Adventures Aboard the R.E.S. Rising Moon

by LunaDeluxe

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Day 9
Late Morning

Twilight stood on the bow of the Rising Moon, staring out over the vast ocean laid out before her. The sunlight shimmered off the waves as they crashed against the white, sandy beaches. On the northern horizon, Twilight could see the towering skyline of Baltimare. Seagulls orbited the ship as it sailed through the air, calling out to each other. Twilight leaned against the port railing and inhaled deeply, and the salty sea air tickled her nose. Twilight snapped her hoof to her muzzle as she sneezed.

"Gesundhoof," Thunderlane said, after leaning two, wooden practice swords on the railing.

"Thank you," Twilight replied, setting her hoof back on the deck and turning around. Twilight levitated a quill, ink jar and a notepad off of the railing. "I've bought plenty of paper and ink to take notes." She settled onto her haunches and dipped her quill in the ink. "So I'm ready! Unless there's a textbook. Do I need one?"

Thunderlane raised an eyebrow and gazed at her for a moment. The corners of his lips twitched up into an amused smile. "No, you won't need a textbook. This is going to be a bit more of a 'hooves on' training experience so..." He pushed one of the swords across to her.

"Oh," Twilight blushed and smiled, setting her note-taking equipment to the side and lifting her sword into the air with her magic.

“Make sure the straps are tight enough so that it doesn’t fall off your hoof but not so much that it cuts off circulation to your leg.”

“Can’t I just hold it with my magic?” she asked.

“You could, but I don’t know how to sword fight using magic. The only thing I can teach you is how to fight with your hooves. Besides, any combat spell you could learn would probably be better than holding a sword in your aura. But this will be useful if you ever find yourself in a situation where magic is not an option.”

“Alright,” Twilight said with a shrug and slid her hoof into the weapon’s sleeve.

"So, what's the first rule of swordplay?" Thunderlane asked.

"Um, this end's for stabbing, this end's for grabbing?" she said hesitantly, pointing to the blade and then the hilt. Thunderlane threw his head back and laughed loudly. Several seagulls that had been perched on a nearby railing squawked in protest and took to the air. Twilight blushed and chuckled nervously.

"No, but great guess," he said, bringing himself under control, "The first rule of sword fighting is that there are no rules. When somepony is trying to kill you, don’t let them. It’s not like naval warfare, where most would adhere to polite traditions. Before I teach you how to swordfight, I need you to know that I’m teaching you how to kill, and you shouldn’t commit to this unless you’re ready to do it when the time comes.

"I- I understand," Twilight said with a nod after a moment’s hesitation.

"Good. Now, put on your sword." While Thunderlane turned to get his own sword, Twilight took the opportunity to scribble down the rule into her notepad, splattering ink across the small paper with her frantically written note. When she finished, she toyed with the buckles on her sword for a moment before it rested comfortably on her hoof. It was bit heavy, but manageable. Twilight hoped that the extra strength being an alicorn gave her would come in handy. She looked back at Thunderlane, his own blade was already securely attached to his right forehoof, twirling the tip of his sword in small circles as he waited.

"Alright, for now I need to see where you are at with this, so we’ll spar for a few minutes."

Twilight gulped. Thunderlane chuckled and said, "Don't worry, I'll hold back. Just defend yourself to the best of your ability. Are you ready?"

Twilight lifted her sword and shook it experimentally a few times. "Yes."

He shifted into a readied stance, turning his right side to her slightly and holding his sword out in front of him; Twilight did her best to mimic his pose.

“Three, two, one, go!” He lifted his sword above his head and struck downward. Twilight hopped backwards and brought her sword up to deflect the blow.

~~~~~

"Quit backing up! Lean into the strike!" Lightning Dust yelled out as Twilight retreated across the deck.

"Use the terrain! Back him against the bowsprit!" Rainbow Dash added.

"Yes thank you, I'll get right on that!" Twilight called back, annoyed, as she lost for the fifth time in two minutes. Rainbow and Lightning laughed in unison as Thunderlane drew her off to the side to give her tips.

"She's actually doing pretty good for her first time," Rainbow said.

"What are you talking about? When we had combat training we were way better than this, and it was our first time too."

"I guess so. Let's just cut her some slack; she's trying pretty hard."

"Whatever. I'm just glad I got this watch; none of the others have been this entertaining," Lightning said. Rainbow sat back against the rail and yawned. Lightning gave her a sideways glance and asked, "You sleep okay last night?"

"Not really." Rainbow looked away for a moment and frowned then turned back and said, "Hey can I ask you something?"

Lightning Dust leaned back next to her on the railing and rested her musket next to her. "Sure, shoot."

"When the griffons attacked and you were fighting on the deck, were you afraid?"

"Ha, no of course not." Rainbow frowned as Lightning continued, "why would I be? I can handle myself; fear is for ponies who can't."

Rainbow dropped her gaze to the floor and put her hoof to the bandage on her neck.

"What brought that up?" she asked giving Rainbow an inquisitive look.

"Uh, I don't know. Just curious I guess." Rainbow shrugged. She looked back up as Twilight and Thunderlane began sparring again. She showed marked improvement; namely, she hadn't lost yet.

"Hey, I guess you were right. She's not doing that badl- oh, nevermind." Lightning stepped forward and back onto all four hooves as Thunderlane got the better of Twilight, again.

Rainbow yawned again, her eyelids drooping. "I'm gonna head below and try to get some sleep."

~~~~

~

A few minutes, and several lost duels later, Twilight put up a hoof, begging for a respite. Thunderlane lowered his sword and smiled. "Well done. Most ponies don't do that well their first try."

Twilight doubled over, panting and sweating profusely. "What are you talking about? You demolished me every time!"

"True, but it wasn’t easy. You were able to close off most openings in your defenses before I could exploit them, so you lasted quite a while. It does still need to be honed but you should be able to pick up the techniques quickly. Where you are lacking is in offence. Each time you struck back, you left clear openings, swung too widely, and drew back too far, amongst other things. Let's take a break, and after that I will show you some basic combinations that will allow you to go from defense to offence and back fluidly."

"Thank you!" Twilight hobbled over to the railing on the starboard side of the bowsprit and collapsed against it, laying her head down on top. Thunderlane laughed and trotted over next to her. He unbuckled his sword as he sat down, and laid it next to him. He took a deep breath and sighed, smiling.

"I'm glad we're finally back at the ocean. I love flying like this."

Twilight lifted her head and turned to look at him. "Can’t you go flying anytime you want?" she asked glancing at his wings.

"Yeah I know, but it's different. There's something special about being on an airship." Thunderlane shrugged. Twilight gazed back over the ocean. They sat in silence for a minute, enjoying the view. "Isn't this your first time being to the ocean?" he asked.

"Yes it is," Twilight replied after a moment, somewhat distracted by the view.

"And what do you think?" Thunderlane asked, shifting his body to face her.

"It's beautiful. I’ve read about it before, but the way it's described in books doesn't quite capture it."

"I'm glad you're enjoying it. I've been at this for a quite a while and the view still gets me every time."

"And just how long have you been doing this?" Twilight asked, turning to look at him, too tired now to be nervous when talking with him.

"It'll be ten years by the time we reach the Commonwealth."

"That's a long time. How much of that time was spent on the Rising Moon?"

"Six years, not including leave time, which I spend with my family in Ponyville. I spent four on the Dark Star, a mare-of-war from the fifth fleet, as part of its weather team. I was transferred here at Captain Cloud's request."

"Why'd he request your transfer?" Twilight asked, resting her chin on her hoof. Thunderlane continued, to Twilight's pleasure.

"We were both present during a skirmish over one of the colonies, Flankfurt I think, and I impressed him, so he put in for my transfer after the battle, and he promoted me to midshippony shortly after."

"Wow, what'd you do that impressed him so much?" she asked. Thunderlane smirked at her.

"I'll tell you later; you wanted to learn to fight with a sword, and you’re gonna do just that. We've rested long enough, so let's get back to it." Thunderlane picked his sword back up and slid it onto his hoof. Twilight groaned and stood back up.

"Alright." she said with a sigh.

~~~~~

“Ahoy! Sail astern!”

Twilight and Thunderlane stopped their duel and looked to the stern, where the shout had originated. They saw Captain Cloud rush from his place on the quarterdeck up to taffrail on the bridge.

“Let’s go see what’s going on,” Thunderlane said, motioning for Twilight to follow him as he started towards the bridge.

“What’s happening, Captain?” he asked as they trotted up to the small group that had gathered at the taffrail.

“See for yourself,” he replied, handing Thunderlane a spyglass and pointing at a spot on the horizon.

Thunderlane lifted it to his eye and scanned the sky for what everypony was looking at. Twilight leaned around him and tried to see for herself. After a moment she spotted it, a barely visible silhouette of a ship’s hull and sails.

“Oh ponyfeathers.” Thunderlane said under his breath.

The captain stepped back from the rail. “Stow that language lieutenant. It simply will not do in front of the crew, much less the princess,” he said with a nod at Twilight.

“Of course, sorry, Captain. Do you think it’s the same ship that ambushed us?”

“I’m sure of it, and we are going to have to push much harder if we want to keep away from them.”

“We’d have to bend every sail to do that. With the damage it took in the battle, the foremast won’t hold under that kind of stress.” Thunderlane pointed out.

“We’ll only fly the jibs and staysails, that should give us some of the extra wind we need without destroying the mast, but it won’t be enough.” Cloud replied.

“Wait, are you saying that they are going to catch us?” Twilight asked.

“Undoubtedly, but we may be able to outrun them long enough to reach Trotuga,” Cloud replied. “While they don’t abide by Equestrian law, they won’t take kindly to a mare-of-war attacking ships in their port. We’ll be safe there. Regrettably, I must cut your lesson short, I need my lieutenant for the moment.”

“I understand, do what you need to do.”

“Lieutenant, go see what the carpenters can do about reinforcing the foremast, then come find me,” the Captain said.

“Yes, sir,” Thunderlane replied, then turned to Twilight. “We can pick your training back up tomorrow. You may actually need it soon.”

Comments

[Nebula1701]

Not bad, not bad. :)

I wonder what a sword tag team of twi and luna would be like.

[Seether00]

Rainbow is still trying to deal with almost getting killed. Way to be sensitive, Lightning.

[LunaDeluxe]

2831869 I can understand that. I don't usually enjoy ships between the mane cast, they always seem so radically out of character for them, unless done well. I'm glad you're sticking around though, I only get a few comments and yours are very much appreciated.

2832080 As for the sword tag team, it would probably go something like this:

'The griffons advanced quickly, confident of victory against their two opponents. Overconfident, it seems. Luna hefted her longsword into the air and brought it down in a wide sweeping arc over her head, smashing through the first griffons defense as though it were butter, and cleaved into his shoulder. He fell to the ground with an agonized scream that faded as he died. The remaining six griffons, more wary now, shifted into a ring around the two alicorns.

"Watch my back," Luna called out to Twilight. Twilight gulped.

"Um I've only had one lesson..." She said, her voice quivering in fear.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Luna said with a grim smile.

A griffon carrying a saber in each talon charged towards Twilight, letting out a fierce battle cry. Twilight yelped and brought her sword to bear, frantically intercepting his first strike, she quickly ducked to avoid the second. Luna spun on her heels, her sword extended, catching the griffon just under the chin. She did a full 360 and landed back where she began, ready to face the next attacker. The other griffons charged in, enraged at the loss of their companions. Twilight, in a frenzy, threw her sword out wildly to deflect each incoming blow as it was struck.

The two griffons facing her found it difficult to break her defense. The three facing Luna found it hard to do anything, as they were already dead. Luna tuned to see how Twilight was faring in her own fight. Well, enough to be alive it seemed. She trotted, casually, around behind the griffons and grabbed one's tail with her teeth, yanking him back, away from Twilight. He didn't last long after that.

"C'mon Twilight, I got the rest of them." She said, sounding as though she were in a terrible hurry to get somewhere. The last griffon halted his attack for a moment and glanced around him, Twilight did the same. Then they said in unison. "You killed all of them?!"

The griffon backed away from the two mares, slowly at first, then turned and broke into a gallop. He spread his wings and took off into the air.

"We probably won't be seeing him again." Luna said with a grin.

"That was insane." Twilight gasped, panting loudly.

Luna just laughed.

The End.'

[Nebula1701]

2832422 haha I can understand that. If you want to read at least some TwiDash I recommend you check out stories by a good friend of mine, Bats. Especially his stories "Coming Back" and Spellbound Fireflies." I say those are my fave fics of his atm. They are up there along side my fav TwiDash of all time "A Bluebird's Song."

Also LOL on that sword fight... XD though I doubt they would be in that type of battle so soon after the first lesson. Still a great laugh! :D

[LunaDeluxe]

Oh, I just realized that after I deleted the 'Chapter 4 Addition' it deleted the comments too. So here's the chart that I posted showing the different ranks and positions of the ponies on the ship, just in case anyone is confused.

Here it is.

[LunaDeluxe]

2832621 Thanks, I'll check those out sometime.

[Nebula1701]

2833665

[n080dy123]

Hooray, new chapter!

Woulda enjoyed more if the Tablet I'm using wasn't crashing every couple minutes.

My prediction: Twilight's gonna become a total boss at fighting with a sword.

And I'm happy you aren't forcing the Thunderlane-Twilight thing down our throats like some other writers do.

Also, liking how you put some focus on the honorable traditions of combat.

[n080dy123]

2834898

How insightful of you. It's those sorts of honorable and respectful principals that I try to live by. It's a shame said principals have been lost over the ages.