing. And there aren’t many places to hide on the Glory of Gambien. I suspected a lover’s tryst at first but it’s been too long. I just don’t know what’s happening now.
And unfortunately the other passengers have realized something has happened too and now we must avoid a panic from them. Have to keep this situation from getting out of hand. If only we could find the two of them, even if they are deceased (which I sincerely hope not), we would at least learn what happened to them and have some answers.
As it is now the crew and passengers are all antsy and despite my best efforts I haven’t been able to keep spirits up completely.
One of the crew suggested we turn around and go back to Ice Valley but I simply can’t allow that. My pride won’t allow it, and I can already hear my family taunting me about the Glory’s maiden voyage being a failure. Unacceptable.
It’s probably nothing anyways, just a little bad luck.
*
I heard someone walking through the hall outside my door last night when everyone should be asleep. I was right there standing at my door, my claw grasped around the knob. But I couldn’t open it.
When I spoke to the pilots, privately, they told me they had heard someone walking around right outside the cockpit in the dead of night too.
I told them not to worry. It must’ve been just a passenger who couldn’t sleep. Possibly one just scared due to recent events.
I guess I was lying to myself as much as I was lying to them.
We found another dead passenger. And a crowd of the others have now asked me to turn back too. They’re probably right but I just don’t know. Why is this happening? Who or what is responsible? Why’d they have to ruin my dream like this?
Perhaps tomorrow I’ll speak to the crew again and we can come to a decision. Tonight I have Glenn and Rust Feathers piloting us through the night, I’ve told them that if they hear anything outside their door to just ignore it.
*
I don’t know how to say this. I don’t want to say it.
We crashed. My Glory of Gambien now rests as wreckage on the side of some mountain.
This was no accident either. Glenn and Rust Feathers were too good of pilots to have simply fallen asleep. We pulled them from the wreckage of the cockpit and buried them in the snow outside. I know they must’ve died, no, been killed, and then that caused the Glory to crash.
I just don’t even know what to do anymore. Everything’s been ruined and there’s even a snowstorm going on. I think most of the passengers have panicked and tried to run off down the mountain. They know something is here, with us.
Also my back legs were broken in the crash. I’m currently confined to a litter that my crew has placed on a snow drift next to the Glory. This is horrible. But this is nothing compared to what my airship has suffered, I only hope one day I can repair it and give it the adventures it deserves.
My crew is making a camp. There’s plenty of food stored in the cargo hold, we’ll wait out the storm and then make the long return trip to Ice Valley. At least that’s what we said. No one has spoken aloud their fears on if we’re still in danger from whatever caused this in the first place.
I hope we’ll be able to get out of this but I doubt I’m going to be the only one of us who has trouble sleeping tonight.
*
When I woke up everyone else was dead.
And she was there. Just standing there with a smile on her face. She walked up to me and told me how cold I felt to her, how faint, and that she could see brighter lights down the mountain. And then she was just gone, walked right past me and into the snowstorm, heading down the mountain. In pursuit of the other passengers is my guess. I recognized her sort of. She was on the ship, I remember seeing her around a time or two. Pink pony, didn’t think anything of her.
But now I realized it when I saw her that I was never getting off this mountain, this will be my grave the same as my Glory. The best I can do is make sure I rest with it and not allow the snow to bury me without a trace.
Hopefully I can pull myself back to the ship, my legs are already numb so at least it doesn’t hurt.
Rainbow Dash closed the journal. It had raised possibly even more questions than answers for her and the tragedy of what had happened more than upset her. She looked at the cold body of Gambien and shook her head.
“Even more sorry, dude. At least you made it back here,” she put a hoof on his shoulder for a second and sighed. “I hope some of the others got away… from whoever—whatever—that was.”
Rainbow Dash was about to put his journal back with him when she noticed something about it. Tilting her head, she just barely saw that the final page in the journal had been dog-eared. Why? Most of it was completely empty, Gambien had only written on the first few pages. Despite knowing what curiosity had done to the cat and being more than perturbed after reading the rest of it, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but open up the journal one last time and check out that last page.
Her hoof tugged on the back cover and Rainbow Dash’s eyes scanned down the last page looking for anything.
There. At the bottom was a short message. Her sharp eyes able to tell in an instant that the handwriting was completely different from Gambien’s. And once she read the actual message her blood ran cold despite all her attempts to tell herself she wasn’t afraid of anything.
If you’re reading this she knows you’re coming.
-H. B.
“Okay...” Rainbow Dash set the journal back down on Gambien’s claws and left the captain’s quarters after. Moving in a totally calm and not hurried at all pace she exited the wreckage of the Glory of Gambien. It was almost night outside thanks to how long she had spent exploring the downed airship and she’d need to find a place to sleep soon.
But it wouldn’t be anywhere near here.