I just stood there alone, watching the stars. The moon was bright enough tonight to illuminate the entire deck of the entire ship. I sighed to myself as I wished that Daring was here with me.

I imagined her standing in front of me with those beautiful pink eyes of hers, how they’d gleam in the moonlight. I let out a depressed sigh then was shaken by a chill. I rolled my eyes as I now remembered that Daring still has my coat.

I got off the railing and trotted back towards the hallway doors. Everything seemed so… good, up till now. I just had to open my big mouth. Maybe we could both just forget about this whole thing and still be friends. I hope we could still be friends.

I opened the hallway door and entered the hallways which were lit by light bulbs. The lighting they gave off wasn’t as beautiful as the moonlight that encased the outside world.

I eventually made my way to our parlour room and entered but wasn’t expecting the greeting I got.

“What the hay happened out there?!” Billy gasped and I was taken aback by his sudden approach to whatever he was approaching.

“Huh…?” I asked with a sudden feel of confusion.

He slapped me upside the head. “What the hay did yah do to that mare? She just bursts in here sobbing like something terrible has happened and now she won’t even open her room door.” Billy informed me and I sighed.

“I… told her that I loved her and well… it went badly.” I sighed and he raised an eyebrow. “Billy, I was serious when I said nothing was going on between us. Well I guess now there’s something going on but it ain’t good.” I told him and his head drooped. Brixie was listening from the couch and didn’t say anything.

I approached Daring’s door and gave it a faint knock. “GO AWAY!” Daring cried from inside the room. I knocked again. “I said GO AWAY!” She screamed, though her scream was somewhat distorted from her heavy sobs.

“Daring… please… can we talk?” I asked shyly and tried to open the door only to find it was locked. “Daring, please open the door… I don’t want you to be mad at me.” I pleaded in a saddened voice. My heart felt… miserable, to say the least.

“John… I’m not mad, just… go away. I don’t want to talk to you right now.” She said through another heavy sob. Brixie walked up to my side then leaned over and whispered into my ear.

“I can open that door but you need to tell me if you really want me to.” She told me and I nodded. I needed to talk to Daring face to face. She lowered her horn and released a spell. I heard the door lock click. I gave her an appreciative nod then opened the door.

Daring whirled up from her bed in shock that somehow I had opened the door without physical force. Her eyes were bloodshot and I could tell she had been crying a lot. I closed the door behind me and looked to her. “Daring I…” I began but she cut me off.

“John… get out. Please.” She pleaded as she tried to hold back her sobs but they ended up coming out in stifled sobs. I shook my head as I slowly approached her. “JOHN… I’M SERIOUS!” She yelled and I nodded.

“Daring… I know you’re hurting right now but… please just hear me out.” I pleaded. She didn’t want any of it. She grabbed a lamp from the nightstand then threw it at me.

“I SAID GET OUT!” She yelled. I ducked the flying lamp which smashed against the wall. I got closer and she shuffled back on the bed, getting further away from me.

“Daring, please just let me talk to you. I’m not going to force you to love me I just… need to tell you how I feel.” I told her as I sat down on the end of her bed. She got off the bed and went to leave. “Daring… I’m not exactly sure but I think I love you.” The words stopped her in her tracks.

She clamped her eyes shut and tried to hold back a sob. “You shouldn’t… I’m not a good mare… I’m tainted.” She whispered. I shook my head.

“You might think that but I know, you’re a better mare then I could ever be.” I told her and she hiccupped a laugh.

“You’re a… a stallion, you fool.” She whispered back and I had a chuckle.

“That’s not what I meant. I meant I love you because I know you’re good. I don’t care that you think Lucky died because of you. I don’t care that all the other stallions only loved you for the wrong reasons, because I love you for the right ones. Daring I don’t care if you hate me for this but… I love you.” I told her and her head dropped as she looked to the floor. Tears dripped from her face, some rolling down her already dampened nose and dripping onto the floor.

I stood up then trotted over to her side and embraced her in a loving hug. She shuddered from the embrace and just stood there. “I can’t… I won’t… I told myself I wouldn’t go through this again.” She whispered to herself.

“Daring you can’t keep yourself bottled up forever. You might have had some rough times in the past but you can’t let that hold you back. I’m not saying to fall in love with me, I’m just saying that you shouldn’t cage your emotions…” I was cut off as she spun and locked her lips to mine.

My mind thought for a second: ‘Well that certainly was sudden.’ But my thoughts soon cut themselves off as she placed her hooves at my side then around my back and pulled me in tighter to her.

I followed suit and wrapped my own forelegs around her back, slowly rubbing my hooves up and down the length of her back. Her wings sprang out as I slowly pulled back from the kiss. “John… this is too sudden.” She whispered and I nodded. “But… I don’t know why… I just feel warm when I’m by you and… I think I might be falling for you.” She whispered and I nuzzled my face into the side of her neck then whispered into her ear.

“Don’t fall for me. Just… be with me.” I told her. She immediately pulled her head back then locked our lips again, though this time she shoved her tongue passed my lips and into my mouth. I was shocked at first from the sudden advance but soon thought nothing of it.

I felt her tongue explore my mouth then latch onto my own tongue and began to wrestle with it. I playfully fought back and passionately fought her tongue into her mouth and explored the depths.

I felt her moan into my mouth. ‘Is this seriously happening. Recap, only a few days ago we started this journey and now we were expressing our love for each other. How did it come to this?’ I managed to think but soon thought to more pressing matters. The beauty in front of me was tongue wrestling with me.

I felt her pull my body in tighter to hers and press her lips harder against mine. I felt her hooves trail down to the base of my shirt then she pulled up. It’s times like these that I despised wearing clothes.

I broke the kiss for a mere moment to allow the shirt to be pulled off before connecting our lips again. I tried to move our bodies towards the bed but with my eyes closed I wasn’t too coordinated.

I slowly trailed my own hooves to the base of her shirt and pulled it off, again breaking our kiss for only a moment before returning. In a few seconds I felt her back press up to the room wall. I kept kissing her and didn’t bother trying to find the bed.

She moaned into my mouth again and squeezed her chest tightly against mine. My heart was racing and I could feel her heart beating against my chest in a similar fashion. Her hooves moved up and down my back.

She quickly shuffled her body up the wall so she was off the ground then locked her legs around my sides, allowing me to support her entire weight between the wall and my own body. My right hoof trailed up and down her leg. Usually I’d stop at about her hip but soon I found myself caressing her flank.

She broke away from the kiss and gave a gasp of pleasure from the sensual touch. I began to nuzzle her neck with my face and give sloppy kisses to the side of her neck, causing her to moan just a little louder.

I began to slowly slide our bodies down the wall and Daring whispered into my ear. “John I love you. Tonight… can we make love?” She whispered and I felt my already stiff member throb. I was kind of already getting the idea that it was all leading up to love but I guess she needed to ask.

“Daring… I love you so much. It would be my honour.” I told her back. I kind of wanted to face-hoof for being so overly romantic but at times like these, overly romantic was just sort of… the way to talk.

I set her body down on the floor as we began to make out again but then suddenly it felt as if the room jolted… or maybe the ship jolted. We both stopped and gasped.

I groaned to myself. “I have a feeling… that something really bad just happened.” I muttered. We both lept up, grabbing our clothes as we quickly made for the door.

Daring already had her shirt on and I almost had mine on, as we entered the living room where Billy and Brixie were already waiting. Brixie had her purple magician cape on while Billy had on his regular black vest.

Billy was the first to speak. “What was that?” He gasped and I shrugged.

“Not sure but it didn’t feel good. We might have just hit something.” I told him and Brixie tried to calm the situation.

“Does it really matter? This ship is unsinkable.” She told us and I looked to her with a raised eyebrow.

“Well I wouldn’t go betting my life on a simple statement like that. Billy, Daring, come on, Brixie just stay here for a second we won’t be long.” I told the trio and quickly made haste into my room.

I quickly sorted through the mess of clothes until I found what I was searching for. I tossed Billy his Luger, already loaded, Daring her ivory handled revolver, also loaded, then grabbed my duster coat and slipped it on. I already had my Colt M1911 holstered in my shoulder holster with its ammo. After that I grabbed a rather large case.

I opened it then pulled out a twin barrel, a trigger assembly and a stock. Billy scrunched his nose. “Yah building us a boat?” He asked sarcastically and I gave a half assed nod of my head as I quickly assembled the Colt double barreled shotgun.

“I can’t believe you brought a shotgun with you.” Daring mused to herself as I loaded two shells into the barrels, locked it shut then slung it across my back. I slipped on the shotgun bandolier which was already loaded with shells. I grabbed my Bowie knife and slipped it into a sheath around my waist.

I knew that if things weren’t bad that they would be as soon as the crew saw me loaded up like this.

I had left all our other guns at the stables where we left Nostalgic and Marry. I hope that they’re alright.

I looked Billy and Daring and nodded then we rushed back out to Brixie who was waiting rather patiently. Her jaw dropped as she saw us come out loaded up like we were going to war. Billy and Daring quickly concealed their weapons and Brixie shook her head in disbelief.

“What are we doing? Starting a revolution?” She gasped.

Third person, a few dozen minutes later:

“Please every-pony, be calm!” Yelled one of the crew-ponies on deck. As soon as ponies found out that the ship was sinking, nearly every-pony swarmed to the deck to try and get on a lifeboat.

“Calm! How can we be calm?!” Screamed a stallion. The crew-pony tried to hold ponies back from swarming the lifeboats. If they took them down wrong then they might fall and crack the wooden hulls, deeming them useless.

“Please, every-pony. Mares and foals first. Just…” Began the crew-pony but suddenly a gunshot went off and the crew-pony gasped as blood leaked down his uniform. Every-pony gasped in shock and swarmed away from the origin of the shot.

A dozen armed stallions stepped forwards. Charles Price held a still smoking Model 3 Schofield revolver. “Alright, no-pony get in our way. We’re going first.” He announced.

“You… you… you dirty animals. You just shot that stallion for no reason and are just going to take an entire lifeboat for yourselves!” Yelled a stallion in the crowd. Charles swung his aim to the stallion and shot him in the head, without even a second thought or any sign of guilt.

“That’s right. We are. Does any-pony else have any complaints?” He asked but every-pony just kept quiet and watched in tragic horror as the dozen stallions took a lifeboat for themselves.

As they were lowering it Charles stopped Reese from entering. “You still have a job to do.” He told the stallion. Reese gasped in utter shock.

“You aren’t serious… you’re leaving me?!” He gasped and Charles shook his head.

“Nah… we’ll be waiting. Don’t worry if the ship sinks just look for our lifeboat. We’ll be close by.” Charles told him then began to lower the boat. A stallion approached the lone blade master.

“It appears that they have abandoned you. You could always just cut the ropes. The boat would fall and crash into the water. They wouldn’t survive.” He tried to persuade the left-behind gang member to betray his friends.

In a flash of motion, Reese spun around and the stallion just looked in shock. Another moment went by and the stallion didn’t move but then, ever so slowly, his head split in a diagonal cut. The top right part of his head slid off then his body collapsed to the ground in a small pool of his own blood.

Every-pony in the crowd gasped as Reese walked away on three hooves, holding his still bloodied katana in his front right hoof. He left the crowd to sort themselves out as he made his way to the last life boat where ponies still hadn’t swarmed. Every-pony wanted to be on the first lifeboat. He knew better than that. He still had to kill John but if he didn’t secure a lifeboat for himself then he’d surely die.

He quickly grabbed some nearby chain links and wrapped the boat up to the stand and locked it tightly. Only he would be able to get the boat now. He’d simply just cut it with one of his katanas, which would cut through the chain links like butter.

John’s perspective:

I gasped from both the information and the huge crowd of people that had swarmed the deck. Two problems presented themselves. First: the boat was sinking. Second: the boat didn’t have enough lifeboats for every-pony aboard. Thirdly: apparently a group of stallions blasted their way off this boat and took with an entire lifeboat to themselves. I guess that’s three points.

Without a doubt I knew it was Black Mane and his gang. Several pegasus took to the air. Ponies screamed out for the pegasus to take them, or for the pegasus to take their foals, to safety. Some pegasus came back down to save young foals but some flew away as fast as they could.

“Couldn’t we have the unicorns all band together and keep the boat afloat with their magic?!” Screamed a stallion.

“That’s preposterous! This boat is massive! It would take over a thousand unicorns that all knew advanced levitation to keep the ship afloat!” Screamed another stallion. I looked to Brixie.

“Guess not even The Great and Powerful Brixie could keep this thing afloat huh?” I asked with a sense of badly timed comedy. She shook her head in depression. Only moments after my bad joke I heard a familiar voice crying out for help.

“Please… please help me!” Screamed the voice and I pushed my way through the crowd to find the voice. It was Extravagant Pants. “Please sir. Help me. My wife is trapped in the washrooms of the dining room. Please I’ll give you one thousand… no two thousand… ten thousand bits, just please help me!” He sobbed. The stallion he was pleading to just scoffed at his offer.

“I’d rather be poor and alive than rich and dead at the bottom of the ocean!” The stallion scoffed. Extravagant continued to plead to ponies. I rushed over to him.

“Hey Extravagant!” I yelled and he looked to me and gulped. He quickly downed his ego and groveled before me on his hooves and knees.

“Please, Mr. Ranger, I know I was rude to you but please, for the love of Celestia, help me save my wife!” He sobbed and I quickly grabbed him by the collar of his expensive tuxedo and hefted him up to his hooves.

“Actually that’s why I’m here. Where’s your wife?” I asked. Brixie, Billy and Daring all gasped. Daring grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me around.

“John! You’re not serious… are you? We have to get off this boat!” She gasped and I took a deep breath then looked to the others.

“Brixie, Billy: Get on a boat. Daring: take to the air. I’ll be fine. I’d say we have at least another hour before this thing sinks.” I told them.

Daring stomped her hoof. “Dammit John! I’m not losing you… not after you made me fall in love with you!” She scowled. I grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in for a kiss.

After I pulled back from the kiss I smiled. “You won’t lose me… and besides, I didn’t force you to love me. You just loved me back.” And with that she pulled me in for a second kiss.

“Don’t let me down John… or I’ll bring you back to life so I can kill you myself.” She said through a trickle of tears. I gave her a nod then looked to Extravagant Pants.

I gave him a nod and we immediately rushed to the doors. Lucky for us, most ponies were swarming the deck, not the hallways. There were a few ponies in the hallways but not many, most had already gotten on deck. Not even thirty minutes ago this ship hits an iceberg and now what seemed like the entire capacity of the ship was on deck.

“Hurry… we have to hurry.” Extravagant Pants gasped through heavy breathing. I could tell that despite his high class life and well-kept body, he wasn’t much one for running.

“Don’t give yourself a hernia now.” I chuckled and he shot me a cold look. “Just saying.” I muttered.

It only took us a few minutes to reach the dining area and he rushed me over to the washrooms. I shook my head in disbelief. “You can’t be serious… she’s stuck in the washrooms!” I yelled and you looked to me with a pleading look.

I rushed over and tried the doorknob but it felt as if it was locked. “What’s your wife’s name?” I asked.

“May Rose.” He said frantically.

“May Rose! May Rose, unlock the door!” I yelled but all I got was a sobbing reply.

“I can’t… I can’t. The lock is broken.” She wept. I swore to myself then tried to charge through the door but it still wouldn’t budge.

“Fuck…” I trailed off and thought to myself for a moment. Looking around, I couldn’t spot anything that I’d be able to use to break down the door quickly. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

“Extravagant… get back and cover your ears.” I ordered him and he nodded, stepped back then covered his ears. I pressed my face up to the door.

“Lady, get away from the fucking door!” I yelled. I gave her a moment. “Are you as far away from the door as possible?” I asked.

“Yes… what are you going to do?” She cried from inside the washroom. I lept to my hindlegs, unslung the double barreled shotgun from my back, cocked back both hammers and took aim on the top door hinge.

KA-BOOM, the shot echoed in the dining room like a crack of thunder. I could hear May Rose screaming from inside the washroom. The 00buckshot obliterated the top piece of the door frame where I shot. I took aim to the lower door hinge and pulled the hind trigger.

KA-BOOM, the left barrel fired like the first shot. The bottom hinge and framework on the door was blasted away. I leaned back and gave the door a kick with my left hindleg. The now flimsy door collapsed and Extravagant rushed to his wife’s side. She wasn’t harmed.

I cracked the barrels open and ejected the still smoking red paper shells. I loaded two fresh ones from my bandolier as Extravagant and his wife approached me. “We’ll never be able to thank you enough. You may have just saved her life!” He gasped and I rolled my eyes.

“Think nothing of it. You aren’t safe yet. Get to a lifeboat!” I told them and they both nodded then rushed off. Speaking of which, I needed to get on a lifeboat. I rushed out into the hallways close after them but then heard another familiar voice.

“Hey! Jonathan! Help me. It’s Bear, he was taken by the crewmembers of the ship when they found us. He’s in the kennels.” Elijah informed me and I groaned. The ship was sinking for Celestia’s sake!

I turned to see the large grey stallion, pleading for me to help him. I let out a deep sigh as adrenaline began to pump through my veins. The dining room was one thing but the kennels were close to the bottom of the ship. “Elijah… we could die. The ship is sinking.” I warned him and he grabbed me by the collar of my coat as he shoke me in a tear ridden state.

“He is my friend. Friends go back for each other.” He told me in a stern voice. I let out another deep sigh.

“Alright. I was just warning you that this is extremely dangerous.” I told him and we rushed to the stairwells and began to literally jump down entire flights of stairs. Ponies were rushing up the stairs and we were going down… how ironic.

I could hear ponies crying and weeping as they tried painfully to get topside. This was insanity… and hence the main reason I hate water.

I heard Elijah constantly muttering swears to himself as we went lower and lower into the ship’s depths. It was getting close to fifty minutes since the ship had stuck that iceberg, according to the crew-pony who said it was an iceberg we hit.

Finally we reached the kennels but the front door was locked. “FUCK!” Elijah cursed as he slammed a hoof into the door. I pulled him back as I unslung my shotgun for the second time. His eyes went wide as I again lept to my hindlegs and triggered both barrels, blowing away the hinges like I did with the washroom door.

Elijah burst through the door before I could even get back down to all fours and reload my shotgun. I popped out both smoking shells and replaced them with fresh ones. “BEAR! BEAR WHERE ARE YOU? BEEEAAAAAAR!” Elijah called out. All the animals were already freaking out. Barking, hissing, squealing and a lot of other pet noises were all that could be heard.

There were dozens upon dozens of animals down here. I heard Elijah still muttering swears to himself. He went one way and I went the other as we searched for his golden retriever.

My heart was still racing. If we didn’t hurry the hay up then we’d be screwed anyway. I was racing along so fast that I almost missed him.

I spotted a glance of golden fur then I gasped as I saw him. “BEAR! I FOUND HIM, ELIJAH! I FOUND BEAR!” I yelled as I fidgeted with the lock on his cage. I didn’t really want to pull out my shotgun and blast it away because it might damage Bear’s sensitive hearing. It would only be a last resort.

Elijah also knew this and quickly grabbed a fire axe from nearby. “Plan B!” He announced and used the pick-shaped end of the axe head to bust open the cage for Bear. As Bear and Elijah rejoiced, I felt my heart sink as I knew that we wouldn’t be able to save all the animals. Then my heart really sank. Water began to fill the room’s floor.

Elijah’s eyes went wide. I grabbed Elijah and pulled him to his hooves, “LET’S GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!” I yelled, swearing profanely to make sure my point got through.

Elijah kept the axe with him as we all rushed out. The sounds of the animals echoed in my head as we began to rush up the stairs. Poor things, would drown with the ship and there wasn’t a thing I could do.

“We can make it… we can make it… we can make it.” Elijah kept muttering.

“Elijah… just shut up… you’re giving me the creeps!” I yelled and he nodded.

“I’m sorry… just the adrenaline… you know?” He replied and I nodded. As we neared the stairs leading from the third class floor to second class floor I gulped. There was a swarm of ponies trying to get through a locked linking gate. There was a crew-pony apologizing to every-pony.

“Sorry every-pony… it has to be done, for the better of every-pony else.” He told them then rushed off, probably to try and get on a lifeboat or something. Ponies screamed and cried. I saw a mare holding her foal who couldn’t have been more than a few months old. My eyes went wide with anger from the pure rage that I had bottled up for that pony that just locked these other ponies in.

“Excuse me… please, let us passed.” I said as Elijah, Bear and myself pushed passed to the front.

I pushed us a spot to the front of the gate, to the anger of some ponies. I looked to Elijah. “The fucking gate is locked… use the axe… wait no.” I said as I pointed to another larger stallion. “You… yeah you, come here and use the axe like a wedge to help pry open this gate.” I ordered.

He immediately rushed up to us and did as I said. While he pried with the axe both Elijah and myself lept to our hindlegs and pulled the gate to try and get it open.

I felt my muscles all tense up and could tell that Elijah was tensed up as well. I heard a pony scream and looked down to see that water was now filling this level of the ship. Damn… it seemed like time was just flying by.

I began to grunt and roar in effort, so did Elijah. Veins began to surface under my skin as I forced my body beyond its strength level. Finally, with a loud PANG sound, the gate lock snapped from the force.

The three of us collapsed but quickly got to our hooves just as all the third class citizens attempted to trample over us to get out. I couldn’t really blame them, this was pretty scary shit.

While the others all went one way, Elijah, Bear and I went another, figuring that they’d all just slow us down.

We reached another staircase and raced up it until we reached the top hallways of the ship. The ship was starting to tip, I could feel it ever so slightly with the way my hooves sat level with the floor. I began to join Elijah in the muttering of curse words.

We burst out of the doors and onto the deck of the ship only to be greeted by an awful sight. There was no way every-pony would fit on the remaining lifeboats. No way in all of Equestria, not even if we piled ponies into the lifeboats.

I let out a deep sigh and looked to Elijah who shared my depression. “Well my friend. Let us soak in these last minutes of life. Come on, let’s go to the stern.” I told him. As we made our way to the stern we passed by many scenes of heartbreaking sights.

Ponies held loved ones tightly, cried into each other’s shoulders, kept each other company. I saw a mare and her six year old foal, maybe it was her sister. The mare was holding the sobbing filly and hushing her. Another couple held each other and cried into each other’s shoulders.

A band of musicians played a very sovereign and tragic instrumental tune. As we passed by a large group of ponies I heard one screaming in agony. “This one’s chained… IT’S CHAINED. We can’t get it down!” The pony screamed as they tried to get the lifeboat down.

Ponies scurried about in absolute terror. One young colt screamed to his mother. “Mommy… I want to wake up now!” He cried. I felt tears come to my eyes. If only this was just a bad dream.

Elijah and I passed by a preacher doing a prayer with a group of ponies.

“Our father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name; Thy kingdom come…”

He continued on his praying with the others as Elijah, Bear and I stepped up to the very tip of the bow. We looked out and Bear hopped to his hindlegs and put them on the rail so he could stand relatively at our height.

“Well… this sucks.” I said in a rather calm voice. Elijah nodded.

“That it does my friend… that-it-does.” He muttered. He smirked then let out a small chuckle and wiped a tear away from his face before looking to his canine companion. “How the fuck did it come to this?” He asked and Bear tilted his head to one side.

“If ponies were meant to travel the seas then Celestia would have given us fins.” I told him and he chuckled again.

“Ha-ha… yeah… well fuck…this really does such huh?” Elijah muttered as we looked out in the vast darkness of the sea, which without a doubt, would be consuming us shortly.

I smiled briefly, "Yes it does my friend... yes it does." I said as I wiped a lone tear from my eye. As I looked up to the night sky I prayed to the one I loved so dearly, 'Forgive me Daring.'

Author's Notes:

Damn... well anyway, yeah so I had a dream exactly like this. I was feeling pretty ashamed thinking "Goddammit, as if I'm having a dream about boning Daring Do, then it just whips around into this and I was like... damn, my own story is giving me nightmares." This wasn't where my dream cut off but it's where I'm leaving you guys for now. Pretty tragic stuff eh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4LyoUGxVd8