• Published 14th Mar 2013
  • 1,190 Views, 33 Comments

Adrift - Jazzaman



When an unknown ship appears off the coast of Baltimare three ponies are sent out to investigate. What they find will shake them to their very cores.

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Star

Nova and Star Blazer had successfully located the bridge long ago, and had been waiting there for quite some time now, listening to the sounds of the storm outside as rain thundered against the glass. While they waited for Rose rose to either get the engines running or report back to them, Star blazer had busied himself reading the various manuals and records scattered about the room, none of which had given much insight to the Everfrees’ history or crew.

Nova had spent a few minutes reading over some tattered navigational charts, but they didn’t make much sense, and she instead occupied herself with staring absently out the windows.

The storm outside had worsened since they had come aboard, and the skies had gone nighttime-dark from the heavy cloud cover, only lit up by the occasional flash of lightning. Every flash lit her proportions up for a second, filling the bridge with a brilliant bright light, then thunder would boom shortly after once the darkness had returned.

The strong ocean winds blew sheets of rain across the deck, and the entire ship pitched and rolled with the turbulent seas, the heavy chain dangling from the deck-mounted loading crane whipping angrily in the wind.

After exploring the ship briefly, they had failed to find a radio, or any working electrical devices for that matter. They hadn’t expected anything tied into the electricals to work because they weren’t receiving any power from the generators tied into the engines, but the radios that normally came with a backup power supply were dead as well, which was a little daunting to the both of them.

“Look at this,” Star Blazer said to Nova, snapping her out of her ocean-gazing trance.
“The Everfree last made port over thirty-four years ago. It was scheduled to dock in Zebrica three months after it left port, and that’s the last written log.” Star blazer said, throwing a quick glance up from the log sheet.

“What?” Nova turned, confusion written on her face. “Ships don’t just go missing like that; it’s not like its a book that falls down the crack between the bed and the wall, and one day like ten years later you’re cleaning under the bed you’re like, ‘oh, so that’s where that went!’”

Star Blazer grinned at her analogy. “I’m not sure, but unless the pony filling out these logs had a very bad case of dementia, clear as mud, there it is, thirty-four years,” Star responded flatly..

“Does it say anything about what it was carrying?” Nova asked.

“No,” Star responded. “Hardly anything on cargo. Any logs I found are either useless shreds or the papers are scratched out; it’s like somepony tried to destroy any logs of what was on this ship.”

“But, why would they—” She was interrupted as a deep hum growled up from the depths of the ship. A second later the lights flickered to life on the bridge, the age-old fluorescent tubes humming and blinking in protest. One overcharged and burst with a flash of light and a little pop, raining shards of glass down to the floor.

“Oh, Rose you magnificent mare,” Star said, a smile plastered on his face. “No time to waste then. Lets get a move on!” He trotted over to the wheel and motioned for Nova to take her post as navigator.

She opened her mouth, ready to read Star their current heading and wind speed, but froze, blinking a few times to make sure she was seeing right. All of the navigation instruments were wrong. The Pelorus was somehow rotating freely, the small telescope it sported spinning lazily within its glass dome. The normally-precise radial compass spun clockwise on its dial, not caring at all about its job.

Nova had heard stories of dancing compasses, but this was her first time ever coming across one. What really set her off more, was the fact that it was spinning, and not dancing. A compass would often ‘dance’ due to magnetic disruption. This one was not dancing, but simply spinning.

Finally she looked over to the geographical compass. The Everfree was barely moving, yet the ‘True north’ bearing compass jerked around in its housing like the second hand of a clock.

Nova looked over to Star, who wasn’t even paying her any mind. He simply stared out of the window, eyes stretched wide in shock. Lightning flashed outside the window, lighting his features and reflecting the fear in his eyes.

“S-Star?” Nova asked, trying not to let her shaky voice show. “What’s wrong?”

Trembling slightly, he raised a hoof and pointed out the window. Nova trotted up beside him and squinted to see what he seemed so spooked about, struggling to make anything out through the torrents of rain slicking the window and clouding the air, obscuring most of the deck.

Her eyes picked the cargo crane out of the gloom, the chain swaying heavily in the wind. “What are you looking at?” she asked Star, a worried expression plastering her face at the way he seemed to pale.

A bright flash of lightning lit the entire deck of the Everfree for a short second, casting the crane’s shadow across the cargo bay doors. There, hanging from the end of the heavy chain, was a distinct silhouette.

It was a pony.

Thunder crashed, shaking the entire ship, and Nova screamed as she hurled herself backwards. She fell against a filing cupboard and the both of them crashed to the floor in an explosion of yellowed papers.

The sudden jolt snapped Star back to attention and his head traveled around to look at Nova where she squirmed on the floor. Nova looked back, horror and disbelief dancing across her face. “S-Star,” she stammered. “W-w-we’re the only three on this ship.” She squeaked. “Where’s Rose?”

Star seemed to go paler still. “In the engine room,” He swallowed twice, breath coming in faster and faster bursts. “Come on!” he shouted suddenly, charging the door that led to the afterdeck beyond the bridge.

The two unicorns rushed down the steep companionway as fast as they dared. Upon reaching the landing on the deck three level beneath, they made a hard right and reached the watertight bulkhead to the open deck.

After a brief, frantic struggle, they managed to throw open the poorly-oiled door, only to be assaulted by the vicious winds and curtains of rain. Star and Nova exchanged a shared glance before charging out into the freezing weather. The two ponies trodded carefully along the deck, heads down and hunkered against the wind. Nova thought it rather silly they hadn’t grabbed any raincoats, considering the fact that they were probably stuffed everywhere aboard the ship, however she didn’t dwell on that thought for long.

The chain that hung from the deck crane continued to sway and clank in the wind, the weight on the end flopping about haplessly in the torrents. Nova stood back, surveying the scene and trying not to vomit. Blood traveled in snakes through the water on the deck, trailing from the limp form suspended above. In the dark, all Nova could make out was a dark shape, stained crimson. A lighting bolt stabbed at the sky behind her and brought the scene into horrifying proportion. Rose hung lifelessly from the rusty hook bolted to the end of the loading chain, the tip of the hook protruding from her chest. Her forehooves flopped limply at her side and her head lolled backwards, eyes facing the dark sky. trails of blood ran from her wounds, down her coat and dripped from the tips of her hooves.

Nova locked up as darkness overtook her again, heart practically stopping and welling up in her throat. Lightning struck again and the white mare’s head flopped forward, matted pink mane hanging around her head.

The skin around her eyes was bloody red and raw, having been scratched at and torn, and a trail of blood ran down from each eye like crimson tears. Nova felt her legs growing weak. Rose... Her eyes, they were white, not the sort of white one would see when lifting a pony’s eyelid as they slept, but white, the pupil and iris merely ghosts of what they had been. Her foreleg was twisted sickeningly in the rusty chain, her coat squeezed and torn from the weight of her and the hook.

“Wha? Ro...? I” She mumbled unable to form coherent sentences as her mind struggled to comprehend the scene before her.

“Come on,” Star said somberly. “let’s get her down.

Together, the two unicorns used their combined magic to levitate her off the hook. It wouldn’t budge at first, then gave way with a sickening squelch and rush of clotted blood. Gently they lowered her to the deck and laid her there.

The gravity of the situation hit Nova like a train as she looked down at her lifeless friend. A torrent of emotions made themselves apparent. Shock, sadness, confusion, disgust and fear. A glance over at Star showed that he wasn’t faring much better.

They stood there. Unmoving even as the rain and wind continued to batter their forms. Nova sobbed softly while Star simply just stood still conveying to vocal emotion although the look upon his face said more than enough.

Nova shifted her gaze away from her friend’s body, unable to look at it any longer. Sniffing loudly as she wiped the tears away with a forehoof she found herself looking back up to the large, white superstructure they had emerged from. Through the storm, in one of the darkened rooms she saw a light move from one window to another on the right side of the ship’s structure, its orange glow flickering carelessly.

“St-Star!” She started finding her voice again “Theres somepony up there!” Nova called over the wind.

“Where!?” he called back, tearing his horrified eyes from rose and approaching Nova. His eyes followed her hoof to the superstructure, though the light had vanished by the time he was squinting through the gloom.

Even though he didn’t see the light, Star had no reason to doubt Nova. “What did you see!?” he asked.

“A light!” Nova pointed with her hoof to the window she was sure it had been. “It was moving.”

Star growled in his throat, eyeing the dark window. “Second floor, window on the far right.” If there was another pony on board, he would get them for what they did to Rose. Without warning, he bolted, sprinting through the rain back towards the superstructure, leaving a distraught Nova lonesome on the deck.

Nova followed more slowly, not wanting to be left on the deck alone, not wanting to be left alone at all. She stopped herself suddenly, unsure of whether to continue.

She turned her head back to the foot of the crane, risking another glance at Rose. Her body lay there in the freezing rain, mane fanning out in the water washing across the deck. The few trails of blood she still had left to drain washed quickly away in the torrents of rain water as she ship rolled in the swells. The red tendrils of water amongst the clear washed across the deck like crimson snakes, before swirling down the scupper holes to the sea below. Her mangled eyes stared coldly back at her.

Nova closed her eyes tightly and turned back. She tilted her head down toward the deck, tears threatening to show again “I’m sorry” she said quietly, barely audible over the waves and wind and rain. “I’m so s-sorry, Rose,” she whispered through gentle sobs. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself before plodding slowly back to the superstructure, not able to bring herself to look at Rose’s blood-stained coat—the gaping hole in her chest.

Or those cold, emotionless, dead... eyes.

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Star blazer barrelled through the narrow corridors as he headed for where he was sure Nova had spotted the light. There had to be somepony else aboard; Rose didn’t just hang herself like that—nopony could. She couldn't scratch her own eyes out then impale herself on a blunted hook suspended several feet above the deck. No, it hadn't been her, which only left one option.

Star rounded a corner and jumped over a busted ventilation pipe laying in the middle of the floor. The lights that had since lit up in the halls once the engines had started made navigating the ship far easier. At the end of the hall, one door remained ajar, swinging slightly with the roll of the ship. If his mental compass was correct, then this was the room he had been seeking from the deck below.

He just wanted to charge in and bring justice to whoever was in there, but he stopped himself. It would be better to approach this with some caution. Whoever this pony was, they had just hung Rose from a hook ten feet in the air and tried to gouge out her eyes. There was a pretty good chance that this pony was batshit insane, and suddenly jumping in their face with nothing but accusatory words could prove rather disastrous.

Star decided to approach this tactically. He stooped down to pick up a large section of iron piping that had come loose and fallen to the floor.

His ears perked suddenly at what sounded like whispering tones from the hall far behind him. He whipped around so fast that he nearly fell over, but he saw nothing. Just an empty, derelict hallway. He breathed deeply to steady himself before turning back to the door.

Slowly, he pushed open the heavy iron door just enough to slip his hoof through. Slowly, he slid his hoof up the door frame until he found the light switch. He flicked it quickly following with slamming the door hoping to catch somepony off guard.

Two things failed in his otherwise-perfect plan. One, the lights didn’t turn on, leaving the room in its it’s nearly pitch-black state; secondly, there was nopony in the room, nor was there anywhere to hide. The room was practically devoid of any furniture, bar one small upturned table that would've been impossible to hide under.

Star slumped a little in confusion, unsure of how to proceed. Even though it was a large room, there was only one door, which he had just entered through. If anyone had tried to leave, he would have passed them on the way up the stairs or in the hall. Had Nova imagined it? it was possible, in her aghast state, that she had imagined the light in the window. After all, he hadn’t actually seen it.

None of this however changed the fact the Rose still couldn't have done those things to herself. Not even a freak accident and the worst luck could have done that to her. It had to have been somepony else.

As Star entertained these thoughts, something flashed past in his peripheral vision. Although he had only caught the tiniest view, he was sure a figure had dashed past the door behind him, heading right.
In hopes of catching what may have been the elusive murderer, Star started in pursuit, charging out the door and to the right. He danced twice on his hooves, then stopped, squinting at the wall three feet from his face. “Wha?” he managed to blurt out

Absolutely, he was absolutely sure ... something had passed going in this direction, but the large, bleak and white wall rising up in front of him decided to test that claim. Was he seeing things now? Was he starting to lose it?

The mysterious appearance of the Everfree.

The anchor.

The disturbing cargo logs.

Rose...

‘Just what is going on, on this ship!’ his conscious screamed to him. Something awful was going on and Star was determined to find out. His train of thought was interrupted as the ship rocked dangerously to the right shaking him out of his stupor.

The sudden jostle suddenly brought one large, glaring problem that had so far eluded him until this point to the front of his mind.

He and Nova were trapped on a decaying cargo ship that was still drifting straight into the busy east coast shipping lanes.

Urgency filled him. if they didn’t get the ship moving, the Everfree could collide with another ship—a possibility that was all too real. The big unicorn set an urgent trot for the bridge, rounding corners and making haste of a steep staircase. It was only a moment before he reached the bridge, crossing the room to the wheel.

Star placed a hoof over the tandem levers marked on the side with many different engine settings and guided them forward, listening as the engines roared below decks, hearing the high-pitched whine mixing with the powerful grumble. Placing both hooves on the wheel, he spun thrice around counterclockwise until the wheel stopped. Reaching back to the throttle levers, he pulled the left one back to about halfway. The Everfree began to make a slow portside turn, the engines whining in protests as they ran up to speed.

He was amazing that the engines ran as well as they did, even after thirty-four years of dormancy; it was amazing the fuel hadn’t gone bad or seized. He had at least been expecting a knock or a few hiccups from the engines, but they were running like the day they were new.

Feeling as if a massive weight had been lifted, Star remembered Nova, and turned to see if she had yet arrived at the bridge.

She hadn’t.

A quick look out the windows proved that she was no longer on the deck. He swallowed a small lump in his throat. Why had he just run off and left her?

“What? where is she?! Nova!” he called out at the top of his lungs his voice bouncing off the metal walls and reverberating throughout the deck.

No response.

‘Oh no, no, no Celestia no!’ His mind raced, he was still certain that there was somepony else aboard and the last time one of his crew went off on their own...

He shuddered remembering the fate that had befallen Rose stem. He had to find her, that was the only thing he could think. Nova wasn’t a weak pony by anyones means nor was she a stupid one but Star blazer couldn’t escape the feeling of dread building in his stomach.

Whoever had gotten to Rose was definitely strong and definitely wasn’t somepony you wanted the pleasure of meeting. There was no hope for Nova if she was found.

Star blazer breathed deeply as his expression turned into one that wouldn’t of looked out of place on a royal guard. With a steely resolution driving his actions he ventured back out into the after deck to find Nova.

Once more the chocolate brown unicorn clambered down the steep steps of the companion-way he wasn’t quite sure where to begin looking but he had to start somewhere.

He had only climbed down one flight before the stairs ran out and all that was in front of him was a short hallway with a large bulkhead being its only feature on the wall directly opposite him.

Star paused to retrace his steps. Even though the ship was still new territory to him he had been up and down those very stairs at least four times now. “What the?” was all he managed to say as his brain tried to process what had happened. Cautiously and against his better judgement he approached the imposing iron door it seemed larger and heavier than other he had seen.

When he reached up to open it he noticed that it was already unlatched and swung open with barely a squeak. After seeing that all moving parts on this ship were in desperate need of an oiling, the near silence of this door was quite jarring.

The hair on the nape of Star blazers neck stood on end when a rush of chilled air raced out of the open door to greet him. Beyond the door, a narrow hallway stretched into the darkness. Star couldn’t help the feeling of dread that welled within him. He had seen plenty of darkened corridors on this ship but this one... it just seemed darker.

It was almost as if the darkness was fighting back against the light from the ceiling lamp above him. If you could imagine a shade darker than pitch black this was it. It was terrifying it almost seemed...Hungry.

Despite the less than inviting appearance of the hallway Star pressed on. Every fibre of his being screamed at him to back into the safety and warmth of the light but he ignored them. The door had been open and if that meant that Nova may have come through this way, Star was going to follow.