Beneath the Surface (Adventure, slight Gore)

"Right." He smiles. "Thank you..."

Snapping out of it, he turns to Griff. "I suppose you ought to stay at the back of the column. You're going to be our raider - go in quickly and smash their weak points. But we need to get you there alive, first."

He turns back around. "Alright, troops. Let's go! For Equestria!"

"For Equestria!" The cry is echoed loudly, and the soldiers fall into a measured cadence.

Griff slowly starts walking towards the forests, letting all the soldiers pass him.

Ician falls into step beside Griff. "Right, so here's the detailed plan. We're going to fire those mortars at the other end of the forest, the far side our troops here can't reach. That'll deter the changelings from escaping that way. We already have a towering pillar of fire there, so it shouldn't be too hard."

He points to the left of the forest. "I need you to move around that side of the forest and kill anyone who tries to get through. Stream will join you, as soon as he's here, and... two of my shield mages." He waves a hoof at two unicorns at the back of the column, who nod in acknowledgement.

Ician turns to Divine. "Divine," he calls out, "can you take the other side of the forest with Ruby? We've got to make sure no one escapes."

Griff thinks a bit ".. I could use bushes to hide and ambush them.." he then stops. "...I forgot my armor." Griff runs back at camp to get his new armour.

"Don't forget those bushes are either on fire or going to be soon!" Ician calls out as Griff runs back to the encampment.

Griff comes back after a minute, clumsily running with his newly acquired set of royal guard armour "Okay, I'm ready."

"Right." Ician waves a hoof at the armour. "I have to warn you, though, those spare suits of armour weren't enchanted." He sighs. "Good luck. You're going to need it."

Griff playfully punches Ician's shoulder. "Come on, don't act like there's a 90 percent chance that I'll not return."

Ician rolls his eyes. "Fine, fine. That's grossly inaccurate, anyway." He pauses. "It implies that there's actually a ten percent chance you'll survive."

They reach the forest, where a huge fireball erupts on the trees nearer their side as the inferno begins to spread.

"This is where we part ways." Ician nods at Griff. "Go. I'll throw in an extra ten bits for every changeling you kill." He smiles a crooked smile. "Can I trust you to be honest with the kill count?"

"Make it 15 and we have a deal." Griff says and evilly grins. "I may lose a track of it. Make one of the mages count as well."

"Deal." Ician turns to the two shield mages. "Go. You have your mission. Equestria will owe its life to you." He grins. "And Griff will owe his paycheck. Don't forget to under-count."

He sneaks a glance at Griff. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

The two mages, their faces impressively stoic, march to Griff's side and await his orders.

Storm stands in the middle of the inferno, the flames on his back are half way between the bright blue of his insanity and the regular reddy-orange colour. "Come out changeling! I want to see your face while I barbecue you. Don't get me wrong I'll do it anyway, I'd just rather watch as it happens to you!" He shouts his voice distorted by the flames over his mouth. Remembering he doesn't have to hold back he draws the flames burning on a nearby bush to himself and moulds them into the shape of a lion. He then sends it running about the forest to make sure everything gets burnt. With that his flames turn more purple, almost over the edge.

Ician flinches outside the forest as the flames grow in intensity. "Perhaps... perhaps Storm might be taking this a little too far..." He shrugs. "Oh well. Better overkill than nothing."

Meanwhile, behind Storm, the dry chuckle of the changeling commander cuts through the crackling of the fire. "Do you know how many native endangered species you're making even more endangered now? I can list at least five."

Storm turned around slowly. "So long as changeling is on that list I don't care." He said, flames turning more blue by the second. His eyes were filled with such anger and hatred that they seemed to be filled with fire instead of covered by it.

The changeling ignores his eyes of hatred and smiles mockingly. "Perhaps you'd care to follow me. I know where to find more of them." With that, she takes a step backward, and falls into the ground through a hole, shrouded in darkness.

"Don't run away from me, coward!" He screams as he dives after her head first. The last insult, last grain of salt in the wound, last shred of sanity. The flames all over Storms body change colour to bright blue. His eyes cover over with fire, as he dives deeper down the hole he looks like a bright blue lantern and as he does so he releases a wordless scream of anger and hatred. The flames over his mouth distort the scream transforming his voice into that of a monster.

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