Titanic

by Imperator Chiashi Zane

Final Hoof Part 2

Back at the staircase, she nearly dropped the axe, along with her jaw, at the increasing depth of water. Up to her neck now. She dove in, gasping at the cold, and barely managing to keep her head above water as she swam to the room she had left Jack in. The water was almost to the middle of the door, and she could feel it weighing her down as she re-entered the room.

Jack smiled at her return, from his perch up on top of the pipe. “Will this work?”

“Let’s find out,” Jack dropped into the water with a gasp and twisted around, stretching the cuff-chain across the pipe. The very short chain gave him very little actual span between his hooves, “Ah, Rose, perhaps you should take a couple practice swings.”

She nodded, and slammed the axe-heat into the cabinet.

“Now, try to hit that same spot again.”

This swing was off by a good two hoof-widths.

“Oh…Kay. The water brushed over Jack’s waist, “That’s probably enough practice.”

He stretched the chain as tight as he could manage, and closed his eyes. Fortunately, his wings were the source of his best art, not his hooves, and as a Pegasus, he didn’t necessarily need to walk ever. Still, he kinda liked having all four hooves intact.

“You can do it, Rose. Hit it as hard as you can, I trust you.”

His own eyes being closed, he didn’t see Rose close her own. The axe struck home with a loud clang, and jack felt icy water splash into his face. He opened his eyes and stared at the axe sunken into the pipe, “Nice work there, Hatchet.”

He dropped to all fours, wincing as his neck came in contact with the icy water. For a moment he stopped breathing, “Shit! Excuse my Prench. Ow Ow Ow, that is cold! Come on, let’s go!

Swimming out, Rose started for the stairs she had just come down. Only a hoof or two of the stairwell was visible. “Too deep. We gotta find another way out.”
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Water splashed over the entire forward well deck, no longer just licking at it, the entire deck was beneath the water, taking the name-badge beneath with it. The raised foredeck was just barely reaching the surface of the water, the bowsprit poking into it. Another rocket exploded overhead, and Mossy Brown stopped rowing for a moment, “Now there’s somethin’ y’all don’t see every day.”
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Steerage passengers moved along the broad main corridor of the ship, trying to get to an open gate as the water continued to flick at their ankles. A steward on the deck tried to keep them calm, only to crack himself when a door split open and splintered across the decking. He recovered quickly though, “Hey, you! You’ll have to pay for that, you know! That’s White Star Line property…”

“Shut up!” Jack and Rose hollered simultaneously. Quickly passing the dumbfounded steward, they met the steerage stragglers headed aft. It was completely blocked in places by large families carrying all their luggage.

One mare hoofed Rose a blanket, recognizing the uncontrollable shivering wracking the golden mare’s body, “Here, dearie. Cover up.”
The mare’s husband nodded and handed Jack a flask, which he looked at for a moment, “Huh?”

“Drink it. It’ll take some of the chill off.”

Rose snatched the bottle from Jack’s hoof and downed half of it in one gulp before handing it back to Jack, who took a sip and handed it back to the stallion as Rose blushed, “Sorry…”

As the two continued aft, Jack tried every gate and door along the way, to see if any stairs were open.
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On the boat deck, with the forward portion submerged, the action had made a path to the aft. Now, the work became more frantic, more panicked as passengers and boats moved away. Kale pushed through the crowd, looking for Rose, in a hope that perhaps she would be there still. A mare shouted over the crowd, calling for a filly who might be lost already. A stallion hollered something Kale didn’t quite hear.

A mare grabbed Light-foot’s hoof just as he was about to launch another boat, “Will you hold the boat for just a moment? I have to run back to my room for something…”

Light-foot scowled and shoved the mare into the boat, “Boats don’t wait.”

Mr. Shipsmith approached him from behind and pushed on his shoulder, “Officer, why are these boats being launched half-full?”

The stallion stepped past and leaned his horn-light closer to a tangled fall, “Not now, Mr. Shipsmith.”

“There, look…Twenty or so, in a boat built for sixty-five. And I saw one with only twelve! Twelve!”

“Well,” Light-foot glanced at the boats in the water, “We were not sure of the weight.”

Shipsmith snorted, “Rubbish! They were tested with the weight of seventy Draft stallions. Now fill these boats, Mr. Light-foot. For Celestia’s sake, stallion!”
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Kale spotted his loyal servant coming towards him, and moved to meet him half-way, “Not on the starboard.”

“We’re running out of time. And this strutting martinet,” Kale pointed to Lightfoot, “isn’t letting any stallions on at all.”

“The one on the other side is letting stallions on.”

“Then that’s our play. But we’ll still need some insurance,” Kale started looking around, heading towards the bow, “Come on!”
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“Please, Ida, get into the boat.”

“No. We’ve been together for forty years, and where you go, I go. Don’t argue with me, Isador, you know it does no good.”
The stallion’s face fell, and he nodded, love and sorrow mixing on his face. There was no doubt in his mind he was not going to make it. Nor would she. They would be together, in the end.

Light-foot glanced at the couple, “Lower away!”
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The bow railing sank beneath the waves, water swirling around the capstans and windlasses on the forecastle. Captain Smith looked down at the flooded well deck from the bridge. Two stallions galloped across the forecastle, the water there splashing around their hooves as they dove into the well-deck and made to swim for the rest of the ship.
Another rocket went up, cracking behind Smith and shrouding his face in the deep shadows granted by the brilliant light.
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“Fierce Honor! Fi!” Honor turned to see Jack and Rose pushing through the crowd, and pushed back, embracing the soaked stallion. The two embraced like brothers.

“The boats are all leaving Jack!”

“We gotta get up there, or we’re gonna be gargling saltwater. Where’s Tommy?”

Honor pointed over the heads of the crowd on the stairwell. Tommy had his hooves mashed against the bars of the steel gate. It was opened just a hoofs-length and some mares and foals were squeezing through, “Sorry, mares only. No stallions. No stallions!”

Some terrified stallions, not quite understanding, rushed the gates. The crew shoved them back, pushing and hitting, even biting to make them back away, “Get back! Get back you lot!” He turned to the others, “Lock it!”
As the gate finished closing again, and was secured, one of the stewards, who had drawn a pistol, slowly lowered it.

Tommy batted himself against the gate, “Celestia above, stallion, there are foals down here! Let us up so we can have a chance!”
Now, the crew began to show fear. They let the situation get out of hand, and now have a mob on their hooves. Tommy gave up and flapped back down to Jack, Rose and Honor, “It’s hopeless that way.”

“Well, whatever we do,” Jack pointed towards the up-tilted aft, “We better do it fast.”

Honor turned to the family of moose, praying under his breath that they understand him this time, begging them to come with him, to follow him to safety. Unfortunately, her father refused to move. He refused to panic, to allow his family to go with this colt.

The young moose reached over and pulled Honor into a kiss, “Family…” She stepped back into the group, and Honor turned, sadly, to join Jack.

“I will never forget you, mi amore.”
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Kale opened the door to his safe and pulled out the wads of bills in it, still wrapped in their bank sleeves. The diamond found its way to the pocket of his overcoat, “I make my own luck.”

Lovejoy nodded, tucking a pair of pistols into his belt, without a word, his face spoke volumes.
Kale grinned, and led the way back onto the deck, leaving the safe to swing shut on its own.
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Jack, Rose, Honor, and Tommy pushed past groups of confused passengers, now totally lost, but certain of which way goes away from the water. Past a mother changing a diaper. Past a mare arguing heatedly with a stallion in Zebrican. Past a stallion kneeling on the floor, trying to comfort a mare. Past another stallion working on translating the signs with a small phrase-book.
The group finally came to another stairwell, and managed to climb two full decks before reaching a gate where several stallions are screaming at a scared steward.

“Ey! Go to the main stairwell, with everyone else. It’ll all get sorted out there.”

Jack scowled, then looked at Tommy, “Luna damn it all to Tartarus! You son of a bitch!”

He grabbed the end of a bench bolted to the landing and started pulling on it. Tommy and Honor pitched in, tugging violently on the structure until the bolts sheared, and the flooring tore up. Rose quickly figured out what all the street-worker slang they were hurling at each-other meant, and cleared a path up the stairs, using her magic to push and pull on coats, making standing in that path particularly uncomfortable.

“Move aside! Quickly, move aside!”
The bench made a path up the stairs and rammed into the gate, Tommy and Jack leading, Honor hammering it from behind. A second impact tore the gate loose, and knocked it over, nearly on top of the steward.

Rose stepped through, standing atop the overturned bench, “Now, if you have any intentions of keeping your pathetic job with the White Star Line, I suggest,” she glanced at the cowering steward, “Strongly, suggest, that you escort these good ponies to the boat deck, now.
Tone represented class, and class won out. The steward dumbly nodded and motioned for the ponies to follow him.
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The ship was tilted far more severely now, with nothing above the water at the bow, save the foremast, yet the lights are still lit. Another rocket screamed into the sky.
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Chief Engineer Bell shouted as he tried to get more stokers out of yet another flooding boiler room. Many refused, even the messengers, coal-faced and tired. Still they flew, ferrying messages from the rising water to the stern, as the telephone system perished beneath the constant short circuits.

A Pegasus filly landed on the platform in front of him, “Boiler room four is beginning to flood in. Three has been evacuated fully.”
Bell looked at the tired filly, sweat drops and sea-water leaving her almost Zebra-striped. A momentary pause, and he looked at his now cold dinner. An hour since the call for full-reverse, and it still lay untouched. He wasn’t hungry anymore. He pushed the plate to her,

“Eat a little. Keep your energy up. Celestia knows you’ll need it.”

The filly frowned at him, but took a bite of the sandwich before darting back towards the sinking bow, leaving the rest behind.
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Captain Smith forced every bit of air he could through his whistle, calling for the boats to come back. Now that the deck was closer to the water, it was possible for them to bring some right up to the deck and load them there, “Come back! Come back to the ship!”

Author's Note:

AAAHH! Ponies are dying left and right!
Oh, and Kale has the diamond.