Collapse noticed the muttering pair across the table but didn't seem to notice when in fact she did. She didn't want to address them directly and she didn't entirely blame them in thinking like they did. When all of a sudden there was a rumbling sound. It could have been thunder, indeed but a part of Collapse expected it to not be. Something felt strange.
"Yeah, go take a look captain. Tell us what you see when you come back." Collapse said to Magloria as she left before looking to Jump Start.
"Yeah we can last out here a long time. I don't mind the idea of being out here for a couple of weeks. I can handle it, but I would prefer we find some sort of land to chart out. We haven't been on land in what, a week? 2 weeks? I've already lost track, honestly." Collapse joked with a grin.
Collapse turned to the chef. "Well, if we have to make fish we will be glad to have you around so we can enjoy ourselves even if we run out of food." Collapse stated.
"Eh... 5 days actually." Jump Start said. "Though I guess you can be excused from not knowing. Must be hard to track the time of day below the ship, right?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she did.
The chef stuck his chest out in pride. "Certainly, I'll make everyone here absolutely love fish." he replied. "Good thing we won't be gone that long then." the blue pony said, who judging from her expression wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of eating fish.
"You don't know what you're missing. Fish is great!" One of the two pegasi who were sitting next to Magloria said, "Add a little lemon juice and some salt and it's heavenly. Mmm!" All that did was worsen the blue pony's expression. She pushed her meal away, losing her appetite entirely.
Collapse giggles a little bit at Jump Start's comments. "That or maybe I was just in a daze of confusion when I woke up. When your doing all sorts of tasks and repairs the time involved sort of loses its meaning. I like to lose myself in my work." she spoke with a slight hint of pride as she looks to the Chef and the Blue Pony.
"Perhaps I'll try that tomorrow for dinner. That actually sounds rather tasty!" Collapse complimented the pegasi who spoke up about the fish, she smiled at the blue one's explanation.
"Oh, can't let that food go to waste you know. If you don't want it, I'll take it! But you should probably eat up." she said in a soft yet cheerful manner. Collapse would then begin finishing off her meal.
After taking a few more bites she got up from the table and would look out the window to see what was going on outside. If she could see anything, that was.
The pegasus nods. "If I have time I'll get out one of the nets and go trawl fishing. should find something around these waters, as long as it's not shark or jellyfish of course!" he says, chuckling at his own joke.
The blue pony glances over to Collapse, then lightly shoves the plate of half-eaten food in her direction. "Take it. I'm going to go back to my quarters..." she said as she stood up, leaving shortly afterwards.
Outside the window Collapse could see that the sun was setting over the ocean waters, creating an orange-red display of colours.
The sun itself however was nowhere to be seen, due to the large number of clouds. That was when she saw it. Off in the distance was a spark of white. Several seconds later a rumble was heard.
The room's speaker, which was connected with many others to the steering deck for announcements, suddenly crackled to life.
Magloria's voice came through. "Attention crew, we're in for a rough night tonight. A thunderstorm is approaching from the port side and will be upon us in 4 hours. Make sure everything is tightly held down, you know the drill."
The speaker crackled off again.
Looking out the window with a slightly concerned expression at the sight of the lightning and then the thunder. When she was a filly such storms would bring her comfort, but being out at sea here she found herself to be quite worried. Her look changed to more seriousness. However it was quite beautiful in her eyes.
Collapse takes the food in her magic. "Goodnight!" she spoke to the blue pony and looks to the Pegasus and the chef as Magloria's voice comes over the speaker. "We best get to work, then." Collapse spoke as she would quickly finish the rest of her meal and began to eat the other meal.
She would find herself to be quite full, soon enough. She looks to the pegasus and the chef. "Better get your materials and utensils to proper places, we wouldn't want them all over the place." she would stand up and put her dirty dishes over into the sink. She would wash her dishes off in the sink quickly before placing them into the rack. "I better go down to engineering and make sure everything is proper. The sooner, the better."
The pegasus shrugged at Collapse's suggestion. "I'm going to finish up eating. We've got 4 hours, plenty of time to do everything." they replied, continuing to eat their meal at a casual place. Almost everyone else seemed to do the same, with only a few speeding up their pace.
The chef gave a quick nod, even though he already knew exactly what to do whenever a thunderstorm approached, and thanked her for cleaning her own dishes, even though it was unnecessary of her. She should be more focused on other things.
On the way to engineering, Collapse saw the other crew members performing their duties in regards to thunderstorms. Some sealed windows behind metal shutters, others carried stuff down from the top deck to storage rooms. Collapse knew that during a thunderstorm the engines would be turned off, by Magloria's command. This reduced the risk of damage to the propellers. It also reduced the necessary workload that Collapse would have to do after the storm passed.
Collapse would look on to the scene in approval. The first thing she would do is head up to the top deck and aid those who were carrying materials from the top of the deck down into the interior of the ship.
There was a bit of work to be done and Collapse had made sure they had gotten everything off the top of the deck and left nothing behind. When on the top deck Collapse had looked out to sea and could see the clouds in the distance as well as the thunder in the distance. When coming back inside she made sure that the doors to the outside were working properly.
After everything was cleared off the deck Collapse would head back down into engineering and had observed that the windows were already shut in the time that she had taken to aid the others out on the top of the deck.
Given that they had only 4 hours she would begin to inspect the engineering section for anything that may have arisen since the morning or anything she had somehow missed. If there were no issues or anything else to be addressed Collapse would have aided the others on the ship with their duties. Her lantern was constantly with her throughout the entire time.
As Collapse worked on the top deck she would occasionally receive thanks from the other crewmates, just as the usual curtsy that one gives to someone who's helping out.
When she looked out to the ocean surrounding the boat she was on, she found nothing but the darkening waves that were crashing rougher than they previously were. The night approaching make it even more ominous than usual, as everything was slowly covered in black. Eventually the ship's spotlights would be turned on, just so those on deck could see. Back down in engineering, only a few new things had appeared that needed to be fixed.
Mechanisms needed a bit of oil or metal plates needed smoothing out. The low hum of the engine that is normally present throughout the day was absent. At this time, the rest of the crew didn't need much help at all. They had already tied everything down and stored away what couldn't be. The only thing left to do was either try to sleep the night away (which would go horribly, thanks to the approaching storm) or wait.
Collapse was growing worried upon seeing all the blackness. She was amazed upon how dark it could truly get at sea. She was thankful for the compliments but her mind was in too much of a daze to really do anything else at the moment other than her duties.
A fix there, a cleaned part there and soon enough she fixed all there needed to be fixed. In truth she was just distracting herself from her rising worries about the oncoming storm. She was aware by now she did all she could in engineering and after doing some cleanup she would depart engineering.
She did all she could do. Collapse wouldn’t even try sleeping. Her mind was too much in a fraze currently and began to tire nevertheless. She looks for the captain. Collapse assumed she was on the bridge.
When Collapse is with Magloria she states, “I have done my part, captain. Everything is ready for the storm. I hope nothing bad happens.” She could hear a bit of worry in her tone ever so slightly, Collapse had her lantern too, in truth she felt safe around Magloria.
Just as she predicted, Collapse found Magloria on the bridge, resting at the wheel while slowly sipping on a cup of steaming coffee in preparation for the long night ahead. Glancing over upon noticing Collapse's arrival, she patiently listened to her report.
"Good work, engineer. I suggest you take whatever rest you can. You're going to need it, because you're not getting any once the storm hits." she said, returning her gaze on the black waters ahead of the boat. It didn't sound like an order, so it could likely be disregarded without consequence.
She continued, "Nothing bad should happen. Just a whole heap of tossing and turning. You'll likely feel quite ill throughout. Many who haven't sailed for years tend to." Magloria levitated the coffee cup to her mouth and took a brief sip. Outside on the deck rain had started to fall, sprinkling the floor with watery patterns.
The bridge's main window, which had not been shut like the others, started to accumulate droplets of water as well. They ran down the glass before slipping off and joining the slowly forming puddles below.
Collapse looks out into the rain. Currently she felt a sense of calm in the rain but that was unlikely to last for long. She assumed the window wasn’t shut so they could overlook the deck during the storm. Collapse looks to Magloria and her steaming coffee.
“Well if this starting like this is any indication any rest we take would be interrupted.” she sits down on the seat behind Magloria and rests her hooves on the table.
“I have heard many stories but I haven’t been through a storm like this on a ship. At least none like this. I will do my best to hold myself together.” she states calmly as she looks at Magloria. “Do you mind if I join you, for tonight?” Collapse asked.
Magloria let out a quiet snort at the first comment. "It'll get much worse. The rocking you feel right now? That's about half of what a minor storm can get." Another sip of coffee went down her throat.
"I say it now because this'll be the only time you'll be able to rest at all for the next half-dozen hours once the storm hits. Being interrupted is inevitable."
She glanced over to Collapse again, an expression of contemplation passing over her features. Eventually she looked away, having made a decision "Alright fine, you can stay. But I'm holding you to your word to keep yourself together. If you end up vomiting on the floor, you'll be the one cleaning it up instead of the cleaning crew. Understood?" she said in a stern tone.
Collapse's face lit up a little bit upon her being allowed to stay. She smiled calmly, yet sweetly as she looked into Magloria's eyes. "Thank you very much. If I don't keep myself together I promise I'll be the one cleaning it up and I'll stay until it is perfectly spotless if I do vomit on the floor." she stated and leaned back into the seats.
"Perhaps I may rest here, actually..." she rested her head on the pillow as she looks out into the storm.
"Expect the unexpected. I just uh, keep getting the feeling it won't be a normal storm. Maybe I am worried or over-thinking it but I really get the feeling that something unusual is going to happen..." Collapse said in a slightly worried, ominous manner.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Magloria said dismissively as she refocused on her task of making sure the boat was kept safe. She wasn't really interested in Collapse's mutterings about the unexpected or unusual storms. Too many former crewmates, ponies, griffons and particularly zebras went on about it. It would be just a regular storm as always. The rain worsened as they kept sailing on.
The rumbles of thunder got louder. Pretty soon Collapse could understand what Magloria meant about the rocking feeling. The boat just wouldn't keep still for even a moment as large waves rose and fell below them.
A few times they could see the deck of the boat before them get flooded with water as a wave crashed against the side of the boat, causing large amounts of rocking back and forth.
Collapse didn't say anything in reply. She wanted to let Magloria focus on the wheel there. She could feel the shakes of the Thunder within her body and the seats as they rode on. Out on the deck, she was amazed at seeing the water crashing against the side of the ship. Collapse was very glad nobody, and nothing was out there.
Collapse could feel the intense rocking as boat rocked back and forth in the waves. Surely, any rest she would have gotten would have been ruined so she didn't really see a reason to try at all. As she sat there she thought about the responsibilities Magloria was having on this ship.
Collapse's own job was very important, but Magloria is the one who was responsible for keeping everyone and he boat itself safe. "You are very talented and I have to commend you on the will to guide us along safely." Collapse spoke in appreciatory manner.
Magloria didn't even look at Collapse this time when she responded to the praise. "Thanks, but we're nowhere near done. Expect at least a few more hours of this. The storm was of a decent size so it shouldn't last too-" Magloria paused, suddenly focused on something outside.
To Collapse, all she would see was blackness, but something seemed off to the captain. She immediately stood up and headed over to the door to the deck, opened it, then wandered outside into the rain with absolutely no hesitation, shutting the door behind her.
Her destination was one of the spotlights. As soon as she reached the light she began changing where it was pointed at, shifting it from the deck to somewhere out in the waters. Some waves seemed quite high, while others were surprisingly low in comparison.
It didn't take long before a drenched Magloria bolted back inside, not even closing the door, and started to press various buttons rapidly.