//------------------------------// // Ante Up // Story: Titanic // by Imperator Chiashi Zane //------------------------------// Hockley scowled at the happy pair, raging at the fact that a gutter rat was getting his girl, but still fairly confident he could keep her from the Thestral. A hoof landed gently on his shoulder, and he found the route to his goal. He spun around and ripped the pistol out of Lovejoy’s belt before pursuing Jack into the central staircase. Screaming in rage, he opened fire. The first bullet took out a carved cherub statue. The second carved a divot out of the paneling behind Jack’s head. The third embedded itself in a magnificently carved mahogany Minotaur, guarding the doors to the dining hall. Kale pursued the couple down the stairs. __ The dining hall was already partially submerged, and Jack bodily picked up Rose, carrying her water-logged body over the waves into the hall. Kale followed, firing off two more shots. Still no hits. As his hooves touched icy water, he retreated, “Enjoy your time together!” __ Lovejoy reached Kale at the main landing, sitting on the floor, laughing at something. “What could possibly be funny?” Kale looked at his servant, face twisted in horrified mirth, “I put the diamond in my coat pocket. And I put my coat…on her…” He placed the pistol back in Lovejoy’s hoof, “I’ll let you keep it…If you can get it.” Lovejoy thought about it for a moment before slogging into the icy water. The water reached his barrel as he made his way to the dining hall. Inside, amongst the tables and ornate columns, he hunted. Normally, a pony couldn’t be considered a predatory species. Because most weren’t, the rare exception held great honors as Trackers. Lovejoy, however, had been, even as an Earth pony, skilled enough to be called Celestia’s own Royal Tracker. Though he had never met the solar monarch in pony, he was part of a group of maybe ten stallions in the entire world to gain that title. Now, he proved it. Dark eyes panned silently across the flooded hall, watching. Serving trolleys moved of their own accord, bumping into tables and pillars, splashing into the water. Behind him, the ocean followed his ascent in a roiling wave, now past the first landing of the stairwell. __ Chief Engineer Bell watched as the steam-pressure began to drop. No more was being diverted to the powerful engines, which had fallen still. The majority of the engine crew had already departed, but he had to remain, to keep track of the messengers. A Thestral stallion skidded to a stop on the deck, “Boiler Room one refuses to evacuate. They said it’s their duty to keep the lights on for all the ponies upstairs.” “Get who you can on the pumps. Keep the boilers dry as long as you can. Tell the others.” Bell looked at his sandwich plate. It was beginning to slide along the flooring. The angle, judging by rough estimate, was about fifteen degrees. That meant, based on what was flooded, and flooding, the ocean was actually several dozen meters below him. The propellers weren’t even in the water anymore. He glanced down at the crank-shafts, straining to support the weight of the propellers without water. They would hold, of course, but they were unneeded now. The steam coming in was all being piped straight into the dynamos, several of which were glowing yellow, even red hot. Titanic’s very life-blood, and it was nearly out. “Celestia dammit! Everypony who’s getting out, get out!” The stallion settled into a comfortable position, propping himself against the rail in case the angle increased more, and picked up his sandwich, “I ain’t going anywhere else ‘till I’ve eaten. Got that Celestia?” __ Jack pressed his hoof to his lips, “Stay here,” he darted across the deck, from one table to another, barely staying ahead of the rising water. Lovejoy continued climbing the deck, slogging through the water, watching as a cart loaded with fine plates rolled between two tables. The slight list of the ship caused it to turn into a table, stopping it and scattering the dishes across the deck. Rose scrambled out of the way, and Lovejoy spotted her. He aimed, and moved to pull the trigger-plate when Jack tackled him from the side. He drove a hoof into Lovejoy’s, cracking the hard nail and breaking the gun loose. Lovejoy scrambled to recover the pistol in his other hoof, but met Jack’s rear-hoof in a powerful buck to the abdomen, slamming him into a stone column. Lovejoy fell into the water with a splash, “Courtesy of the Chippewa Falls Darksons.” “Let’s go! Jack grabbed Rose as he passed her. The two galloped uphill, into the galley. Behind them, tables are beginning to flat, like islands in a lake, and the door they came in in entirely submerged. __ Lovejoy scowled as he retrieved his floating gun and shook it out. “Celestia, this isn’t worth it, is it?” Nonetheless, he had to follow to escape. Might as well keep trying to get that diamond. __ Rose started up the staircase at the far end of the galley, but was stopped by teeth on her mane. Glancing back, she saw Jack motioning down. Stopping one deck lower, they watched Lovejoy start up. After all, who wouldn’t go up. As the hoofsteps disappeared, Rose heard crying. A colt, below them. She motioned down, and Jack followed, more wanting to get her to safety. Water swirled around the colt’s legs, and Rose pointed, “We can’t leave him.” Jack nodded, and swept down the corridor, scooping the colt up. As he reached the stairs again, he realized that route was not an option as water began to gush over the steps. The well was too narrow for him to use his wings, “Come on!” He charged the other way, splashing through the water. A pair of doors seemed promising, but was creaking and groaning, at closer inspection, and leaking water above the doorknob, “Back, back!” Rose swiveled on the spot and charged into a cross corridor. A stallion charged up, and in a thick accent shouted something in Russian, taking the colt from Jack. He galloped away, colt on his back. __ The deck continued to rise at one end, sink at the other, as a stallion with his little filly on his back looked at the last boat ready for launch. He wouldn’t make it, he knew. “Hey, Cora, honey. This is your boat. I’ll be on the next one.” The still collapsed one that was still tied down. He hoofed her over to a mare onboard the boat. Looking past the filly’s head, the mare smiled sadly at him and mouthed, “I’ll take care of her…” No promise was needed, nor suggested. Merely cold hard facts. At this point, any hope was good hope. The boat started down. __ “No! Don’t go that way!” Jack hollered after the stallion, who was charging at the door Jack had just turned down. As the stallion reached the straining doors, Jack spun and grabbed Rose roughly, charging away from the waves. The door split open, and the stallion and colt vanished beneath the churning water. Jack barely managed to catch onto a light fixture on a corner as the water hammered past like a locomotive, tearing at his already tormented wings. Rose, he held tight to his chest with all four hooves, dragging himself around the corner with his wings. A stairwell came into view, and Jack made his way to it, fighting the waves trying to pull him around. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he was in the stairs, and released Rose. The two scrambled up the steps, water swirling behind them and rising slowly. __ A waterlogged Pegasus filly landed in front of Chief Engineer Bell, panting as she dropped a water-filled satchel on the tilted grating. He almost absently hoofed her his sandwich, “You look like you could use a smoke break.” She sighed, “Pumps couldn’t keep up. Boilers are gone. All we’ve got left is the remaining pressure in the lines, I guess…” “Yep. That gives us about three more minutes of lights, tops. So, let’s enjoy it while we can.” She smiled back at him, and gave the sandwich back, “Sorry, not hungry. Mortal terror, and all.” She had just watched a dozen or so stallions who refused to give in die as the icy water poured into the searing hot fireboxes, cracking the cast iron like an egg, and had narrowly avoided the same fate by virtue of being behind another messenger, who took a fire-door to the ribs. She was the last one alive, save Engineer Bell, who hadn’t evacuated. “I think we can get out through the rear smoke-stack, or, you can. Ladder’s just over there,” he pointed with his hoof at the escape ladder. It didn’t go all the way up, and the hatch at the top was still locked, so they probably couldn’t get out. __ Jack reached the top of the stairs, cupping his arms around Rose, at the steel gate blocking the path. Jack threw himself against the gate, bending it slightly, and scaring the steward passing by. The steward looked and spotted the water behind them. Instinct told him to flee, and Jack knew it. “Wait, wait! Help us! Unlock the gate!” The steward looked at them for a moment before continuing to flee, not stopping at the gasps of Rose and Jack when the icy water reached their waists. Jack pounded against the gate, standing on his rear-hooves alone. Rose tried, “Help! Help us, Please!” He turned back and looked at the couple, standing behind the gate, deep enough in the water that they couldn’t stand on all fours without drowning. Water poured through onto the landing as the steward thought for a split second, “Oh, Bucking ‘art’rus!” He slogged back to the rail, against the current and pulled a key-ring out. He started fighting with the ring, trying to find the right key, then to get it in the key-hole under the water. Water began to fountain up between his hooves as the pressure grew, and the lights suddenly shut off. Everything plunged into darkness. Rose gasped, and instinctively lit up her horn, only to see the steward swimming to the stairs, “Sorry! So sorry!” Jack glared at the departing stallion before looking down. The keys had fallen to the deck below. He dove and felt around for them before scooping the ring up and fighting to get the door unlocked. A pause at the surface to take a breath, “Rose, keep your head up. I need that light.” He dove back down and shoved the key into the lock. It gave at a twist, and he shoved the grating out of the way. Water pressure shoved them through, in the darkness, and up to the only exit right now, the stairs. Scrambling, they worked their way out to the surface. __ Kale lurched down the ship, towards the bridge, scowling as he tried to find another boat. The band still continued to play. He passed a filly, maybe two years old, hiding in an alcove. Kale didn’t even look back as he passed. Reaching the large crowd around one of the collapsible boats, he spotted several crew, including officer Merdock, fighting to get the boat to the davits, unsuccessfully. Pushing forward, he attempted to get the officer’s attention, unsuccessfully. Nearby, Fierce Honor, and Tommy were pushed forward by the crowd, and pushed back by the officers, some of whom were swinging around pistols to dissuade further approach. __ Light-foot looked up at Collapsible B, as it started sliding down the oars from the top of the deck-house, “Good, good. Slowly. Keep it under control.” He was about to congratulate the stallions holding the ropes, when one oar started creaking, “Hold it! Hold it! Somepony get another oar in there!” One of the moose cousins from Sweden moved up with the next oar, to place under the boat, only to jump back as the stressed oar snapped. Now short one oar, the boat began to put more pressure on the next. It snapped, taking the next with it, and the next, and the next. The five ton boat crashed to the deck, splintering the hand-polished wood decking. The moose looked at his cousin, and shouted at him in Swedish.