Beneath the Surface (Adventure, slight Gore)

Storm is forced on the defensive having to dodge and deflect Icians strikes. The flames on his back rise and he launches a jet of fire from Ician's right. The flames wouldn't be hot enough to do much damage, Storm wasn't really trying to kill him after all.

Ician gasps. His horn flares even brighter, and a shaky shield spell appears between him and the fire. It absorbed a quarter of the incoming flame, leaving the rest to his magically enchanted armour. He takes the full brunt of the jet with the gem on his breatplate. It glows a sickening green and, with an anticlimactic pop, shields Ician from the flame. Abruptly, the gem shimmers with a fiery-red hue, then loses its lustre and fades to grey.

"No fire!" Ician waves his hooves frantically. "We're on a wooden airship!"

"Good point. I didn't think about that. But it did it's job perfectly." Storm charges again bringing his sword in a powerful upwards swing.

"Ack!" Ician leaps backwards, his rump bumping against the stacks of tables and chairs behind him. His sword flies back to his side on command, and with another flash of magic three more knives whip out to meet Storm's offensive.

Storm's slash was too powerful to bring his sword back under control fast enough to deflect any of the blows. All three knives hit Storm in the chest, knocking him off balance and sending him tumbling to the ground. He got up and quickly checked himself, finding that one of the knives had managed to rip a small hole in his mail. He returns his sword to his side again and backs off to the centre of the room again.

Ician breathes heavily, his magic flickering. He was tired, he knew. Perhaps might not last too long. The strain of levitating multiple objects with different trajectories and speeds was taking its toll. Another thing he might have to work out in the future, it seems.

He stares at Storm, eyes narrowed. His sword hangs in the air, its blade turned eternally towards his opponent. His knives tuck themselves back into his armour, and when he releases them from his magical grip he sighs in quiet relief. The glow around his sword shines slightly stronger.

He looks Storm straight in the eye. "Your move."

Suddenly the loud yell from Sky pauses the fight: "LAAAAND AHEAD!" she yells, making sure everyone on the ship heard her.

"Huh?" Ician turns his head towards the sound. "Oh." He looks at Storm. "Perhaps we ought to continue this duel at a future time."

"Exactly what I was thinking." Storm says sheathing his sword. He was sweating and panting, obviously tired. "I haven't sparred like that for a long time." he says. He walks to the door and heads out for the deck "Coming Ician?"

"Sure." Ician trots out towards the deck as well, returning his sword to his scabbard. "You know, I did have one last trick up my sleeve. Might have used it, too, if we hadn't ended early."

Griff was lazily lying on the ship's bow, looking towards land. He seemed like he was in his own world of thought.

"Oh, hello, Griff." Ician waves to him. "So, um. Hello."

"Hello Griff." Storm says as he looks around the deck for a comfortable place to sit. Finding a spot he sat and began focusing his magic on the broken links, heating them to a point where he would be able to fix them.

Ician watches him work his magic. He coughs awkwardly. "Um, yeah. Sorry about the damage. I kind of got... carried away, I suppose."

Griff slightly sighs. "So, what's the plan after we land?" he asks.

"Hm? Oh, right, the plan." Ician brings a hoof to his chin. "First we rendezvous with a small squad of Royal Guards who've been securing the area around here. We get shown to the place where everything happened, we spread out and search for anomalies." He shifts with discomfort. "No combat is planned, of course, but it's expected. We don't know what might be lying in store for us, but whatever the changelings did to that scouting team, they had a reason. And I suspect that reason will extend to us as well."

"Don't worry about it. " Storm said holding the mail up. "I can fix it easily enough." He steadily heats the steel links, as he does they change from grey to red, brightening to yellow as soon as they were hot enough Storm grabbed the links in his magic and forced them together, linking through each other.

All that was required was to cool it. Storm pulled at the fire drawing it from the metal links. His eyebrows lowered as his anger built. The links rapidly changed in colour fading back to grey. A flame flowed out of his armour flowing like a river into his horn. Finally done he dropped his armour and laid back relaxing after the amount of exertion he had been subjected to that day. "I'm getting too old for this." he said.

"So, you both heard the plan, right?" Ician looks at them both. "Well, it won't matter too much, I suppose. I'll have to repeat it for Stream's Divine's and Ruby's benefit later."

The airship soon left the sea behind, now flying lower and lower towards the desert.

"I heard it." Griff says, still looking forward.

"Um... right, then." Ician stares at the approaching land. "Good."

"I was kinda distracted." Storm says, not moving an inch from his relaxed position on the deck of the airship. He wasn't just relaxing after his sparring match with Ician, he had used quite a lot of magic after already being tired. It was straining his anger control.

"It's alright." Ician waves a hoof non-comittally. "The rest have to hear it, too. Once they get up here."

Soon after, the sails get pulled back up and get tightened, while at the same time the main propeller stops spinning. The ship is now rather low and only being powered by twin propellers on sides.

About 500 meters in front of the airship, there's a what looks like an encampment and airship is heading straight towards it.

"Looks like our ride's over." Griff says.

Ician eyes the encampment. "Yes. Yes it is."

After a few minutes, the Crystal Viper comes to a halt at a barely high enough dock. When the side propellers stop spinning, the guards standing on dock tie the airship to the dock and the cranes on airship start moving cargo crates, which are later taken care of by guards.

"Alright, everypony, ride's over!" Sky yells as she exits the bridge. She then walks to Ician. "When do I need to return?" she asks.