War of Steam: Building Pressure

by Blitz Stratus

White Sheets & Hot Grease

Breath came in short wheezes as a lone pony fought through the burning hulk of a

airship as it slowly collapsed around her. Every step was a labor in pain, with the fire

biting at anything it could consume to feed its rampage through the broken vessel.

Her only hope was a breach in the hull where a round had stricken the cruiser during

the attack. With the last of her energy she pushed herself forward, trying to reach

the only glimmer for a chance of survival.

"Almost...there." She panted, blood pouring down from the deep gash on her

forehead as it trickled down her neck, soaking into her shirt collar.

But as her hoof reached out to pull herself to safety, a deep groan rocked the ship.

Then to her horror the floor beneath her gave way. She screamed but no pony heard

her as the roar of shearing metal screamed around her. She flailed, trying to grab hold

of anything still solidly attached to the once mighty ship. Quickly her grasp fell upon a

steam pipe only to have it burst, as steam erupted from the ship's dying heart. Now

with the earth ever nearing, she glimpsed a single steel cable. With the last of her

strength and with her muscles throbbing in exhaustion, she took hold of the cable,

cringing as her body jerked skyward. One of the ship's air bladders had escaped the

blaze below and was now the only thing keeping her from death's cold hooves. The air

was frigid as she float away from the fire and into the moisture of the clouds, the crisp air

drying the blood that trickled down what was left of her shredded foreleg, as it dangled at

her bruised side.

"All my...books were...on that...ship." She wheezed softly, as the air pushed and pulled the

balloon through the ever dimming sky.

But at that moment she had bigger worries on her wary mind. She was, for one, drifting at

the wind's mercy with only a general sense of where she was going; and two, she wasn't

in friendly skies. At any point of time her tired body could be pumped full of a passing

enemy's rounds. But what was worrying her the most was amount of blood that was still

flowing out of her wounds. At the rate they where bleeding she would be unconscious in

a few minutes.

"I need to find someplace to land." She said through gritted teeth, as the bladder jerked

wildly in the surging wind.

With her muscles screaming in pain she focused what she could of her energy to the end of

her horn. At first only sparks shot forth from her battered appendage. But slowly a glow

began to build, intensifying til it shone like a star, burning brightly in the gloom of the gray,

clouds.

"I have to...make this...count." She groaned in the agony, as pain began to blur her vision.

She was forcing herself beyond her physical and mental limits, but there was no turning

back. She would either live or die in the moment her spell left her horn, sealing her fate.

She took aim and cast her spell forth. With a sharp crack a burst of magical energy left her,

burning toward the balloon. It weaved wildly as it passed through the clouds currents,

never definitively staying true to one course. But to her dismay, as she watched through

teary and blurry eyes as her heart began to sink. Her shot, thrown off by a gust of wind

was swerving wildly and was heading on a path to miss the balloon.

"No, don't miss!" She sobbed, as her spell harmlessly passed by the balloon, and instead,

headed to join the stars.

But all was not lost for the purple unicorn; for even though her shot appeared to be a glancing

blow a mighty gust whirled against the balloon, thrusting it forward into the magical projectile.

There was a soft popping noise as the spell pushed against the outside of the bladder and

pierced on through. A smile fell upon the mare's tired muzzle as a soft hissing noise filled her

ear's as the air slowly but steadily leaked out of the balloon. She drifted down bellow the clouds

and gazed at the earth below, searching for a place to descend. But all that surrounded her was

gnarled trees and jagged boulders peaking out above a blanket of mist that covered the terrain.

Closer and closer she grew to the earth, but no matter where she looked only a hard an painful

landing awaited her. With no other option she did the only thing she could do, brace herself as

best she could. Her legs snapped violently backwards as the balloon dropped sharply, slamming

her into the gnarled limbs of a tree causing her grip to loosen from the cable, sending her tumbling

down into the twisted branch's below. Quickly her body impacted the first branch, snapping off

the end with a shuttering crack as it slammed against her ribs, while many more of the branch's

cut into her violet coat and what remained of her tattered and bloody shirt, spilling more of her

already thinning blood. With a solid thud she impacted the ground beneath the tree, blood filling

and pouring out of her bruised an bleeding muzzle. She tried to rise but her body had no more to

give, as her vision began to blur as with her mind. Drowsiness came swift and fierce as her will

power took hold and tried to drive her forward, reaching out for anything for her body had to give

but to no avail as the pain of fatigue shot through her. Then slowly a unfamiliar chill began to wash

over her battered body. It crept, working its way through her battered hinelegs and into the very

bone's of her beaten frame. It seemed to coil around her, its grip tightening as it slither up her spine.

"I-I-It feels like I'm drowning." She coughed, as she tired to clear her throat of her own blood. Then

as if to and insult to injury thunder boomed in the distance. "Great *cough cough* rain. Just what I

need right *cough, cough* now."

But as she laid there, listening to the thunder drawing nearer, she heard something amiss in the

boom that resonated passed her. As it grew closer she realized it wasn't thunder she was hearing

but something very large moving in her direction with some pony near to it or next to it talking.

"You sure you saw it land around here sir?"

"Piece's, I saw piece's of that ship land around here." A colts voice responded to the first.

"Let's just grab what we can for now and come back later with the Skif."

"Agreed. So you go one way and I'll head the other?"

"Sound's like a plan sir." The first voice chuckled, as the booming ceased.

With what sounded like two light thud's she could only guess that the two had disembark from

there craft and were now on hoof, drawing ever closer where she lay.

"I wonder if anybody survived sir?" The first voice called to the second.

"Not sure, but could you come over here? Let's see if this air bladder is any good." The colts

voice called in response.

"Will you be needing a ladder sir?" The first asked as little rocks tumbled pasted Twilight's head.

"Forget the ladder Titan and bring the stretcher!" She heard the colt shout, as a blur seemed to

step into her field of ever slimming vision. "Miss are you conscious?"

She tried to answer but she only spit out more blood, as she felt her lungs begin to fill with fluid.

"Just barely." The colt stated, as a second blur came to stand beside him.

"Oh sweet Luna's shadow." The newcomer gasped.

"Yes but she's alive. Come on, help me get her onto the stretcher." The colt ordered, as his

companion set something on the ground.

Her body was numb, she couldn't feel them lifting her but the pain still registered sending a

jolt through her dulled nerves, the overwhelming desire to scream filled her as they carried her.

Pain arching through her with every step they took over the rough ground when finally the

surge's became too much for her as the world around her dimmed to but a shadow as she

finally succumbed to blood loss, drifting off into the blackness that enveloped her tired mind.

Then there was light, a bright one at that, burning in her eye's as it hung over head, with

shadows standing over her, holding things that gleamed in the intense light.

"I need twenty cc's of morphine stat!" A foggy sounding voice shouted. "And keep her sedated,

for Luna's sake she wake's up during this!" The voice shouted again, as something black and

rubbery descended upon her muzzle.

With a shallow breath she descended back into the bleakness, as a burning sensation surged

through her chest. Then something else began to make itself heard as the burning started to

subsided. No matter what she did or how she moved she couldn't move her left foreleg. Her

heart began to race, as it did a high pitch beep filled her ear's as the sound of hoof falls followed

shortly afterward.

"Take it easy miss, if you keep squirming like that you'll pull out your stitch's." A voice echoed

in her head. "Can you open your eye's?"

With tentative movement's she opened her eye's. It was blurry at first but slowly her pupils

started adjusting to the light around her. But just as her vision became clear a beam of light

shown into her right eye, causing her pupil to dilate and for her to cringe a little.

"Sorry, just checking if the optics were functioning." The voice said pulling the light away,

allowing her to see a sandy maned colt holding the light.

"Optics?" She questioned, as she gazed into his brown eye's.

"Oh I don't know if this is the best course of action but hold on, let me find a mirror." He

mumbled, hopping down from the bed's rail, letting out a sigh as he trotted over to one of

the rooms wooden cabinets.

As he rummaged through the cabinet she couldn't help gaze around and take in the room

she now lay in. Cabinets took up most of the far wall, each ones contents confirming her

guess that she was in a hospital of sorts. The rooms starched white walls cast a pale glow,

which only seemed to add to the light given off by the several bulbs that hung unevenly from

porcelain fixture's.

"Sorry for the decor, It's hard to find matching anything from salvage." The colt sighed, as he

shut one cabinet and open another. "So how does your condition present itself to you?"

"What?"

"How are you feeling miss?" The colt restated, letting out another sigh as he closed another

cabinet an opened a long stained drawer that sat just above the non-satisfactory cabinet.

"Umm pretty well, but what did you mean by optics and why can't I feel my left leg? She

questioned weakly.

"Ah yes about that." The colt said sadly. Even as his sand colored hoof withdrew from the

drawer, mirror in hoof. "Do you have any recollection of how you came to be in that crag?"

"Yes I was....I was...Oh Celestia" She whispered as her mind dead panned. She couldn't

remember how or why she had ended up in that crag, whatever a crag may be, but everything.

No matter how hard she tried, no matter how hard she focused, she couldn't remember

anything. Nothing, where she had grown up, her parents face's, her home, if she had any

friends, all were empty space's in her mind. But as her emotion's began to boil over by the

shock of having everything she had ever know disappear, a little voice whispered the

question that broke the dam. What was her name?

"I was afraid this would come to transpire." He sighed. "Retrograde amnesia, lovely condition

only problem is that any information you had your head has been through into the proverbial

turbine.

"I-I-I-I can't remember my name!" She stammered, as she felt her world begin to crumble.

"Mmmh then it seems I might have something that will help you miss." The colt smiled, as he

reached into his stained dress shirt pocket. "We found this on you when we brought you here.

I believe they're yours?" He said extending his hoof toward her, holding two metal tags.

Slowly she reached for them, her right hoof taking hold of them as if they were a fragile butterfly,

as it was about to take is first flight. They were cold and blood stained but the information punched

into them was clear. Blood type; A positive, Serial number; 4A2-39-8901, Name; T. Sparkle,

Nature; Unicorn.

"Twilight." She whispered.

"Pardon?"

"My name." She smiled weakly." My name is Twilight Sparkle." She said, as a tear fell from her eye.

"Well miss Sparkle pleasure to meet you." The colt smiled. "Now you were wondering when I said

optics?" He asked holding up the mirror showing Twilight the extent of her forgotten falls damage.

Twilight's jaw dropped at the face that stared back at her through the mirror. It was her's, there

was no doubt in her mind that it wasn't. But as she gazed at her reflection, she couldn't help but

to reach up and run her hoof over the semi warm brass that now lay embedded in her face. It was

seamless, not a rivet, bolt, or screw to be seen. But as she ran her hoof down the gleaming surface

she could feel small bumps in the metal, just along the outline of the piece's shimmering joints. A

single glass lens sat at the center above where her eye should have been, telescoping in and out

of its brass housing, as it adjusted it's focus in the lamp's light.

With her head spinning Twilight could only stammer as her world tumbled into darkness yet again

as she fell back into the soft pillow that her head quickly collided with. "Unnn." She groaned, as she

passed out.

"Well she reacted better then I figure she would." The colt chuckled, as he set down the mirror on a

near by table. He whistled as he trotted from the room, shutting the patched together wood and metal

door with a soft click.

Comments

[Brutydude]

looks promising
Will read later

[Brutydude]

I like it
Though why the spaces between lines?

[Blitz Stratus]

just to break it up.

[Blitz Stratus]

2121486 sunday

[Shellsh0cker]

Alright, this is a promising start, but you've definitely got some issues. Please, please get yourself a proofreader. You seem to be deathly afraid of commas and you're constantly putting apostrophes is places they don't belong. I also have no idea what's up with your formatting. This is decent, but it's rough.

[WingsofWhite]

If there is any way to fix the spacing, please do. It makes it much more appealing and easy to read.
I like it so far!