Despite what she may expect, whether it be that she would pass on to the afterlife or dream eternally, Collapse started to regain consciousness.
It was a feeling Collapse had never wanted to feel, she was going to drown. Part of her expected some kind of afterlife, the other part just expected her existence to be over then and there. What Collapse wouldn't had expected was for her to regain consciousness. Her eyes open, and she was coughing up water. She didn't check her surroundings just yet, not until the water was out of her lungs. It was a horrible, desperate sound. But she had to do it.
Though Collapse hasn't started checking her surroundings, she could already make out that wherever she was, it was quite dark. Only the faintest blues could be seen off in the distance somewhere. She could feel the chilling dampness of her wet coat, soaked through. The cold feeling was made worse every few seconds as water seeped into her fur from small waves lapping at her prone position.
Compared to the rushing sounds of water from the whirlpool, the noises that she could hear were blissfully absent. Just a dripping sound every now and then and the calming sound of the waves hitting the shoreline. Oh, and the sounds of a half-drowned unicorn attempting to expel every single drop of water she accidentally breathed in. Once she was done removing her lungs from her body, more of her senses could detect her surroundings. The smell of salty ocean water was still present, mixed together with a rich earthy smell. Grains of something hard shifted beneath her body and hooves, like sand.
Collapse opens her eyes. She has no idea what could have happened, she honestly just expected she died and was now in the afterlife. She feels what she thinks would be sand under her hooves once she fully removes the lungs from her body water from her lungs. She coughs more desperately, and can now breathe. It took a bit to get the water out of her lungs, but she made it and gasps for air.
She moves away from what she thinks are waves, slowly gathering herself to her 4 hooves and shaking her fur off to remove some of the wetness. She looks directly up to see where she is, looking around. "M-magloria! Jump Start! Please...I don't want to be alone..." Collapse wailed, desperately searching for them or any other signs of life.
Her voices reaches out into the distance, echoing back to her several times. No one replies to her however, or at least, nothing that she can understand. All she gets in return are a chorus of bat chirps and screeches. Now that she's properly looking around, she can see (or barely see) where she is.
Almost everything is pitch black, with the exceptions being what appear to be glowing blue lichen or moss hanging off various rocky walls and, apparently a ceiling. The ground is hard to make out, but she appears to be on some sort of dirty, sandy beach.
Tiny rocks can be seen glistening everywhere from the wetness of the nearby water. There was another source of light nearby. The water, it seemed, contained luminescent fish. One of them in particular briefly showing off a wide variety of oranges and blues before dimming down again. The fish seemed to be everywhere in the water, so she got a good indication of where the water went. In only 1 direction, like an upstream river. Of course, there was the near pitch blackness of the rest of where she was, the lichen and the bats, if that's what interested her.
Collapse's horn lights up with a golden hue to allow her to see her surroundings better. From what she can assume she seems to be in some sort of cave or something of that sort. But how did she end up here? Was this her afterlife? Did she wake up from a dream? She had no answers to that currently.
The glowing fish were beautiful and she watched them for a few moments as she gathers her thoughts. Collapse proceeds forward, she was going to attempt to find some sort of 'exit' from where she was. Part of her thought of something, what if the whirlpool actually did go to the ocean floor, and she was at the bottom of the ocean floor? She was going to investigate further to really find out where she was. That was the priority, find out where she is and find the others.
Collapse assumed correctly, for the most part. As soon as she ignited the glow of her horn she could see clusters of rocks making up absolutely massive stalagmites that reached up towards the ceiling, which was high enough that the light didn't properly reach.
Most of the ground was that same sandy dirt, so at least she didn't have a rough time walking on rocks.
Collapse overlooks the stalagmites, amazed at how large of an area she was inside of. Looking off to to the sides she proceeded to walk along the water where she landed. If there were others, perhaps they were along the water's edge much like she was. At least that is what she thought, for now. Collapse thought to herself, perhaps they ended up in a cave under the ocean floor that is somehow not flooded. An air pocket of sorts.
Half an hour passes of nothing but more water, more rocks and soil, and more glowing fish within the water's depths. That was until she saw an eerie glow off in the direction she was headed for. The light, mostly hidden by rocks, was a calming yellow color.
Whatever was making the light was certainly stronger than her own glow. It could almost rival the ship's magic lighting system. Though something else was clear about this particular light. It was moving, going up, down, to the side and occasionally being obscured by the rocks. Whatever it was, it was most likely alive.
The sighting of this glow made her shiver a little bit in nervousness but in a way it also was hopeful. Someone else, she hoped. Collapse looks at it, she didn't call out for it as she didn't entirely know what it was. She picks up the pace and heads towards this strange yellow color.
Collapse's aura was that of a golden hue more or less. So if this belonged to someone carrying a light or a unicorn's glow than it is entirely possible they might also notice Collapse's own glow heading towards them. Collapse would stop when she is close enough to get a good look at whatever was causing this glow.
Upon rounding a tight cluster of rocks, close enough that she could remain mostly hidden if she needed to, she saw what was creating the bright glow. Or rather, who. Seems those fish had a good use after all. What Collapse saw was a still very bruised Jump Start, wearing what looks like a glowing spined catfish on her head, strapped down by ropes of unknown origin. She appeared to be attempting to ignite a small pile of plants by striking together some rocks, but was having trouble due to her injuries.
Collapse grins. "Need help there, Jump Start?" she asked, her previously sorrow spirit being ignited by a newfound hope. She would head towards Jump Start and approached the plants. Her horn sparked a little bit before she fired a small laser at the plants which ignited them. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than striking together some rocks. "I don't know how we survived...that, but apparently we did. Are you okay?" Collapse asked with sympathy.
The moment Collapse spoke, Jump Start turned to face her. Her face was initially fillled with disbelief, but after rubbing her eyes and realizing that Collapse wasn't a hallucination, she broke out in a massive smile. "COLLAPSE! YOU'RE ALIVE!" She shouted before rushing straight over to her and hugging her tightly. "I- I don't know how we survived either. I was passing out, I thought I was going to die right there!
But then I woke up later, lying on a beach. I couldn't see anything except these fish! I felt so alone! But then I saw one of the fish walk out of the water." She took a deep breath. "IT WALKED, COLLAPSE! Tail fin like legs and everything!" she started shaking Collapse in her excitement. "So I grabbed it and used it as light! But I was cold, so I needed warmth. I was trying to start the fire, but it wouldn't work. But then YOU FOUND ME! I'm SO glad you found me!" She squeed in delight.
Collapse hugs Jump Start tightly, her hooves wrap around her in a tight warm embrace. Even in Collapse's slightly damp fur Jump Start could feel the soft warmth of Collapse. "Hahaha, I thought we were dead, but your ALIVE! I have absolutely no idea where we are, but its so good to see you!" Collapse nuzzled her in an affectionate manner.
This continues for a bit, as Collapse rubs and coos Jump Start, telling her that it would be alright. "Now, now...I had the same experience as you did. These fish are cool, strange fish! I wonder what they are! I woke up here, having no idea how I got here...then I looked around and I eventually found you! I am so glad your safe! I thought I would be alone here forever...I thought I would die here but I found you! Gods, you really are my hope! I guess you could say, you Jump Started my hope!" Collapse said with a boop to her nose and then she sighs. "If you are alive...than that means Magloria might be here, quick, we should look for her!" Collapse said in an excited motion, her tail wagging. (edited)
Jump Start gave out an embarrassed groan when Collapse said her name as a pun. She should've been used to that, but she never did. Still, the boop cheered her up afterwards. "Oh! Yes, of course! She's probably alive as well! She was with us at the time. Maybe the rest of the crew is also around here somewhere as well, and the boat!" She said, releasing Collapse and looking around the place.
Her fish headlamp shone light wherever she turned her head. "If we could find the boat we'd be way better off! There's plenty of supplies in it that we could use, even when drenched. All we need to do is find out where it ended up. It can't have gotten far." she nodded to herself in agreement before looking back at the fire. "But first we should warm up for a bit, maybe? It's pretty cold down here."
Collapse sits down next to the fire and feels her hooves over the flame. She smiles as she feels the warmth of it. "Yes, let's warm up for a little bit and then we will go look for Magloria. Now, I have a few ideas as to where we are. Either one, we ended up on the ocean floor somehow inside a cave.
Two, we ended up on the shore...of somewhere else somehow, or three we were directly saved by some unseen force...but we really don't know where we are, do we?" she asked quizzically as she felt the warmth. She shifts her legs a bit, so she can feel the warmth more. "I really would like us to find the captain first before anything though! She was with us and we need a captain to continue our mission." Collapse states, calming down a bit from the hugs. She was trying to think of a way to proceed forward.
Jump Start strokes her chin as she thought over what Collapse has just said. "Hmmm... I'm thinking the first one is the most possible right now." She looked up, showing a rocky ceiling, far out of reach of either of them. "We seem to be in a sort of cavelike place. Plus I think I heard something before, like mice or bats or something. They usually live in caves." What she didn't expect was for Collapse to mention their mission.
For all intents and purposes, their mission was over, she thought. "While I agree on finding the captain, what can we do about our mission? We've got no idea where we are, and no mapping supplies even if we did... We should just forget about it and try to find each other instead." she stated. By now they had warmed up a bit, enough to feel at least a little bit comfortable, if still damp. The fire was starting to dim, indicating that there wasn't much left of it anyway.
Collapse nods. "You are correct. That's what I meant by mission...we have a new mission now." Collapse said with a sad sigh. "Find the captain, find the rest of the crew and hopefully the ship. I hope there are survivors, we will salvage what we can to survive. We are not going back home without a working ship. I know that I am good at repairing things but whatever happened to the ship is far beyond my abilities of repair...at least it would take years to fix it. If the ship truly sunk than I would have no idea where to even start in fixing it."
Collapse stated with a sad sigh. "Mice, bats? It wouldn't make sense for such creatures to be at the bottom of the ocean floor, you know...? So that would mean we somehow washed ashore inside of a cave. But as far as we could have seen there were no landmasses and we had at least another week to go until we would have reached our planned destination." Collapse looks to the fire which was going out. "Well, let's go find the captain...and hopefully the others too. Our new mission begins." Collapse stood up as she looks to Jump Start. "You are injured, but not too badly. You will heal in time." Collapse said hopefully.
"Alright. Alright, ok then. We'll go do all that stuff you said then." Jump Start agreed, standing up as well. "So..." she looked over to where the water was. "We're just going to follow along the water until we find something that looks like it could lead us to someone else, right?" She looked the direction that Collapse came from, then the other direction. "I came from over there." she says, pointing at the other direction.
"It keeps going for a while, I think. Just one big stream. No idea what is at the end of it, aside from maybe the whirlpool. Who knows what that looks like from down here." she explains, talking a few steps towards it as she did so. "Maybe it's like a massive lake? Or a mini ocean?" she pondered.
Collapse takes a few steps towards it as well. "Well, might as well checked it out. We should be quick though, just in case." Collapse states and begins to proceed in the direction Jump Start pointed to. "If we really do end up looking up at the whirlpool from down here that will be...certainly something.
And if the whirlpool is there we may have limited time to get out since, if it moves or dissipates this entire area would flood...so lets hope that it doesn't move if we truly are at the bottom of it." Collapse shudders. Collapse sighs, looking over Jump Start to get a look at her features, and her cutie mark. since I don't know what she looks like and I want someone to draw her
As they both walked along the shoreline, Jump Start continued the conversation. "Well that depends really. If these rivers are flowing somewhere, that means there is more space for the water to flow into. By heading upstream, it would take longer before whatever flooding happens." She idly kicks at a random stone, causing it to fall into the water with a splash. "Besides, there may be places where the flooding wouldn't even reach, like little air pockets. We could find one of those later." she looks up at the ceiling, "Assuming we can reach them, that is." From Collapse's observations. Jump Start was an earth pony, with most of her coat a beige color.
Her hooves and ears however were a more orange color, the colors fading together. The fur around her hooves didn't quite reach them, either cut short or just didn't grow that long. Her mane and tail, somewhat short and straight, was a far more vibrant orange color, showing enough contrast that you could still see her ears through the hairs. True to her name, her cutie mark was a pair of separate black wires, one to the left and to the right, with electrical magic flowing between the two. Her left foreleg has a leather strap wrapped around it, with several loops that would be used for tools and instruments that she needed quick access to. Besides a hammer, the strap was bare. Most of her tools were lost in the waters. As they walked, the sound of water rushing further ahead could be heard more and more clearly. They were definitely approaching something that sounded big.
Collapse acknowledges her looks. She thinks Jump Start looks rather pretty. “Well we will see eventually. It sounds we are headed up go something, Any guesses? I think we are heading up into a large open area that will allow us to look up at the whirlpool from the bottom.” Collapse suggested. “You are good at this. We will look for those air pockets in time. I hope we can find them, too. Perhaps we might find something, or someone else here.” Collapse suggested hopefully as they approach the sound further ahead. Collapse definitely figured it was the whirlpool, if not than perhaps a water fall of some kind.