//------------------------------// // ... --- ... // Story: Save Our Ship of Dreams // by Fujimi200SX //------------------------------// Panic. It been so long since I had felt true panic. As I flew across the ocean, breaking the sound barrier like I had done many times before my exile to the moon, I could do nothing but think about how fast I could get to the Titanic. Thousands of ponies were on board, according to the radio operator. The sheer amount of lives at stake were what gave me my adrenaline rush. Adrenaline. Such was another thing I had not felt in a long time. At least, for more than a few seconds. Certainly not for an extended period of time like this. The adrenaline pushed me faster with each passing second. I passed the group of sailing ships, rocking several in my wake. I hardly paid them a thought, focusing only on Titanic. One more minute passed. The Royal Sailing Ship "Lunar Notte" passed with it. I was close to the coordinates. Agonizingly close. I dived around various icebergs, some big, some small. Finally, after three long minutes, there it was. The lights of the R.M.S Titanic. The sight made me stop mid-flight. It was a magnificent ocean liner. Bigger than any ship before it. It had a metallic black hull with bright red lining on the bottom. Its beautiful white superstructure sat just beneath its four gigantic smokestacks. Its masts, though lacking sails, were taller than any I had seen. The many lights were a dim orange from the lack of power. A glow that was slowly fading. This beautiful liner, this incredible feat of engineering, this floating city... ...was sitting bow-first in the water at a horrifying angle that was only increasing, the stern raised far in the air. I was paralyzed. Completely powerless and overwhelmed at the sight. All of the lifeboats were gone, having been lowered long before I arrived. Despite this, I could still see over one thousand passengers aboard, all huddled up like animals to stay away from the freezing waters that gnawed their way up the deck. Suddenly, the lights dimmed faster. Faster and faster. Before they simply fizzled out. Shrouding the area in darkness. That's when I heard it. At first, it was the splintering of wood from the deck. Then the metal began to groan. More profusely than it had already been. It groaned louder and louder, metal becoming increasingly stressed. It began to grind. Then... it began to roar. It was a roar no dragon had, or will ever achieve the same effect of. Just after the roar began came a sight that has burned into my mind. A sight that has stuck with me forever. The superstructure began to tear. Starting from under the third smokestack, the tear traveled down, ripping apart the wood on the deck. I watched people fall into the gaping wound as the tear continued, slashing apart the interior in a shaky, scrappy mess. The roar of rending metal as the stern hit the water was like the ship's screams as it was torn in two. Hundreds of people who had jumped from the stern were crushed beneath millions of pounds of metal. The force at which it came down with was so great, both smokestacks were entirely off. The third stack fell forward, smashing into the bow, while the third fell backward, doing the same to the stern. The section that had torn was nightmarish at best. Jagged pieces of metal and splintered wood shot out at horrible angles, turning Titanic's open wound into a terrifying teeth-filled maw. Worse still was that the bow had not completely separated from the stern, having held on at the very bottom via a double-bottom hull, not allowing those who fell into the wound to even touch the water. She was being subjected to extreme forces with that connection. The weight of the bow was trying to pull the stern in while the air in the stern held it up. Finally, when in enough force was achieved, the connection ripped apart with a long, slow, sickening screech. When that happened, the bow quickly slipped beneath the waves, leaving the stern to rock back and forth along the calm waves. For several seconds, it looked as if the stern would sit among the waves. A safe haven for those still on it. Worse luck, the weight of the massive smokestack, having fallen to one side, began to force the stern to list heavily to one side. Everyone that was on the back of the stern huddled closely, hoping beyond hope that the bow would survive the listing. But the portside angle grew. And it grew. And it grew, Titanic screaming and groaning in agony. Finally, with enough angle, the smokestack fell off the superstructure, plunging into the water and taking several souls with it. The stern settled only slightly with the excess weight gone, but it quickly began to slip underneath, still gaining severe angle. The people still on board, who still held on to railings, pillars, and whatever else they hold on to at the very back of the stern, screamed as the water came ever closer, many losing their grip and falling into the approaching icy sea. The propellers, railings, and people slipped beneath the waves. Soon, there was only one thing I could see of the incredible liner. TITANIC LIVERPOOL Then, with a sound I can only describe as the Titanic taking its final breath, her name and birthplace disappeared beneath the waves. For seconds, there were the muffled groans of Titanic as it fell down. But after that... there was nothing. Silence. Pure. Deafening. Silence. I looked around at the surrounding seas and distant icebergs, trying to locate the lifeboats. But it was just that. Seas and distant icebergs. There were no lifeboats. There were no souls left alive. There was nothing. Nothing except for the Lunar Notte. A mere mile away. Its crew had seen it all, wearily watching through binoculars, magnifying spells, and whatever else they had. They were too late... They had failed... I had failed... The Titanic has stayed within the minds of myself and the Lunar Notte's crew ever since that fateful night. The sight, the sounds, the screams, we remember it clear as crystal. We all think back to it, wondering what we could have done. I am the most affected, as I was there. I could have saved it. Even if I couldn't save the entire ship, I could have saved the stern. Saved all those people. Yet, I was paralyzed. The sight was too much, even for a being such as myself. This brings me to an anomaly. When the Titanic disappeared, it seemed like the Carpathia, Olympic, and whatever other ship we had contacted was also gone. There was no trace, and neighboring nations had no recollection of such ships ever existing in their meager fleets. Such is the many mysteries of that night. My lack of effort is my burden to carry. My regrets to hold. It is my hope that a disaster like the one that occurred on April 15th never happens again. Nopony should ever go through what the two thousand passengers went through on that night. Nopony should go through the feeling of true helplessness. Of listening to the wireless, hearing the increasing distress, wanting to fly out and help yet being unable to... It is one of the worst feelings that could ever befall someone.