//------------------------------// // Sink or Swim // Story: Eden Fire // by Sharman Pierce //------------------------------// Everything seemed to slow to a crawl. It was like a god had reached down and stilled everypony. Silence reigned on the bridge. The crew that had been scrambling for their posts seconds earlier had frozen, each and every one fixated on their closing victim. Only the sea spray spoiled the impression. Another puff and thump erupted from the fleeing ship’s swivel. Their fliers nearly had completed their maneuver and brought the ship’s full might to bear. Eight shiny, brass cannons faced the Rose’s bow. A dozen glints reflected from muskets, bayonets, and swords ready on the doomed vessel’s deck. The fliers dropped their harnesses and dove on the armored ship. Pistols and swords appeared as if by magic, and the fliers gained even more speed. A wall of sulfurous smoke belched from the ship, throwing everything it had at the oncoming dreadnought. Each and every gun threw a shot of a caliber that made the Hound’s cannons look petite. A horrible clang and scraping whine resonated through the metal ship. A volley like that would have devastated a normal ship. The Yellow Rose was anything but normal. The only proof of violence was a new dent on the lead turret’s armor. She plowed towards the stranded ship with deadly intent. The battle was joined. The turret roared as its twin guns opened fire. The shots shredded the rigging and sent the main mast toppling amid a shower of splinters. Cracks echoed from the Rose as the crew opened fire on the airborne threat. The fliers weaved and made a difficult target. They dived close to the ship. Their pistols flashed, and they soared away to reload. Muskets followed the fleeing enemies as the crew focused on them. That’s why they missed the small orbs clattering to the deck. Gray fog swirled around the ship’s deck. Some of the crew coughed and collapsed in hacking fits, but many seemed unaffected and still poured fire into the returning fliers. One fell, then another plunged into the sea. The muskets on the rapidly approaching ship opened in an erratic volley, and most of the shots flew far wide of their targets. The crew divided their attention to silence the new threat. Gouts of smoke and fire flew between the ships. The crews were evenly matched, and they both had to compensate for swaying decks, but that’s where the similarities ended. The sailed crew fired almost randomly and with little effect. The Rose’s crew fired with eerie precision. Musket after musket fell silent as Captain Gideon’s sharpshooters let loose a withering fire. They fired so fast! Snap couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t even see them reloading. Adrenaline thundered through his veins and he leaned forward to watch the deadly engagement. One shot from them was met by five, and the enemy crew dove for cover. The Rose lurched as the rumble beneath his hooves changed. For hours, it had been a constant thrum, a beast waiting to be released. Now it growled and bucked. The ship slowed and heaved as the metal craft began to parallel the floating wreck. A movement flashed in the corner of his narrowed vision. Snap looked over to the balcony door. His breath hitched as he saw the brown griffon struggling before falling out of view. The colt shouted an incomprehensible warning as the balcony door slammed open. A hippogriff stood in the opening. A wheelock sat in his holster and his bloodied saber dripped onto the wooden planking. He raised the saber and drew the pistol and exploded into flight. In an instant, Captain Gideon had a pistol in his claws. It barked, and the attacker staggered, but wasn’t down. None of the other crew was armed. Captain Gideon couldn’t possibly pull out his second pistol in time. Snap’s feeling of invincibility gave way to chilling fear. The captain’s pistol roared again. Staggering, swaying, bleeding, the hippogriff collapsed. Snap could just see the limp form of the griffon crewmate. Snap bolted for the door. “Snap! What are you doing!” Nebula shouted after him. “Stay inside, fool!” the captain roared. Snap ignored both and rushed to the fallen griffon. His weapon lay cast aside and his eyelids fluttered rapidly. Crimson stained his breast and head, but he still lived. Snap bit into the griffon’s cartridge belt and dragged him. He didn’t put up a fight. His body got caught on that ridiculous lip all of the ship’s doors had. Snap grunted, and with a powerful flex, heaved the griffon over and into relative safety. Midshipmare Blue rushed to his side and immediately shoved rags onto the bleeding wounds. “Thanks. I’ve got it.” Snap stumbled back. He could taste the bitter gunpowder smoke that pervaded the room. It hazed everything and brought tears to his eyes. Suddenly, an inexplicable breeze kicked up and the smoke began to clear. Captain Gideon set his pistol on the desk. “Boarding party, prepare yourselves. I want that box they covet so much,” he said into another brass tube. Snap rushed back outside to watch the engagement. There wasn’t much of one left. The airborne fighters had been beaten back and the shooters on the other ship were forced into hiding for fear of their lives. Grapples launched from the Rose found sure purchase on the ragged railing and torn masts. Winches groaned and the ship’s stern crept towards them. Thumps sounded from nearby as more of the Rose’s crew fired swivel guns. Their shots trailed lazily through the air and crashed against the deck, covering them in a carpet of shattered crystal. Then, the crystal sublimated into a rapidly expanding cloud. The ships nearly touched now. The boarding party huddled behind an iron gangway fitted with heavy spikes. With a shout, they heaved the barrier down and rushed onto the stricken vessel as soon as it landed. Then the wails started. Terrified cries sounded in the fog as the invading party whooped and yelled their way through. The damned throats uttering that horrible sound had abandoned all hope. The whole thing chilled Snap’s blood. The first bodies leapt over the side in a desperate attempt to escape certain death. They came in a frenzy, shoving each other aside as they sought refuge in the bottomless sea. They ended up in the water and paddled wildly in any and every direction. Another figure rushed from the cloud. This pony was more finely dressed, like he was some junior officer. He retained enough of his senses to keep a magical grip on a smallsword. A familiar zebra rushed out of the fog intent on bowling the unicorn over. The young officer waited until the last second and feinted. The charging zebra couldn’t stop. His hooves scraped against the deck and nearly brought him to a stop. Then the officer slammed into the zebra’s rump and sent him toppling over the railing. Then, he continued to the stern. He didn’t jump like the others. Instead, he levitated a small bundle from his saddlebags. It looked like a wad of sail cloth. A faint red stain seemed to glow against the white cloth. Without any hesitation, the pony threw it overboard and rushed away from the scene and back into the fog. Snap’s eyes followed the bundle’s descent. It splashed and bobbed in the disturbed waters. It gradually soaked up water, and the red stain glowed like the crystal lights inside the Yellow Rose. His eyes shot open. That size! It had to be the box! He had to tell the captain! He started to turn, and then the wad of cloth slowly slipped beneath a wave. It resurfaced a moment later, but much lower than before. No time! It would be long gone by then. Snap’s thoughts ran a mile a minute as he tried to come up with a plan. Get Nebula to lift it? No. Too far. Throw something after it? There was a swaying hook from the cargo winch within easy reach, but he didn’t know how to use it. The box slowly sank out of view. Snap realized he had to do something stupid, monumentally stupid in fact. He backed up a few steps, banished all doubts and common sense, and leapt. His hooves caught the smooth railing and sent him soaring through the air. His outstretched hooves snagged the cargo hook with an agonizing jerk. The crane swung out over the sea. He smiled. This just might work. Then the crane pulled tight against its storage chains, sending the unfortunate pony flying. He splashed painfully and lay there a moment. His body hurt, and his eyes stung. A glowing red orb seemed to hover in the water below him. Snap kicked with all his might after the precious box. A chill seeped into his coat as he dove after the plunging bundle. Pressure built against his ears. He could almost touch it. It was so slow, but just outside his reach. The pressure built. His hoof brushed the fluttering cloth. Still, he kicked. His lungs burned. He wanted to give up, but this was the only chance. It wasn’t his box. Let it go. He grit his teeth and ignored the cold and pain. After all he and Nebula had gone through, this was his box just as much as Captain Gideon’s. The pressure was agonizing, but he wouldn’t stop. Lungs burning for air, his ears about to rip, and blackness growing in his vision, Snap gave a desperate reach. His hoof snagged the sail, and he yanked. The box slowed, but didn’t stop. It started tumbling. Snap pulled harder, hoping to grab it. It only tumbled out of his reach. He groped again. He had to get the box now! Just as his lungs decided the issue, something dark and round fell out of the white sail into the black depths. The bundle, without its sinker, tore through the water like a bubble. It slammed into Snap’s hooves hard enough to bruise, if he lived long enough. He clung to the chest like a lifeline. The sun looked far, far above him. He kicked weakly. His lungs screamed for air, but Snap could only ride his flotsam and pray for a miracle. It was all he had now. The blackness made everything so hard to see. Snap saw bubbles. He was losing precious air, but he couldn’t...he felt so weak! The water warmed. One second, two, and then a third passed. His head broke the surface, and he sucked down greedy lungfuls of air as he clutched his glowing box. His legs felt so weak that he thought he would slip into the sea at any moment. He saw movement above. An iron ship. Figures rushed along its rail and crossed to the ruined ship, the Fang of Eris. “Hey”-he hacked violently- “hey up there! Rose! Pony overboard!” With the screams, the creaking ship, and the sounds of the Rose’s rumbling, no one could hear him. Snap tread water as best he knew how, but this was no mountain puddle. He could feel his legs slowing. All that kept him above the surging waves was that box. He had to hold on. Soon, somepony would spot him when they looked for survivors in the water. Just like they had at the Golden Hound? The thought froze his paddling legs. He had to do something before they left him! Suddenly, the weights on his body didn’t seem like so much. He splashed and hollered. Hoping, praying, that anypony would hear him. “Bark!” Snap looked up into the intelligent eyes of the crew-mate he least expected. Sucat, the captain’s dog, stuck his head between the deck and the railing. All the dog’s attention laid on Snap, and his bushy tail wagged so fiercely that it took the rest of his body for a ride. “Sucat! Sucat, go get help!” The collie cocked its head. He pondered the demand before letting out a happy bark and raced out of sight. Snap breathed a small sigh of relief. He wasn’t out of the water yet, but things were looking better than they had been a moment ago. Hooves thudded along the deck, accompanied by growls and muffled cursing. “Let go, you mutt!” Nebula! Sucat didn’t seem to like that, and Nebula yelped. Sucat came back into view, a mouthful of tail in her mouth and forcing Nebula to reverse-trot around the ship. “Neb! Down here!” Instantly, Nebula stopped his struggling and rushed to the side. “Snap! Thank goodness you’re alive! Stay there!” “Wasn’t planning on leaving,” Snap muttered. A levitated rope hurled over the side, close enough to Snap that he could bite the coarse fibers. He didn’t dare let go of the box. He was pulled close to the ship and lifted partway out of the water, but Nebula had never been as strong as he had, and all the poor unicorn could do was leave Snap half-way suspended in the water. If he dropped the box, he could reach the side, but he wasn’t about to let go after all he’d been through to fetch it. “Kahn’t phfool ew, phatt.” Nebula grumped around the rope. Snap felt his jaw getting tired. Suddenly, the rope jerked, nearly pulling a few teeth out. “Leave it to me, tiny pony.” Snap flew over the rail into the waiting arms of the burly minotaur guard. “Gotcha,” he said as he set his soggy body down. All of a sudden, the past few minutes caught up to him. His legs wobbled like rubber and finally collapsed. Absolute exhaustion replaced thrilled fear, and Snap couldn’t bring himself to move, even with the box jabbing into his side. Cold Snap did not care. In that moment, he wanted to be back at home, in his own bed, on his own plantation. Instead, he was playing a dangerous gamble with things he had no part in. And somehow, he liked it. “Hey, Snap? What’s that box?” Nebula asked. Snap studied the box, as if it was something completely new to him. A large, oblong ruby sparkled both from the morning sunlight and a glow deep inside the cut gem. Coarse twine bound the gem to the wood in haphazard knots.Water beaded across the wooden surface like it was covered in wax, and it looked like it hadn’t just come out of a plunge from the deep. “Snap? Buddy? Are you alright?” Nebula asked with evident concern. Smoke rolled across the ships. The wounded moans echoed throughout the ships. Wood scraped against steel as the tethered ships sawed against each other in the waves. Worst, he could hear those terrified souls now whimpering and begging any deity they believed in to deliver them from the demons. Crystalline shards were long gone, and so was the gas. The survivors huddled into any corner they could. They flinched at everything, and never seemed to see the world around them. Only when the Rose’sghastly painted crew passed them did they shriek in terror. Suddenly, all the legends of demon ships and crew made so much more sense. Suddenly, more hooves thudded across the deck, a lot of hooves by the sound of it. Snap tried to find the source, only to hear it first. “Find it! I don’t care if you tear the ship to splinters!” Captain Gideon shouted. Several of the crew charged across the iron gangway while the Captain, Mr. Horn, Midshipmare Blue, and, of course, Sucat approached the railing. Sucat rounded her master. She continually stopped and looked at the Snap’s miserable form. Her plaintive whines fell on deaf ears. Finally, Mr. Horn found the dog’s antics more riveting than the ruined ship. He saw Snap and raised his eyes. Then he saw the box. He gasped and rushed towards his lost delivery. “That’s far enough, Mr. Horn.” The captain hadn’t moved. His deadly pistols still rested in their holsters, yet he may as well have leveled one of them to the hippogriff’s head. His command was threat enough. Snap saw the greed in the hippogriff’s eyes fade. Cold, common sense took over, and he stepped aside, gesturing the captain forward. Captain Gideon looked coolly at the dripping pony. “Cold Snap, bring that box here.” His legs nearly refused. Just what else could the captain want? Hadn’t he just saved it from a long rest in the crushing deep? Still, he found his weak legs moving. Snap staggered to the griffon as if he were drunk. One problem. Mr. Horn stood between himself and the captain. Snap hesitated, clutching the box to his chest in a death grip. “Step aside, Mr. Horn, if you would be so kind,” Captain Gideon’s voice was anything but pleasant. The hippogriff moved without complaint, none that he dared speak. His eyes betrayed his humiliation at his powerlessness. Snap edged around him and approached the captain. “Your prize, sir,” Snap said shakily and offered the box. With only a word of thanks, Captain Gideon plucked the box out of Cold Snap’s hooves. His bright eyes wandered over its carved surface. Snap only now recognized the carvings as forests and flowering plants. The captain’s claws traced over the surface gingerly, as if afraid to mar its surface with his sharp talons. He pressed on something out of Snap’s view, and the box opened with a soft click. Everypony on deck unconsciously leaned forwards, wanting a piece of the mystery. Captain Gideon disappointed them. He snapped the box closed and turned back for the ship’s bulkhead door. “Midshipmare, recall the crew and cut the jetsam loose. Find the mate and order him to avoid entanglements. The engineer may let the engines rest, but the crew remains on the alert. I will study this in my cabin.” “Aye, sir!” Snap struggled to comprehend it all. Was he the captain’s delivery pony? Did he only get an “attabuck” and a pat on the head like a foal? Confusion metamorphosed into anger. Suddenly, the last of Cold Snap’s strength rallied around that kernel of anger. “Captain!” he said with as much command as he could muster. He felt like it was a pathetic attempt. Pathetic or not, it worked. Captain Gideon turned on the door threshold. “Yes?” The anger suddenly felt very inadequate in the face of reality, and Snap struggled to maintain his composure. “Captain, I risked my life for that box. I recognized the situation and the immediate need for action. As such, I would like to study the box with you.” The griffon said nothing, instead fixing him with a blank glare. “You may like to do many things. Your actions are recognized and will be rewarded as I see fit. However, you push your limits with that demand.” “In that case, I would consider the privilege of seeing the box’s contents reward enough,” Snap said calmly. A tense moment passed, and Snap thought he’d pushed his luck too far. That changed when the captain nodded. “Very well, you may come, and you as well, Mr. Horn. However, I will handle the prize.” Mr. Horn blinked in shock and then smiled like it was Hearth’s Warming a month early. They eagerly followed the captain back to his cabin. Snap only paused at the deck bulkhead long enough to cast a thankful smile at his friend. Nebula only looked annoyed at being left out of the fun. Then, Snap bolted to catch the captain before he slammed his ornate door. Once inside, the captain cleared a space on his desk. He flung anything unimportant aside. Papers fluttered to the priceless carpet, and anything more substantial was shoved into a massive pile that threatened to slip off the desk. The captain gently placed the mysterious box into the cleared area. His claws eagerly hovered over the mechanism. “It goes without explanation, but not a word of this must leave this room, not to your friends, not to the crew. I do not care if they are asleep, drunk, or promising that I sent them. Not a word.” Both nodded eagerly, each craving to see the mystery unveiled. The captain sliced the rough twine holding the faceted ruby. This, he set aside after a brief study. Snap thought he would immediately open the chest, but instead Captain Gideon studied the exterior. It was a dark wood, similar to walnut in color, but with pronounced dark purple streaks. The grain was close and seemed to indicate a dense wood. Two fruiting trees stood in proud relief on the box lid. What they were, Snap had no idea. Click. The lid snapped open as if it were spring loaded. Snap couldn’t see inside, but he didn’t want to approach any closer than he already was. Given how things went down outside, the captain might not tolerate that. Painful seconds later, the griffon lifted the first item. It was...Actually, Cold Snap didn’t know what it was. It was small. It could easily fit into his hoof, and it seemed to have two halves stood vertically like a tiered cake or a foal’s top. A rectangular half with a depression that looked almost like a tiny cup on a heavy stem made up the top half, and a circular ring of amethysts made up the bottom. It didn’t appear to have any moving parts, and no matter how the captain pressed the gems or attempted to rotate anything, it refused to react. Captain Gideon set it aside and pulled out the next item. It appeared to be a swatch of black carpet or maybe a rug, but it was a fine example. His mother would ooh and ahh over the piece and fret about where to place it for the best decorative value. Heavens forbid that she put it on the floor. They were much too valuable for his family to leave wherever muddy hooves could reach them. The fine threads would- It dawned on him that those threads didn’t quite look like thread, and his sensitive nose picked up an unpleasant pungent odor like old tar or bitter smoke. He felt an involuntary chill. Those threads that didn’t quite look like threads were hairs. This was a creature’s skin. And it looked far too similar to pony skin to be comfortable. Captain Gideon rolled the ghastly thing over his claws like it was a dishcloth at market and he was appraising it before purchase. He seemed absolutely unbothered by the thing in his grasp. In fact, he seemed to take an almost scientific interest in the qualities of the skin. “Cowhide. A well-prepared specimen, supple and still retaining its hairs. I did not expect that.” The strange doohickey wasn’t impressive, but this was? Snap averted his eyes from the hide and tried hard to not think about who it might have come from. “Oh? What’s this?” the captain said. Snap forced himself to look. The captain had flipped the skin over and was scrutinizing the pale tan flesh. His claw hovered over the skin without touching. Somepony or, more likely, someone had taken ink to the skin like a crude page. It had lines that were not lines. They seemed to be allergic to being normal, straight lines. They ran in squiggles, sharp breaks, and blots across the skin. It was a map. A map to what though? Where even was this? Snap did not know the answer. Maybe it would help if he could make sense of the strange letters filling a neat square in the center of the hide. It looked like it conveyed a message. Why else would it be written? But it was in a completely foreign script unlike the minotaur scratches he used frequently or the Equestrian traditional glyphs his parents insisted he learn. Certainly, there were dozens of other languages he had never heard of, but they might as well have been zebra swirls for all that meant. None of that meant he was stupid. Already, his mind was throwing out ideas to decipher it. However, with such a small selection to work with and no context, then his chances of making heads or tails of it plummeted. Snap was never the most educated on those matters, and knew he would be of no help there. Mr. Horn looked similarly baffled. The captain set the disgusting note down and furrowed his brow. “Well, it would appear we have a mystery here.”