Beneath the Surface (Adventure, slight Gore)

Canterlot.

The light of the early morning sun casts long shadows across the capital city. This is a Canterlot that is not yet quite awake, nor quite asleep. Ponies have only just begun to step out onto the streets, with the slowness and swaying gait of the recently awoken. In the distance, a cock crows; rather late for the dawn of the day, but then again, not for the dawn of Canterlot's day.

One area, however, was excluded from the general feeling of lethargy. The airship docks hum with energy; although all but one of the ships have been powered down, the sole exception from the norm is very conspicuous by its presence. Vibrant waves of sound sweep outwards from the airship, keeping the silence at bay while bringing a calm of its own.

But the calm is not infectious. A lone figure, a brown unicorn with a yellow mane, paces the length of the docks with a distracted, worried air. He is decked out in an impressive set of polished gold armour, from the gleaming chestplate with an inlaid emerald to a large helmet plumed with bright orange feathers, marred only by a small scorch mark just above the eyeslits. He shakes his head, deep in thought, as his horn flashes and a small note flies out of the saddlebags by his side.

"Eight in the morning." He mutters to himself, reading the note. "Was it too early? Perhaps I shouldn't have asked them to come so early. If they were occupied..." He shakes his head again. "No, they would have informed me. I'm sure of it."

He stops mid-stride and looks up at a clock hanging on a nearby wall. Its minute hand hovers threateningly close to the 12, and its hour hand to the 8. He then casts his gaze to the towering entrance to the docks, watching it closely, as if expecting somepony to step in at that very moment.

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Hegamonia

A mare, dressed in shining steel armour, yawned, a cup of coffee hanging in the air next to her, held in a bright red aura. He face was exposed, her helmet tied to her side, her vibrant purple and pink streaked mane ruffling in the wind. However, her clear beauty was broken by two large scars running down her face, slicing straight through her eyes. A large broadsword lay across her back, and she sipped the coffee thoughtfully as she strode through the gate.

Next to her walked another mare, this time with a ruby red coat and light pink mane. Her horn was glowing softly, suspending two coffees, one for herself, an one for the armoured pony. She sipped it happily, her body wrapped in a tight bailiff's uniform, with an equally short skirt. She smiled at her friends and coughed. "Aren't we a bit early Divine?"

Divine smiled and shook her head. "Not at all Ruby. Better to arrive early, than not at all. Is he here?" Her ears twitched, as if scanning for ponies.

Ruby watched them, fascinated, before responding. "Yeah, he is. And he looks nervous."

With a sudden snap, the stallion's eyes focus on the newcomers. Abandoning his measured stride, he hurries to their side.

"Ah, Divine. Good morning. You're here." He speaks with evident relief, sneaking a glance up at the clock on the wall. "And... early. Slightly." He then turns to Ruby and gives a short bow of greeting. "Good morning to you too."

Looking at Divine, he indicates Ruby. "Is she coming along, as well?"

"She is. She is a far more effective set of eyes than mine." Divine shrugged. "And I'm assured she is an excellent fighter."

"And I'm cute~" Ruby chirped up, hugging Divine.

"Yes I've been assured of that too." She chuckled and hugged back gently. "How will we be travelling?"

"By..." The stallion swivels on his hind hooves, turning his gaze up towards the massive airship behind him. "... air."

The airship is huge. Painted in traditional wood-brown, the hull resembles a mighty seaborne frigate, with cannons bristling from the sides like hairs from a brush. Three great masts, large cyan sails hanging from them, tower high over the three ponies. An elongated balloon, much like the gas bags of standard pleasure yacht airships, stretches across all three masts. A trio of propellers at the rear of the ship spin slowly, waiting to be properly powered up. A figure at the bow of the ship, a long, slender viper with a mouth of crystal, completes the look.

The stallion smiles. "You might remember Sky Cog, Divine, from the bar. This is her ship."

"I hate airships. They're so loud and I can't 'see' anything on them. Ruby," she turned to her and Ruby raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"I'll be relying on you heavily. You have to look after me, okay?"

Ruby blinked and nodded. "Of course Divine. I'll make sure you're safe on board."

A blue Unicorn with a vibrant red and yellow mane enters the dock with a confident stride. A brown cloak covered most of his body and reached to about half an inch off the ground, hiding everything in its dark confines from view. A few lumps did stick out of the cloak at odd angles to his body though. One large one at his side betrayed the presence of his namesake weapon, the meteor hammer. Another poked out above and behind his shoulder, if one were to trace a line along the lump and through the ponies body they would likely see the very tip of a scabbard hiding a sword.

The pony was calm as he approached the dock and the three ponies there. "Sorry if I'm late Ician, I had to forge something and it took longer than I thought." He said his horn lighting up and a similar red glow appearing under his cloak. What looked like silk flowed out from under the garment and presented itself to Ician. Once it stopped moving it revealed itself as a mail shirt. However, whereas most mail consisted of rings riveted to some other material the rings in this mail were linked into nothing but each other. "Strong and reasonably light." He said proudly. "This is some of my best work."

"I'm sorry if this causes you any undue distress, Divine, but I'm afraid that it's the most efficient means of transport we have right now." Ician turns to the unicorn. "You're not late, Storm. Not yet." He lifts a hoof and pushes the mail shirt up from below. "Strong and light, as you say. This is fine armour." He indicates the large lump sticking out from his cloak. "Is that your weapon, perhaps?"

"How many more do we have to wait for?" Divine cocked her head as she sipped her coffee. "Mmmm... So good..."

"Two, by my estimation." Ician gazes at the door. "One, in particular, who should be... more familiar with the situation than I am."

Storm returns the mail to his bag and flips his cloak to the side affording all a view of his equipment. The large lump at his side became a large flanged ball on a long, coiled rope. The lump on the other side was a sword about 3 and a half feet long and two inches thick. Storms body was covered by mail armour similar to that he had shown Ician. "Yeah." He pointed to the large ball then the sword. "My meteor hammer and my hand and a half sword." He re-situated his cloak, once more hiding his body. "Who are we waiting for?"

"I see." Ician sighs, then continues watching the door. "A pony named Plasma Stream... and Griff."

After a minute, a mare in her Airship captain jumped off the airship onto the dock with a few papers floating by her. She notices the current group of ponies and slightly yawns. "Good morning, everyone.. " she says and slightly saluted Ician. "Nice to see you're.. all? here already, but you'll have to wait a bit longer... Have to fill out all these safety customs papers and blah blah blah..." she says as she walks towards the dock manager.

While Sky Cog was busy with the dock manager and papers, an eagle flew by and landed next to Ician. "Good morning everyone." The eagle spoke.

"It's okay." Ician replies. "I think we can wait." He pauses. "Thank you, also, for the ride. I will be forever in your debt." He smiles mischievously. "Until I pay you, that is."

He turns to the eagle. "A talking eagle? That's a new one." He scrutinises it. "Wait..."

The eagle slightly chuckles as it transforms into a familiar dark-green unicorn with snow-white mane. He had his large cloak on him, revealing little of his weapons and armor. "So, are we all here?" Griff asks.

"Good morning, Griff." Ician inclines his head slightly. "And, to answer your question... not yet. We are waiting for one more." He pauses. "A pony named Plasma Stream."

Griff shrugs. "Can't say I heard of him before." he says as he looks at other ponies. He was rather interested in Storm's weapon and who the mare next to Divine Retribution was, but decided to keep the thoughts for himself, as that saved him numerous times.

After a few minutes, Sky Cog returns from the dock management. "Okay, that's the worst part about owning an airship. 'Fill in these forms, blah blah blah'." she tries to imitate the dock manager. "But, we're cleared to depart whenever ready." she adds with a smile on her face.

"Ah, excellent. Much appreciated, Sky." Ician nods. "Now all that's left is to meet our final member of this expedition, and we'll be all set to leave."

"So, what do you think of her?" Sky asks and looks at her airship. Her horn slightly glows and a crane on board starts picking up some crates from the dock and starts storing them inside.

"Who?" Ician asks. It takes a moment for him to realise what Sky is talking about. "Oh, right, the ship. A work of art, if I do say so myself. Very well-armed, too." He chuckles. "And being a lover of snakes myself, I think the best, most artful detail is the viper." He chuckles again. "I might be biased, but that doesn't mean that I'm wrong. Right, Theria?"

On command, his green snake sticks its head out from within Ician's suit of armour, flicking its tongue at the airship's viper in a measure of approval.

"I agree this ship looks capable of taking on a dragon if it had to." Storm said staring at it. "Beautiful." He turns back to the group. "So Ician still can't get that scortch mark off then?" He asks with a smile. "How much training have you done with your sword? I can guess that Divine and Griff's capabilities but I have no idea about yours."

Ician looks at Griff, then back at Storm. "Erm... my capabilities with a sword?"

"No, the other Ician in the group." Storm responds with a flat look.

"Oh, erm, well." Ician coughs awkwardly. "I've had a little experience with weapons, but most of my ability comes from the training rooms of the Guard. Which is to say, I am more or less a failure at it."

"Fair enough, I just want to know because we have no real idea what we're facing. I'd like to have some idea of how well we can all defend ourselves and whether we need to train." Storm said, before it occured to him that there may not be enough room to train until they landed. He looked at Sky Cog. "Do you know if there's an area large enough for us to train with our swords inside the ship, miss Cog?" He asks her.