Fire and Water

by arc5162

First published

Twilight and her friends try to survive the worst maritime disaster in American history.

Twilight and her friends are transported to earth in the far past where they try to survive the worst maritime disaster in American history, and its not the Titanic.

Prologue

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It all started in Ponyville.

Twilight sparkle is in her castle trying to solve the mystery of an artifact she bought at a strange store.

Twilights friends come in.

“Hey Twilight” says every pony.

“Oh,” says Twilight,”hey girls, your just in time, I found this weird artifact in the market and I need you feedback on it.”

Twilight then shows the girls the artifact, the moment they lay eyes on it, they are confused.

Rainbow dash is the first to speak up,”Uh, Twilight, That just looks like a burned piece of wood.”

“Oh,” said Twilight,”you might think that, but the moment I found it, I could feel magic emanating from it.”

“But its just wood,” said Applejack.”How can there be magic coming from it, it looked like it’s been burned and buried.”

“I know, that’s why I’m trying to find out why there’s magic coming from it.”

Just then, Twilight had an idea.

“I know, I’ll cast a spell to look into the past to see where this came from, that way, I’ll learn why theres magic in it.

Twilight then turned to the piece of wood and cast the spell. Nothing happened at first, but then the wood caved in on itself, almost like a black hole appeared in the center. Once the wood was gone, A portal opened, The portal was to an unfamiliar place.

“What’s that?” Said Rainbow Dash

On the other side of the portal was what looked to be a storage room of sorts, filled with boxes, barrels, animals, and bales of something. The room was lit by only a few candles and the walls were made of white wooden planks.

“I’m not sure,” Said Twilight,”But whatever it is, it looks like the wood came from here.”

“So, what do we do?” Said Fluttershy.

“According to the description of the spell, we have to step through the portal to wherever or whenever this is and let history play out naturally while we observe.” Said Twilight,”but we need to be careful, we’’l be unseen to the ponies there, but the animals will see us and we can still be hurt.”

Fluttershy hid behind her hair after that last sentence

“Don’t worry darling,” said Rarity,”I’m sure everything will be fine.”

They then stepped through the portal, and immediately found themselves in a large room.

Overload!

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Twilight and her friends then stepped through the portal to arrive in the strange store room. When they got there, the portal immediately closed behind them. Sealing them off from their homes. Rainbow dash tried to fly into the portal again, but she wasn’t quick enough.

“How are we supposed to get back!” Screamed Rainbow Dash.

“We have to wait until the event the spell found happens.” Said Twilight,” but on the bright side, it gives us a chance to look around.”

Applejack then went over to one of the bales to see what it was. When she touched it, it was very soft but very compact.

Applejack called the others over.”Girls, I think these are bales of cotton.”

Pinkie pie opened of of the crates and found a white powdery substance.

“Oooh,” said Pinkie pie,”A whole crate full of sugar.”

She then stuffed her head into the crate of sugar and pulled back out with a mouthful.

“Pinkie!,”said Twilight,”Don’t mess with that sugar, whoever is here will start to wonder.”

“Who’s there.” Called out a voice, it was coming from the door.

Then, the door opened. What came out was a human, dressed in a naval officer’s uniform and holding a small pistol.

“A human!” Screamed Twilight,”I thought this spell was supposed to travel to the past, not another dimension.”

Twilight then turned to her friends,”don’t worry, he can’t see or hear us.”

The man then went to the crate and looked at it.

“Okay, who’s been messing with the cargo, come out and face me.”

The mane six stared at him with curiosity and fright. After a little while of searching, He then put the pistol into a holster and went to leave.

“I swear, those men can’t keep their hands to themselves.” He mumbled.

Once he left, twilight and the others decided to go out as well to see where they were. Once they got out, they were immediately met with dozens of people lying down on the floor and leaning against the wall. They all looked weak and malnourished with some having injuries.

Twilight then looked past all of the men to see that there was nothing but water on one side, and a river bank on the other side.

“Girls, I think we’re on a boat.”

“Why are we on a boat?” Said rainbow dash.

“I don’t know, but it looks like it’s very overcrowded.

She then cast a spell to make a hologram of the ship they were on. She and her friends instantly saw that this ship was a lot bigger than the other ones that they had seen. It was very long with large paddle wheels on either side. The boat had 4 decks including the wheelhouse on top. There were 2 tall smokestacks in front of the wheelhouse and 2 gangway platforms at the front that could swing out to the side to board passengers, and to top it off, the name of the ship was painted on the side, “SULTANA”

“My, such a beautiful ship.” Said Rarity.

“Wow”, said Applejack,”I’ve never seen a boat this big before.”

“Me either.” Said Twilight

“That’s odd.” Said Rarity

“What’s odd?” Said Twilight

“There’s no sails on the boat.”

Twilight then realized that Rarity was right, there were no sails whatsoever on this large boat.

Rainbow Dash then spoke up,”if there aren’t any sails here, then what makes the boat go?”

“I don’t know,”said Twilight,”lets go look to see what drives the paddle wheel.”

They then began to head towards the engine room, very curious as to what makes this big ship move. All the while wondering one thing, why is the ship so overloaded, and why was it overloaded with so many injured men.

Let there be fire

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After walking for a while, weaving in between men who were to injured and tired to get up, they eventually reached the engine room of the ship.

When they did, the shipped suddenly tilted to the port side, they all rushed to the port side to see what was wrong, when they noticed that far away on the shore. Someone had set up a camera to take a photo of the ship docked. The main six struggled to hold on to the wooden rail on the side. Twilight then noticed that everyone on the ship had moved to the port side to try to be seen by the camera.

All of a sudden, she hear one of the officers yelling out.

“All of you, get back, your gonna make us capsize.”

After hearing that, everyone went back to their normal places and the ship became level again.

Then, Twilight and her friends turned to the engines, there were 2 giant steam piston connected to each of the 2 paddle wheels. They then saw a steam pipe leading to a split, and past them were the 4 boilers, each one bigger than they had ever seen.

However, Twilight noticed that one of the boilers had a steel plate hastily installed on the side. She figured that it needed repairs. However, it was difficult to see the patch because there were several people shoveling coal into the fire boxes.

“Fascinating,” said Twilight,”why didn’t we think of using steam to power a boat. It would save us a lot of effort and we can travel upstream whenever we want.”

Yeah,”said Applejack,”It could even help with transporting the apple harvest.”

While Twilight was observing the steel plate installed on the boiler, she couldn’t help but notice there was a small leak coming from it.

“Girls,” called Twilight,”there’s a leak coming from this boiler.”

“Aren’t they supposed to not leak”, said Rainbow Dash

“Yes”, said Twilight,”but if this one is leaking, it could cause some serious trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?” Said Applejack.

“Trouble like damaging the engine or causing more leaks, nothing too serious.”

“Yeah yeah, big deal,” said Rainbow Dash,”I just want to see more of the boat.

“Okay then,” said Rarity,”why don’t we go and look at the cabins, I’m sure they look fabulous.”

So they then went to look at the living accommodation on the giant boat, not knowing what will happen later.