//------------------------------// // Always Goes Sideways With The Ship // Story: Yaerfaerda // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// “He-e-e-e-e-e-ey gu-u-u-u-u-u-uys?!” Zaid's bellowing voice shook while he gripped the rattling controls of the ship. “Guhhh... do any of you remember that one time when I said 'Wow, this is super not-good! I can't imagine it ever getting more super not-good than this!” “NO!” Both Pilate and Bellesmith hollered at the same time, bracing themselves against the bulkheads. “Really? None of you guys can remember?” Zaid gulped. “Because, if I did say that, I was totally and hilariously wrong!” The Noble Jury grazed the top of a jutting earthen peak. The whole ship jolted while strips of metal flew off, sailing violently into the smoldering trail of fumes behind them. “I dunno about you, but I think we're all about to lose a lot of weight!” Zaid wheezed. “Can you pull us up any more?!” Belle exclaimed. “Cap'n, my Cap'n, we're not falling!” Zaid shouted back. “The damn thing's just falling sideways!” “There's nothing to filter the skystone acceleration!” Pilate loudly said, wincing as the ship rocked and jolted again. “We're being pushed forward and only forward!” “Scrkkkt! Sticky-wicky business, my little ponies!” Zaid's twitching gaze flew to the intercom. “Blondie?!” “The engine controls are all blowing apart! I can barely contain the steam and—” There was the crackling sound of explosive air bursts. “Gaaah! Ow ow ow ow owieeee—Scrkkk!” Props' voice cut out. “Blondie!” Zaid shouted, still struggling with the controls. “Somepony has to go down there!” Belle said. She instantly paled at her own words. With a deep breath, she tightened her muscles and spun around. “I'll go assist her!” “Assist her?!” Pilate cackled. “Assist her with what?!” “Props and I might just be able to get us enough lift to crash-land the Jury safely!” Belle said. She skirted by him and stuck her muzzle into the windy deck. “Stay right here!” “Belle, no!” Pilate reached blindly for her. She paused, swiveled around, and grasped his fetlock in hers. Pilate gritted his teeth, wincing. With a warm breath, Belle leaned in, nuzzled the stallion,and kissed his nose. She leaned back. “Don't panic, beloved.” She bore a rosy smile amidst the plunging chaos. “The Spark won't fail us now.” “But Belle, what if—” He squirmed, then blurted: “I love you.” “I'll be back to return the sentiment.” Belle climbed out. “Belle—” “Remain here with Zaid! We're gonna get through this!” Pilate clung to the bulkhead beside him, shivering. “She'd better be quick about it,” Zaid grumbled, his eyes locked on a steep line of mountains looming directly in front of them, and growing closer. Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut. The force of wind against her muzzle was so intense that she could barely see anything besides a foggy blur anyways. Instead, she trailed the smell of acrid smoke from the burning stern of the runaway ship. In tiny, lightning-quick blinks, she determined just where the plunging Jury was in relation to her. Then, wings beating to the breaking point, she propelled herself forward, a cone of air formed tightly around her cranium. Ravines and mountainous summits surged underneath, sending bursts of thunderous percussion into the pegasus' ears. Her insides tore from the sheer tension in her muscles, and she had to urge herself forward with a deep, warbling yell. Meters per second, the mare slowly... tortuously approached the rear of the disintegrating ship. Grunting, Belle pulled herself towards the stern. Her body heaved with each lunging stretch of her front limbs. She couldn't bother to inhale too much, or else her body wouldn't cling so tightly to the ship's top deck. The wind threatened to hurl her off into the murderous stone desert at any moment. With gnashing teeth, she pulled herself to the first skystone support strut, and then the second. Chunks of glowing crystalline matter shattered above her. She pressed herself hard to the deck as enchanted shrapnel rained across the hull on either side. Wincing, she looked up. Her chestnut eyes twitched. From a distance, she spotted a ruby pulse of Harmonic light, approaching closer and closer with a prismatic streak for a tail. “... … ...” Bellesmith smiled for the first time in as long as she could remember. With a sudden burst of strength, she courageously flung herself forward. “Haaaaugh!” The daredevilish plunge sent her sailing towards the entrance of the rear stairwell. She caught the edge with one outstretched hoof. Her body dangled like a yellow windsock, and she may have sobbed a bit. However, with a strong grunt, she pulled herself through the frame, then dove down the careening stairwell. Heaving and shuddering in pain, Belle nevertheless crawled to the bottom deck and grasped the valve of the engine room door, twisting it with all her might. Rainbow Dash drew closer and closer to the Jury. Here, the smoke billowing out of the ruptured hangar was so thick and pungent that it was near-impossible to breathe. Rainbow Dash's face darkened bluer, and she felt her vision blocking out along the extremities. Her wings had become numb, and the fluid in her ears had detected an imbalance. She was decelerating; the Noble Jury cruised away. The pegasus somehow found the breath to whimper. Just then, her eyes twitched at a sign of movement. The top piece of the stern's upper railing was cracking apart. With a sickening snap, a metallic plank three times the size of her body ripped off the hull and sailed at her like a tossed scythe. Rainbow gnashed her teeth, flipped, dodged the metal debris with inches to spare, and slapped her hooves down. She made contact with the back of the plank—and then she kicked off with all her might, aided by a burst of Harmonic energy from deep within her pendant. Rainbow burst through the smoke, her body whipped by one or two tongues of flame. But her hoof made contact. She gripped tight to the back of the Noble Jury, refusing to let go. Then, catching a breath beyond the edge of the trailing fumes, she flexed her muscles and slowly pulled herself onto the deck.