//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2. Fight the Sea 
// Story: A Ship-of-the-Line 
// by KonceptKarma 
//------------------------------//

	Gallant's mind raced in his sleep. What would his training entail? He pondered the thought for what seemed like an eternity. His dreams were interrupted by the sound of whistling coming from the lower bunk. 
"Oy," whispered Gallant, "stow it, I'm trying to get some sleep up here."
"Sorry," a hushed voice called back, "I can't sleep." Gallant rolled over the side of his bunk to get a look at who the voice belonged to. His lower bunk mate was a dark green unicorn. 
"I've never seen you before," Gallant eyed the unicorn as he spoke, "Name's Gallant Topsail, I'm a cabin boy. Who might you be?"
"I'm Carronade. I'm a gunner." The unicorn placed a hoof on his chest to implicate himself.
Gallant held out a hoof to the unicorn, "Nice to meet ya Carronade, here's hoping we can get along as bunk mates."
Carronade looked at Gallant's hoof for a moment, then extended his own, "Yeah, let's." Gallant then rolled back over onto his bunk, and tried to resume sleeping, but he was soon disturbed again.
"Hey Gallant." Carronade whispered.
"Yeah, what is it?" Gallant whispered back, he no longer minded being kept from sleep, he was wide awake anyway.
"You said you were a cabin boy right?" The unicorn pondered.
Gallant wondered where the sudden curiosity came from, "Aye, that I did."
The unicorn took a minute to formulate his next question, "Then why is it that when you first came in here, you were talking to yourself about some special training or something?"
"Oh, right, I forgot," Gallant's memory suddenly snapped to, "I just got promoted to Captain Mainsail's squire." There was a sudden thud as the unicorn jumped up in surprise and banged his head on Gallant's bunk. He looked at the unicorn with worry, "Hey uh, are you okay?"
Carronade rubbed his forehead vigorously, "Yeah, I'm fine. But do you really mean to tell me that you, a cabin boy, has been made Captain Mainsail's squire?" Gallant nodded in response. 
Before either of them could continue their conversation, the sound of the ship's alarm bell echoed throughout the decks. The officer's could be heard shouting orders to the crewmen. Suddenly, their bunk was flooded in light as the quartermaster entered carrying a large lantern. 
"All of you worthless sea ponies get up," He yelled at the top of his lungs, "we're sailing into a storm, make ready to battle the swells!" The crew sprung into action as the quartermaster continues barking orders. He then turned to Gallant, "You, the captain wants you at the helm, now!"
Gallant hurried past him, "Aye sir!" He left Carronade to his duties. In a storm, the gunners were to tie down the guns so the swells didn't move them about the deck. Being a unicorn helped him in his task, within minutes all one hundred guns were safely tied down. On the main deck, the rest of the crew was doing much of the same, the unicorns and earth ponies tied off cargo to keep it tossing about on the deck. Meanwhile, pegasi flew up the masts and ensure all the sails were secured properly. Gallant trundled up towards the helm, having to brace himself every few steps as the rough swells battered the Resplendent mercilessly. As he approached the helm, he noticed Captain Mainsail had taken control personally, steering the ship into the oncoming swells to reduce the assault on the ship as much as possible. It was obvious that he had some experience in sailing through storms like this. 
"Ah lad, good to see ya made it!" The Captain yelled.
"Aye sir," Gallant called out in response, "but what is it I'm doing here?"
"Watching," Mainsail stated, "pegasi, furl up the sails! Let the sea take us where it will!" At his order, the pegasi crew members furled up and tied off the sails as quickly as they could, letting the swells guide the Resplendent. Gallant watched every move the captain made, and every order the captain gave with great intensity. The captain seemed so sure in every order that he gave, and the crew obeyed without question, that is how much they trusted him. Gallant could only hope that he could have a crew that would place that much trust in him as well one day. His daydreaming came at the worst time, there was a sudden crashing sound as a massive rogue wave collided with the Resplendent's starboard side. It bucked the ship around, nearly tipping her over. Gallant was thrown from his position, and collided with the helm's railing. His vision blackened as he crashed into the railing, leaving him unconscious. 
Light slowly started to enter back into Gallant's vision as his eyes drew open. Some of the crew, including Carronade were standing over him.
"Oh thank Celestia." Carronade let out an exasperated sigh.
Gallant slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position, "How long was I out for?"
"Quite some time," the gruff voice of the captain called out from behind him, "thought for a while there you may be dead." The captain chuckled as he finished his thought. Gallant looked around, the sky was bright and blue, the sea was calm, and they were in moderately shallow waters. The Resplendent was anchored of the coast of a small deserted island, which some of the crew had taken leave to in order to relax their hooves. Gallant's head then dropped in disappointment. 
Mainsail looked at his expression, "What's the matter?"
"I missed it." Gallant huffed, looking at the deck.
Mainsail cocked a brow, "Missed what?"
He raised his head and looked the captain in the eyes, "I missed the ship clearing the storm. I wanted to see that more than anything, but I messed up, and nearly got myself killed in the process."
"Aye, ya did." The captain nodded. The crew who were standing around them looked at Mainsail in surprise. The captain only laughed in response. "Were you expecting pity, well you're not gonna get it from me. I've had far too many men fall prey to exactly what you almost did. Make no mistakes boy, the sea is cruel. If you take your eyes off her for one second, you're a dead man. If you want to captain your own tub someday, you best remember that. Got it?"
A look of determination swept across Gallant's face, "Aye sir, I understand. I won't fail you again."
"Good," Mainsail turned towards the small island, "now let's retire to that little sandlot. We could all use a bit of rest."