Fiery Temper awoke from her slumber to the crashing of waves and the loud booming thunder. "Buck, who pissed off mother nature," Temper sleepily grumbled to herself, rubbing the sleep from her tired light blue eyes. She currently lay in the bowels of the EQS Royal, a very important ship to the Equestrian war with the Khion. The Khion were a group of ponies who lived in the frozen tundra of the North, who just recently declared war on their neighbors to conquer new territories. The Equestrians, acting like the big older sister of the world, wouldn't let some bullies pick on the smaller less fortunate kingdoms.
After minutes of tossing and turning in the woven hammock, Temper finally realized that sleep was not going to be an option for her due to both the raging storm outside and the discomfort of the hammock itself. "How the buck do ponies find thunderstorms so calming?" Temper thought to herself, yawning, "They're just obnoxiously loud."
Temper rolled out of her hammock, dejectedly dropping to the solid wooden floor of the ship, stumbling a bit due to the shifting of the water beneath the hull. She hasn't quite acquired her sea legs yet. "Celestia, these hammocks are absolute Tartarus. Couldn't they have given us something more comfortable?" Temper mused to herself while stretching all the knots and kinks out of her back and legs. After the morning ritual of waking up was complete Temper reached under her hammock with her teal magic pulling out a pair of dark cork leather saddlebags with the symbol of the equestrian military on the sides, an alicorn holding a sword and a quill.
First Temper pulled out a simple light gray tunic that was standard issue make amongst the infantry of the Equestrian Military. It was a very bland design, absolutely nothing special about. Not that Temper minded all that much, in fact, she actually kinda liked the simple design and the light gray blended nicely with her dark gray coat and red mane.
Secondly, she pulled out her standard issue Sorcerer battle coat. A long black cloak edged in silver and fitted with metal plates and cotton to both protect from the elements and attacks. On the back of the cloak was another symbol, this one depicting the emblem of the sorcerers, there was a series of three rings that progressively got smaller as they moved inwards. There were also rings on the top, bottom left, and bottom right of the main piece. On the inside of the rings was a bunch of small runes, slightly filled with arcane power making the whole emblem glow with energy as it offered a slight increase in resilience to the cloak. In the center of the emblem sat a special design. The design was different for each wearer, for her it was a small ball of flame showing that Temper was a specialist in pyromancy. This wasn't the full getup for sorcerers but it was all she needed to go outside in the roaring downfall.
She also grabbed one her few personal possessions that she was allowed to take along with her, a necklace of a dragon, wings spread out, roaring to the sky. Her father made her this necklace before he died, it means a lot to her. Temper stared morosely at the necklace for a few moments before sighing sadly as deep memories started to resurface. But not wanting to fall into a depression Temper quickly shook those thoughts from her head locking the necklace around her neck.
Now ready to go outside and face the elements Temper turned to the stairs at the back of the ship slowly moving her way towards them not in any rush to go outside in the storm. She moved past an assortment of Hammocks that made up the sleeping quarters for her regiment, some of the hammocks still with ponies resting in them. In fact, Temper Recognized one of them, a large, bulky, pale gold earth pony with a dark yellow mane. His name was Blazing Shield, one of Tempers friends from training.
"Hey, Shield!" Temper called out to him, causing a few ponies who were trying to rest to glare angrily at her, not that she minded. Shield didn't respond to the call, fast asleep in the rocking hammock. "Shield get up!" Temper tried again this time giving him a slight push with her telekinesis, but he still didn't respond seemingly comatose.
Giving up on trying to wake him up from afar Temper weaved her way over to him, avoiding bumping into occupied hammocks and crates full of supplies. "Shield come on! I said get up!" She said reaching out with her hoof to shove him into consciousness. But right before she was about to lay her hoof on him Shield suddenly jumped out at her
"Boo!" Shield shouted
"Gah!" Temper yelled and jumped back, throwing out a burst of nonlethal magic at Shield. The surge of magic launched him off his hammock and into the air before he came crashing down a few feet away with a grunt of pain.
"Hell of a horn you got there love." Shield groaned holding his sides.
"Don't scare me like that!" Temper scolded him "You're gonna get yourself seriously hurt one of these times! And what did I say about calling me love? We're not dating!"
"Sorry, sorry just seemed to perfect of an opportunity to pass up, love."
"I'll blast your ass again don't tempt me." Temper deadpanned walking over to Shield offering her hoof to help him up "Now that I finally have your attention. Let's head top deck and see if the sailors need any help with this storm."
Shield grabbed her hoof pulling himself to his hooves mumbling thanks "You know it isn't our job to help with the ship right? We are just cargo. And I don't know about you but I don't know a thing about working a ship, I'd just get in the way. Also, why can't some pegasi just fly on up and deal with the storm? Then we could avoid this mess."
"That's a good question, I don't really know why a pegasus can't fly up and deal with it. Also, I just don't really feel like staying below deck kicking my hooves" Temper said stepping back from him.
Now that Shield was standing in front of her Temper could easily see that days on the waves have not been kind to him. His usual well-kempt dark yellow mane was all matted and dirty. a stark contrast to his normal slicked back royal look. His pale gold coat suffered a similar fate being covered in dried sweat and whatever else you could pick up on a ship closely packed with hundreds of ponies. His new ship look betrayed his noble birth, not that Temper fared much better.
"Celestia Shield you look like shit." Temper stated matter of factly
Shield Sighed "yeah I know, honestly one of the first things I'm doing when I get off this thing is taking a dame bath. I both feel and look disgusting, what mare am I gonna swoon looking and smelling like this?"
"Always with your thoughts on mares aren't you Shield?" Temper said rolling her eyes.
"What can I say? I'm a natural heartbreaker." Shield chuckled trotting over to his hammock pulling out his own pair of gray saddlebags. Opening them Shield pulled out his own standard Military tunic and cloak though this cloak is much less fancy, just a standard brown cloak. Throwing them on Shield turned to Temper. "Alright, I'm ready let's head on up." Shield said hastily running a comb through his mane to at least make it somewhat presentable.
Temper nodded turning from Shield moving her way to the rickety staircase at the back of the ship. Careful to not bump into anypony, Temper didn't want to start a fight down here, not that she'd back away from a challenge mind you. The clip-clop of hooves behind Temper told her that Shield was following. They made their way up past the moderately stocked gun deck of the ship and onto the main deck proper.
The rain bombarded them from above quickly drenching their clothing. Temper swiftly set up a magical umbrella for both herself and shield but the damage was already done. All around them ponies raced back and forth quickly reefing the sails and getting any loose objects tied down or brought below deck.
Upon the quarter-deck sat the captain of the ship, Captain Iron Soul. Around him he commanded an area of calm in the raging storm, quickly dishing out orders to the crew. Temper and Shield weaved their way up to the Captain making sure not to bump into any of the hard working crew.
As they neared him they heard him berating a couple of young sailors for a mistake they made, something about tying a faulty knot and letting some supplies spill over. "Captain!" Temper shouted over the raging storm.
Iron Soul glanced their way mouthing 'one moment' to them before turning back towards the pair of young bucks. "Now get back out there and do your jobs! and first thing tomorrow you are going to meet with Tough Sails to learn how to tie a real knot! Your dismissed" The bucks looked horrified after hearing that name as they shuffled off to join the other sailors in readying the ship.
Captain Soul turned around to face them meeting them with a steely gaze. Captain Iron Soul was a no-nonsense pony with an iron will when he was in his 'strict leader' persona, ponies listened to him better this way. Captain Iron Soul was an earth pony with a light silver coat and a black mane that spilled out underneath his slightly to large dark blue tricorn hat that somehow wasn't getting blown away in the tempest. His body showed the telltale signs of an experienced sea pony.
"Temper, Shield, what do you need? And make it quick, I'm kinda busy dealing with these sorry excuses for sea ponies and this Celestia blasted storm."
"We were just wondering if you could use our help at all Captain. Felt pretty useless staying below deck and doing nothing." Temper replied, shouting to get her voice heard over the roaring winds.
"Hmm, Yeah I guess I could use some extra hooves up here. Go help the other sailors with tying things down and bring them below deck before this storm washes them overboard."
"How come we can't have some pegasi go up there and deal with the storm anyway?" Shield pipped up.
"We've already tried that. But something isn't right about this storm. Our pegasi can't manipulate it." Iron Soul shouted to them before turning away, putting his attention to another pony.
Shield and Temper taking the hint that they are dismissed moved away from the Captain and down the stairs. Quickly doing as they were told and helping the sea ponies with the ship. Everything was going as planned without a hitch for a while, nearly all of the loose objects top deck were either tied down or brought down below. But as they were nearing completion disaster struck. A sudden flash of bright light blinded the few unfortunate souls that were looking at the main mast for a few moments. As their vision returned to them it became clear what happened, Lightning has struck the main mast of the ship, breaking it in half.
Thankfully the ship didn't start ablaze due to the rain but that's where the good news ends. The top part of that mast came crashing down onto the deck of the ship catching an unfortunate pony underneath. Even worse as it was coming down a few ropes that were attached to the mast wrapped around a couple of ponies pulling them overboard.
Shield and Temper wasted no time in jumping into action. Shield dashed over to pony who was trapped under the mast and Temper swiftly ran to the edge of the ship trying to spot the ponies who were dragged overboard and dropped into the raging waters. She strained her eyes trying her best to spot overboard sailors. But she couldn't see them in the waves.
"Come on, Come on, Come on! Where are you!" Temper shouted in frustration. The rolling waves making hard to spot anypony in the water.
But she wouldn't give up, she strained her eyes harder trying her best to spot the sailors. A sudden flash of lightning lit up the world around her, giving her enough light to finally see the unfortunate sailors. They were trying their best to stay above the water but it was obvious they were getting tired, they didn't have long.
Temper reached out and grabbed one of the ponies with her telekinesis trying to lift them onto the deck. But the thrashing of the sailor made it hard to get a good grip on him. "Come on stay still you bucking idiot!" Temper shouted at them. But they didn't listen. knowing that she wouldn't be able to lift them out of the water Temper looked around her for something that she could use. there! She spotted a pair of floaties that were tied down.
Reaching out with her telekinesis temper undid the knot tying them down and quickly threw them to the ponies in the water a rope keeping them tied to the ship. "Grab onto these!" Temper fruitlessly yelled to the overboard sailors. They didn't hear her but seeing the floaties in front of them they wasted to time in grabbing onto the floaties, ceasing their frantic paddling.
Temper pulled them through the waters over to the side of the ship. "Somepony help me bring them up!" Temper shouted to the sailors around her. Quickly a bunch of ponies who were watching from the sidelines jumped forward and grabbed the ropes. Together Temper and the sailors managed to pull them onto the deck coughing and sputtering.
While this was all going on Shield and a few other bulky earth pony sailors managed to lift the large mast off the unconscious pony while another sailor pulled the downed pony out of the way. After the pony was safely rescued they cut the ropes that were connecting the main mast to the other masts and dropped it into the ocean. It was useless to them now and they couldn't keep it on the deck.
With the two overboard ponies back on deck and the one pony saved from being crushed a group of sailors, including Temper and Shield, moved them below deck having to carry the nearly crushed pony. The rest of the sailors stayed above deck to try and navigate them safely out of the storm.
They brought the wounded down to Tempers and Shields regiment sleeping quarters. hastily moving a bunch of boxes together to make a temporary table, they then threw a blanket over it to make it slightly more comfortable. Then Shield, who was carrying the hurt pony, gently laid her down onto the table backing off letting more experienced ponies tend to her.
The other two ponies were lifted up into hammocks and given thick blankets to help stop their shivering. Temper and Shield walked back to their respective hammocks after that. Watching the commotion from afar not wanting to get in the way. Shield knew nothing of medicine and Temper didn't know any healing magic, she only knew how to light something ablaze.
"This just cements my hatred of boats and the ocean." Temper spoke to Shield after a few moments of sitting in silence.
"This is technically a ship, there is a difference. And it isn't so bad when it's just a few ponies on a nice clear day. But with a ship as packed as this and with the weather being kinda crap it's not the most pleasant experience."
"Hmm. Well, I'm just gonna relax in my hammock for the rest of the day, going outside was a mistake." Temper said laying down in her swaying hammock.
"I like that idea." Shield said giving a soft laugh before he to lay down in his Hammock, getting slowly rocked to sleep by the waves.
Author's Note
First time writing in a while. I can't say that I'm 100% happy with how this turned out so I'll probably come back at a later date to rewrite this when I have gained more skill as a writer. But for now, this is what I got. Please be harsh in the comments, I won't get better without criticism.
Regards- Chaotic