Ice Fangs, Hot Blood! (Private)

He slowly realized how important the dress really was for her. He also felt somewhat relieved in that she was trusting him more with personal information. "I'm glad your stuff is fine too, but... Why didn't you want me to find out now? Were you gonna tell me about it later?" He briefly thought that perhaps she meant showing it to him in their wedding, but only kept that thought at the back of his mind as something highly unlikely.

She nodded silently. "I was planning on telling you much later." She said quietly, now eating the soup. After all, isn't it bad luck for the groom to see the dress before the marriage? she shook her head slightly and perked up. "So Sugary, what's on for today?"

Sugary got the feeling that there was more to it, but decided not to press the issue for now and go on with the events of the day as he went back to eating his meal slowly. "Well, I know my replacements have arrived, so there's little reason for me to stick around for too long. As a matter of fact, unless you got unfinished business, we can take off today. Soon even, if you think you're ready. Whaddaya say?"

She finished her soup and smiled, nodding excitedly. "I'm ready to leave whenever you want Sugary. I can't wait to get moving~" She purred, placing her dish in the sink before standing next to him, ready to take his bowl.

Sugary smiled, and eventually finished eating. He'd gratefully give the bowl to Isabelle and urge her to hurry with the cleaning. "Alrighty! Meet me at the bridge when you're done! I'll go warm up the engines!" He left the kitchen with a spring in his step, more than eager to get going.

Depending on what Isabelle was doing, she'd hear noises getting started up from the floor below, especially near the back of the airship. Eventually, however, there would also be a surge and flow of energy through the walls of the Black Mambo, signaling that it was getting ready for proper departure and flight in full working order once the main engine was up and running.

He'd then come back up, a glint in his eyes, to meet up with her on the bridge so long as she followed through with his request. Nonetheless, he'd speak aloud on his way to the bridge to her in case she was elsewhere at the time inside the ship. "Hope you're not afraid of heights. You ready for take off? It's a pretty long distance..."

Isabelle giggled as he virtually skipped off, before spinning on a hoof and trotting over to the sink. Dropping the bowl in it, she began to wash the dishes slowly, listening to the ship as it began to hum with power. Leaving the bowls to soak, she trotted up to the bridge, and sat down in the captain's seat. She giggled at his question, smiling at him. "Afraid of heights? Not that I'm aware of~" She saluted and nodded. "I'm ready whenever you are Captain~"

Sugary gave Isabelle an amused look, and then just stared at her for a bit while she sat in the Captain's chair. "... Do you intend to stare at my flank while I fly? You do see the controls are right there... Or did you want to learn how to fly?" After asking the question, he carefully moved in front of her, making sure not to deliberately put his flank right on her face as he tinkered with the levers and such, though it was still closer to her than usual.

Little by little, the propellers outside the airship began to spin while pointed upwards while a misty field of magic briefly surrounded the ship visibly before becoming transparent, signaling the hovering effects being spread about as they slowly rose higher and higher, until the Everfree Forest and the border village were seen from high above at a distance. Once he made some minor adjustments, Sugary began to make the propellers turn to accelerate, and with the hovering in place, they speed off quickly and without issues at last...

Isabelle blushed for the briefest of seconds, before giggling like a little filly. "Stare at your flank? O- of course not..." She stared at his flank for a moment, before turning her eyes to the controls. "Actually, I wouldn't mind learning how to fly this thing."

As the ship lifted off, clutched the chair lightly. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, and opened them. A grin lit up her lips as she watched the ship began to fly.

Sugary chuckled at Isabelle with how she spoke, but he was glad to hear of her interest, and would make the effort to make the most of it while he could. "Well, there's not a whole lot to do now but to make some adjustments and make sure we're headed the right way. Really, the hard part of this ship is maintenance and knowing where you're going. The controls just feel normal after a while... So do you want to pilot it a bit, or are you just gonna watch?" Either way, he was ready to explain some minor details. He was also still well covered by the clothes he wore, so further staring at the flank just meant looking at blue fabric, muscle tone, and long white tail, and little else.

"Can I pilot it?" She squeaked, staring at his cloth-covered flank for a second before her eyes drifted to the controls. "I really don't want to sit here for a few hours."

She stood up and drifted to his side, nuzzling him as she watched the clouds float by. "So it's really not difficult?"

"Well, we're still gonna be flying for a long while. So anything t-...!?" Sugary paused the moment he got nuzzled by Isabelle. "What was that for...?" While it wasn't unpleasant, he wasn't sure what to make of the nuzzling. "Er... No, it's not that difficult. Though that depends on what you pay attention to... Let's try making minor adjustments, and then I'll explain what does what later in more detail. Just follow my lead closely, don't panic if you think you did something wrong, and grab here and right there..."

He'd be ready to point and possibly even briefly hold her hooves with his own to make sure she held the proper controls at the right places. Since they were still in the middle of actual flight, he remained very close the entire time as he named the parts he pointed out and might manage to make her grab onto to set the ship on a proper course as he brought the map over to them by levitation while looking at the compass, occasionally muttering some coordinates as he made some small marks with a pencil on it. Overall, his voice was meant to be passive, clearly attentive even to the minor details given what she'd be doing in his place, though stern enough to show he was serious about what he was sharing with her. He certainly did not look forward to crashing after all.

She nodded eagerly, grinning happily as her eyes began to glow red. "Alright, I'm ready whenever you are," she said confidently. She let him take her hooves and guide them to the controls gently. She began to fly the ship slowly, letting him take control whenever was needed, but otherwise doing a good job of flying the ship competently. She kissed him gently as time passed, giggling at whatever his reaction may be.

Sugary mainly focused on brief but useful lessons on what was what and what did what, but otherwise remained attentive to Isabelle's pilotong efforts whom he felt were good for a beginner. He was about to ask if she wanted to take a break, but was cut off the moment he got kissed. The reaction was a very light blush, a silent stare, and a mildly puzzled look. "... Do you like me, or are you just that affectionate? I know it's a long trip, but kissing along the way might distract from the flying, you know." The more he spoke, the less serious he sounded. The kiss wasn't unpleasant in the least, but he was still right about keeping focus. He was just trying to figure out what Isabelle's focus really was this time.

"I'm always this affectionate," she lied, smiling at him at he continued. "Do you mind if I take a break? I think I need to lie down." She murmured, curious to see his reaction as she lifted her hooves from the controls, though she was ready to take them back if needed.

He didn't really think too hard on her lie since he did not know her too well either way. And even if he did pick up on the lie fully, he could not think of a good reason for her to lie to him. He did show some slight genuine concern when she requested rest. "Oh? You're not getting motion sickness, are you? If it feels that bad, we can stop while I get you to bed." He offered her his hoof briefly afterwards while the other was ready to make the controls slow and/or stop the airship if necssary.

She smiled internally at his rather gentlecoltly reaction, shaking her head gently. "I dont think I can get motion sickness... Truth be told, Dad never really explained how much of my body beyond muscles actually functions. Regardless, it's not that, rather, I am feeling still quite tired after the past couple of days and how stressful they were."

She smiled as she waited for his response, wincing as she felt her eye starting to grow back.

He thought for a moment on what he was told about another hint of her past, wondering how far the story went. He still didn't feel up to proding about it further; That was up to her. He also noticed the wince she made, and thought to address that first. "... You look like something hurts. You sure you just wanna lie down and nothing else? And you can just go staight to bed if you want, I'll keep piloting to where we need to go... Unless you want me to escort you to your room?" He had expected her to act more defensively by directly calling her out on the kiss, but it seemed she was fickle about that still.

"Just my eye... I can handle it though... If I just lie down for a bit." She yawned and smiled at him again. "I can find my way back thanks. You just focus on piloting the ship." She would then smile and wave, before trotting back to her room and collapsing on her bed.

((CC Island!))

After Sugary had bid his farewell to Isabelle, whom he trusted to take care of herself, he kept the airship steady for the most part at full throttle. Minutes became hours, and even he had to make at least one stop for a break and to make sure they were still headed in the right direction. The day would go on and on until a series of coral reefs surrounding much of a large island would eventually become visible out in the distance. The sun was still out, but would be setting not too much longer from now, there were several other ships docked and anchored around as well that were either for touring or fishing, and as they got closer still, some of the tropical vegetation could be seen in abundance as well as a few settlements spread about that varied from a small resort, a docking center, camping sites, and native settlements.

Before getting too close, he chose to land in the waters for a change an slowed down while lowering the altitude, making sure to turn on the motors for the water and turn off and retract the propelers for air travel. The result was a gentle and subtle rocking in the Black Mambo to go along with the sound of the waves outside as they stopped some distance away from the docking area, mostly to have a look from where they were but also to have time to check on Isabelle without interruptions just yet.

Sugary released an anchor to make sure the ship wold not drift too much, and made his way over to Isabelle while callng over to her softly or normal depending on what state she was in and where. "Isabelle...? We finally made it... You feeling any better?"

Isabelle snorted and rolled over as time passed, her mouth twisting into a smile as dreamt. She hadn't picked the isle at random. Rather, she had heard of a pony on the island that happened to possess a particular magical item that could assist in freeing her father from the chains of his mind. Eventually she would wake up, rubbing her good eye gently as she left her room, blinking as the ship settled in the water. She trotted up onto the deck and her eye began to scan the coast-line, an umbrella having appeared in her hoof and was now resting gently against her neck. However, as she gazed, the thoughts of hunting down the pony faded, replaced by a desire to simply relax.

She glanced her shoulder at Sugary and grinned toothily, trotting over to him slowly. "Hey there~ Though my eye is still growing back, I am feeling better thank you~" She giggled and gestured to the island. "Doesn't it look great?"

Sugary didn't think to find Isabelle outside already, but she seemed to be alright and that eased his mood given how she left due to exhaustion. While he did move directly towards her as well, he also noticeably took in a deep breath of the tropical sea air, and relaxed further still as he too gazed once again at the surrounding view with a vivid smile. "Yeah... I like this place already. Of course, we really should pick a better spot to settle on, unless you can go from here to the island and back with no issue... Aside from teleporting, mind you." He stared at her as he pondered the full extent of her magical skill before continuing. "That said, do you think you feel well enough to move about on the island itself yet? We got here, sure, but we still need to learn more about this place, an-..." Before he could go any further, he got distracted by the increasingly noisier muffled sound of what sounded like clapping of some sort coming from the right side of the airship.

Those who were closest to their location on their own boats began to gaze around the same spot the noise seemed to be coming from. Sugary, of course, was just as curious and looked to the side towards the water. Eventually, he, and Isabelle if she was paying attention, would be met with the sight of what looked to be a full grown and badly pinched male horse in torn looking diving gear frantically surface and swim towards a small boat with another horse waiting for his partner to return, fear creeping into the faces of both as one saw the state of the other while the swimmer hurried to get away from the area with the most noise in the water while shouting at the one in the boat. "THEY'RE GONNA EAT ME!!" Shortly afterwards, clams of varyng colors that had somehow risen to the surface by the dozen clapped, snapped, and even hopped on the water as they gave chase to the stallions from earlier. Such was the fear they held that they didn't even bother to wait for the engine to turn on after several failed attempts and instead settled for one frantic rower while the other did his best to smack away at the unordinary clams with the spare oar, but it was in vain as they were numerous and still kept pinching at the duo as if they were part pirahna even after they barely made it to shore and ran towards the resort area with a few of the clams still giving chase as they hopped wildly on the sand before eventually returning back.

Notably, despite there having been others along the way, the clams only went after those whe had apparently incurred their wrath. None but the two stallions were harmed for one reason or another. Even so, those in the boats seemed to give off varying reactions from remaining stunned, to running back into the inside of their ships and leave the area, to making preparations for fishing as if seeking a challenge. Sugary would fall under the category of those wondering what had just happened as he looked at the entire event incredulously. ".................... That might explain the name of the island..." Right there and then, as if to further make him question what was happening, a middle-aged blue coated and green maned mare with a heavily tattoed face of unfamiliar symbols was staring right up at him as she calmly swam from more or less the same area the clams and stallion rose from with no sort of diving equipment. How long she was there, what she was doing there, and why she was staring at Sugary passively but purposely were the extra questions in his mind.

"...?"

"..."

"...???"

"..."

It didn't seem like either him or the mystery mare would even try to speak up first as they kept looking right at each other...

Isabelle nodded gently and grinned as she stared at the island. "We should probably dock somewhere... I don't think I can teleport that far..." She trailed off as he continued talking, before trotting to the bow of the ship and staring at the island longingly. "Well... I think I should be able to handle it. The sun is rather pleasant here, even if it would burn me alive... And there doesn't seem to be too much fire."

Her ear twitched as she listened to the sound of apparently very angry clams, and the screams of the two stallions. She did not react immediately, her eyes still staring quietly at the island, before she turned around and gestured, hoping to teleport one of the clams to her hoof. She would examine the clam carefully before tossing it back into the ocean.

"... Who the hell is that?" She asked, staring now at the mare.

The clam Isabelle caught would briefly 'stare' back at her with the shell left open as if stunned by the sudden movement brought upon it. It was of a red color, and perhaps more notably was the pearl it had tightly lodged within it before it closed itself. The coloring was rather unique in that it reflected the clam itself as it had a beautiful scarlet shine; It could easily be mistaken for a perfectly round ruby. As it was tossed back, it seemed to become aggressive again almost immediately as it was no longer confused as to where it was. Had Isabelle tried to remove the pearl, she would surely have felt the brunt of the aggression right there and then. As it were, unlike with the stallions earlier, no more clams would resurface and try to come after her despite the frantic departure of the one that was willingly tossed back.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged tattoed mare in the water would continue to give the silent treatment, but turned her attention to Isabelle. Her passive expression slowly went to a puzzled one with a cocked eyebrow and a light scowl to go along with her piercing sunset orange eyes. It was not a look of jealousy however, as the mare was seemingly looking through her... She knew for a fact that Isabelle was not normal by any means. Turning her attention to Sugary once again, her expression went passive once more. There was a big difference this time as she briefly smiled with a broad grin, showing what looked to be a mouth full of teeth that seemed sharper than average for an equine, before suddenly doing a backflip and kicked herself back down underwater with unusual swiftness and agility. Her shadow underwater also seemed to move as if the mare were part fish, and yet she had shown regular looking hooves.

Sugary had to struggle to actually speak up again to Isabelle. "... I... I have no idea... But I could've sworn I saw shark teeth..." He eventually leaned away from the side of the ship as he still tried to make sense of what he thought he saw. "... A maremaid...?" He shook his head a bit and focused solely on Isabelle for now. "... Anyway... We probably should just move closer to the island. What would you prefer? Near the resort? Near other ships? Or a more private sector?"

Isabelle giggled at the clam's reaction, tempted to kiss the cute little creature. She held back however, watching it splash in the water before diving under. Watching it swim under the water for a moment, she sighed contently before turning her attention to the mare, who's piercing gaze seemed to cut through her. She gagged, and glared at the mare, eyes dancing over her body as she tried to figure out what she was.

As the mare swam off, her mouth of shark-like teeth not having escaped Isabelle's attention, Isabelle turned back around, growling softly as she trotted over to Sugary. "You did... I saw them too. And I think she knows I'm not entirely what I appear to be." She considered the options, and grinned. "To the resort~"

Sugary merely blinked with a level stare at Isabelle. "... The resort...? I hope you don't expect me to pay for all of it for long..." With the thoughts of the clams and the mystery mare being saved for another time, he made preparations to move the Black Mambo over to the resort dock area, leaving Isabelle with the choice to either follow him to the bridge, or stay at the deck at her leisure.

The resort itself wasn't very large in particular when they eventually got to where they needed to settle on, but it did seem to be a bit heavy on the luxurious side as even the dock itself looked to be in pristine condition, the staff wore high quality uniforms, the facilities spoke of nothing short of exhuberance and exclusivity, and the general ambience spoke of heavy purses. Just being on the dock alone made the old workhorse of a ship that was the Black Mambo stick out like a sore thumb from among the yatchs, cruisers, and private ferries. That fact was made even more apparent as an orange unicorn mare with a well styled short cyan mane in a modern white sailor's suit look-alike uniform looked at Sugary's ship as though it was a stain in her dinner plate while holding a clipboard. Of course, once she did eventually see into the bridge to who was piloting it, her Poker Face was a truly professional one as she waved at him, and Isabelle if she were within view, as a greeting. Once either one of them came out to see her, she'd do the formal welcoming in a posh but genuinely warm tone. "Welcome to Resort Du Almeja! Do you have reservations? Or are you regular guests? I must inform you that you cannot leave your ship docked here if you aren't going to stay at least one day's worth, paid in advance of course, due to company policy... Unless you have a severe emergency, in which case I'll gladly escort you to the proper staff to bring any issues to light and deal with accordingly." She ended her speech with a pen hovering right on the paper as if waiting for any sort of rsponse.