Titanic

by Imperator Chiashi Zane

Final Hoof Part 1

Light-foot waved the crowd forward, “Mares and Foals only! Sorry sir, no stallions yet!” Another rocket burst overhead.
The camera-wielding stallion had it set up, cranking the handle as fast as he dared, hoping to catch some video of the rockets, with his mare positioned in front of the boats, “You’re afraid darling. Scared to death. That’s it. Perfect.” Either at that point she had suddenly learnt to act, or she was completely terrified.
Rose wached as farewells happened all around her. Husbands saying goodbye to their wives and foals. Lovers and friends parted. Mossy Brown had her arms outstretched, gripping those of another mare, “Come on, you heard the stallion. Get in the boat, sister!”
Truth looked out across the boats, “Oh. Will the lifeboats be seated according to class? I do hope they aren’t too crowded…”
Rose gritted her teeth, “Oh do shut up you old cow!” Truth froze, mouth hanging open. “Don’t you understand? The water is freezing, and there isn’t enough lifeboats. Not by half…Half the people on this ship will die, mother.”
“Not the better half,” Kale scoffed. Rose realized what Kale meant in a flash. Jack was third class. He didn’t stand a chance. She glowered at him, face lit up by a rocket exploding overhead.
“You unimaginable bastard.”
Mossy interrupted any further argument with a shout, “Come along Truth, get in the boat. These are the First Class seats right here! That’s it,” she took the terrified mare’s hooves and pulled her across the gap, then started looking around for more, without even making sure her companion had found a seat, “You too, Rose. You’re next, Darlin’.”
Rose shook her head and turned away.
“Rose, get in the boat!” Truth started up the call next, not wanting to lose her daughter now.
Rose smiled wryly, “Goodbye, Mother.” No preamble, no apology, no remorse. Just a simple farewell. She started away, leaving the boat behind.
Truth was unable to do anything, her magic having been specifically honed to holding small objects up close, and Rose being quite a bit outside her range. Kale, fortunately, was closer, and grabbed Rose’s tail in his teeth. She bucked him in the face and trotted off into the crowd. Kale caught up quickly and grabbed her arm in his, pulling her around roughly, “Where are you going? To him? Is that it? To be a whore to a gutter rat? Dam to a bunch of little batlings?”
A glint of madness sparked in her eyes, indescribably horrible to Kale, “I’d rather be his whore than your wife!”
She tilted her head back, hocked as big of a gob of spit as she could muster into his face, and head-butted him, right between the eyes. He released her, and she galloped off, laughing, even as the spit started drooling down her mane.
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“Lower away!” Light-foot hollered at the top of his lungs, leaving Truth howling for her daughter to come back.
“Oh, stuff a sock in it Truth. She’ll be along,” Mossy wasn’t so sure anymore, as the boat began to slide down on its falls.
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Rose pushed past a cluster of ponies and a rather broad-shouldered griffon maiden with her wings half-flared in agitation. Behind her, Kale continued charging after her. Ducking under the Griffonness, Rose hollered, “He tried to take advantage of me in the crowd!”
The stallions in the group turned to Kale, appalled, as did a couple of the mares. The Griffoness however, let out a bellow of rage, dropped to all fours, and spread her wings wide in a show of dominance. Kale was trapped by them, trying to convince them that Rose was lying. It was futile, like trying to tell a Unicorn they couldn’t walk on clouds. By the time he broke free and was able to get into the entrance, Rose was totally gone. Not a hint of her, and one of the other stallions, the first to realize Rose had been lying, tapped him on the shoulder, “Guess you shoulda kept a tighter leash on that one.”
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“Ain’t none’a you colts ever rowed before? Gimme those oars. I’ll show you how it’s done,” Mossy climbed over Truth, stepping on her hooves as she did so. All around, boats in varying states of fullness rowed frantically away from the ship.
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Jack yanked on the pipe, grunting with the exertion. He was a strong flier, on account of needing his wings to perform his best art, but because of that very same art, his legs were not as well exercised as they probably should have been. The pipe didn’t budge, and his wings were still bound. A check at the window, yep, still leaking. And now it was joined by a gurgling from the door, water creeping in underneath the panel.
“Shit.”
He bit down on his fetlock and started yanking with all the strength in his neck, trying to pull his hoof loose. Nothing but a bloody hoof to show for it.
“Help! Somepony! Can anypony hear me! Celestia, I swear, I will make your sister hunt you down if I die like this!” He tugged on the cuffs again, “Luna! I swear to never ask for another thing so long as I live! Just get me out of here!”
He looked at the water pooling against the wall, “This could be bad.”
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Shipsmith poked his head into several staterooms in First Class, calling out for anypony who might have missed the call to the deck, or ignored it, “Anypony in here?”
Rose galloped up to him and skidded to a stop, “Mr. Shipsmith, thank Celestia! Where would the Master-at-Arms take somepony under arrest?”
“Rose, you must get to a boat, immediately!”
“No! I’ll do this with or without your help, sir. But without will take longer.”
“Take the elevator to the very bottom, go left, down the crew-pony passage, then make a right.”
“Bottom, Left, Right. Got it.”
“Hurry, Rose.”
“Thank you!” she hollered over her shoulder as she galloped off to the elevator.
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The elevator operator was just beginning to close down his lift to make for the boats when Rose reached him, “Sorry, Miss. The lifts are closed.”
Rose let the fire in her eyes show as she grabbed the high collar on his uniform in her magic and dragged him into the lift, no thoughts passing through her head except to get to Jack, “I’m through being polite, dammit! I may never be polite the rest of my bucking life! Now take me down!”
The operator fumbled with the gate, pulling it shut with his magic before starting the elevator down.
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Mossy and the two crew-ponies managed to get the boat a few dozen meters from the ship. Far enough to make it clear that the ship was steeply angled, “C’mon fillies! Join in, it’ll keep you warm! Let’s go Truth! Grab an oar!” Truth just stared at the spectacle, the greatest ship in Equestria, tilted into the water, lights still blazing.
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The decks passed in front of Rose, as she repeated the directions in her head, preparing for the sprint. Her preparation went up in steam as the icy water flowed around her hooves. She yelped, joined by the operator, who yanked the gate open, “Well?”
The water was almost to her knees, soaking her dress as she splashed out, using her magic to hike up the skirt so she could move better. Behind her, the lift started rising, “Hey, wait!”
“Sorry, you’re on your own now.”
She glared at him for a moment before turning to the corridor, Left, crew passage. She found the door and slogged into it. Completely deserted, of course. She was completely alone, and quite cold now.
Right, right…Right. The cross-corridor was even more full of water, with a row of doors on either side, “Jack? Jaack?”
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Jack leaned on the pipe, tired from trying to yank it free, realizing deep inside that he was totally screwed. Then the sound comes through over the gurgling of water, “Rose! Rose, In here!”
She forced the door open, creating a small wave as water tried to move out of the way of the door. Splashing over, she grabbed Jack in her arms, “Jack, Jack, Jack…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Jack sighed, enjoying the warmth Rose brought with her, in spite of being knee deep in icy water.
“Rose, that guy Lovejoy, he put it in my pocket. He told me so.”
“I know, I…He spoke more than six words to you?”
“His face. I’d kick his flank in poker any day. See if you can find a key for these. Try those drawers. It’s a little brass one.”
She kissed him and hugged him again, the turned to rifle through the desk contents, magically tossing out anything not made of brass.
“So, Rose, how did you find out I didn’t do it?”
“I didn’t,” she glanced over at him, “I just realized I already knew.”
They shared a look, broken by a perforated line of metal bits floating past them.
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A boat floated free of the ship as two stallions disconnected the lines, letting it away. Sitting in the boat, a young mare leaned over the edge, her weight counter-balanced by a large griffon and his mate, “I despise small boats. I just know I’m going to be seasick. I always get seasick in small boats. Good heavens there’s a stallion down there…” Jacks face was just barely visible through the port-hole, frowning up at the surface.
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Rose stopped trashing the room, and froze in the now hip deep water, gasping for breath, “There’s no brass key in here.”
The water was getting deeper, and Jack had already instinctively tensed his wings to get them away from the water, though they were tied, “You have to go for help.” Not a request, an order.
“I’ll be right back,” she called over her shoulder as she splashed out the door.
Jack nodded, “I’ll wait here then.” He glanced down at the water as it reached the dock of his tail, “In this cold water. Shit.”
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Rose splashed down the hallway to a stairwell going up to the next deck. Growling at it, she started up the steps, dragging her waterlogged dress with her. She tipped her teeth into the collar and ripped the buttons out, shimmying out of the heavy fabric and leaving her in just the lighter slip and stockings. Climbing to the top of the stairs, she found a labyrinth of steerage hallways. Still no other ponies. She started down the hall, looking for help, “Hello? Somepony?”
She rounded a corner to see a stallion splashing towards her, then passing her without slowing.
“Help me! We need help!”
Nothing by the clopping of hooves in the water and the echoing of over-stressed metal shrieking. The lights shut off for a long moment, and she stopped breathing, half begging for the lights to come back on, half hoping they wouldn’t.
They did, and she spotted a steward galloping closer, carrying a saddle full of life-belts. He grabbed her arm forcefully and started dragging her like a wayward foal.
“Come along then, miss. Let’s get you topside, miss, that’s right.”
“Wait. Wait! I need your help! There’s some…”
“No need to panic miss. Come along!”
“No, let me go! You’re going the wrong way!”
He wasn’t listening, and he wasn’t slowing down. She couldn’t break free, so she shouted in his ear. When he turned to look, she swept a hoof up and smacked him square in the muzzle. He let her go and staggered back, falling over into the water. Staggering to his feet, he shouted, “To Tartarus with you!”
“See you there buster!” The steward galloped off, holding his nose in one hoof. She scowled and turned back towards where Jack was, seeing a glass case. Inside the case was a fire axe. Perfect. She lined up and bucked the glass, driving her very expensive designer shoes through the glass and into the panel. Ripping the mangled heels off, she grabbed the axe and bit down on the middle of the handle.