Beneath the Surface

Divine snuggled him. "S- so... what now Ician?"

"I don't know." He shakes his head. "The part that really scared me was the fact that, in spite of how obvious a choice it was to make, I still couldn't decide. Because emotions really mess you up in the head, and all your logic gets thrown all over the place. I pride myself on my deductive, analytical and logical skills, so that wasn't particularly pleasant." He hesitates. "It took anger to finally make me do what I had to. That was, and still is, shameful."

Divine stood up slowly, before walking to the door. "I'll let you think... I need to think myself..." She walked out.

Ician hesitates. "I'm sorry if I offended you, Divine... If I did, I really didn't mean to." He looks down at his hooves and sighs.

Ruby licked his cheek. "Don't worry about her. She's just worried about you."

"It seems as though everypony's worrying about something nowadays." Ician complains. "I don't want to be another source of anxiety."

"Oh dear, you gave up that right when Divine started loving you."

Ician sighs and flops onto the bed. "What do I do now?"

"Up to you my sweet. You can stop her worrying, you can love her, or don't. It's your life in your hooves."

"How am I supposed to stop her from worrying about me?" Ician asks. "I mean... really, I don't even know how to fix my own problems. Yes, I can love her. Yes, it's my life. But what do either of those mean if I can't make anything out of it?"

Ruby shrugs and stands up. "Well, you could stop dwelling in the past. But like I said, it's up to you to live you life~" She walks out.

"It's not dwelling on the past... Okay, maybe it is, a little. But the question is... what if I have to choose again?" Ician sighs heavily and closes his eyes.

"Then make the choice that you think is right, not easy." She closes the door.

Ician sits up, swinging his legs over the bed and trotting to the door. His aura encapsulates the doorknob, but he doesn't open it. He stares at the closed door for a few moments, then shakes his head sadly and moves back to the bed.

Eclipse watches the sea, now moving by quickly below his hooves as the Crystal Viper speeds over onwards. He turns his head and notices Divine and Ruby exiting their room. He waves uncertainly.

They wave, one at a time as they leave the room. Ruby heads to the mess hall, whilst Divine heads to the deck.

Ician sighs heavily and smothers his face in the nearest pillow. "Ugh..."

---

Eclipse nods at them as they wave back, and he returns his gaze to the sea uncertainly.

"Oh, it's easy, just make sure it stays straight for now." Sky says, smiling.

Quimia eyes the wheel. "So... flying the airship may otherwise be defined as watching the wheel passively. With a steady hoof."

"While flying straight, yes. I still control the elevation, speed, sails..." Sky says, looking at the flashing lights of control panel.

"Right." Quimia looks out of the window. "... The shortest route to any destination is the straight path."

"Unless you are fling around the mountains. Hmm, how about we make this interesting ... " Sky says and grins.

Quimia raises an eyebrow. "Perhaps I ought to mention that that does not instill a great deal of confidence."

"I hope you don't mind, but I am going to have a bit of fun." Sky says, still grinning and moving in front of the wheel again. "BRACE YOURSELVES!!" Sky yells, making sure everyone on the ship can hear her. Suddenly the Crystal Viper started quickly losing altitude and gaining even more speed, closing the sea level fast.

"Ack!" Quimia stumbles to the side and braces herself against the wall. "What are you doing? Need I even mention that this is incredibly dangerous?"

---

Ician hears the shout. "What? Brace ourselves for-"

The ship abruptly loses altitude, and for a moment he feels almost weightless before he rolls off the side of the bed and crumples to the floor in a heap. "... Ouch."

---

"Hm?" Eclipse moves out further onto the top deck, hearing Sky's shout. "Did she say something?"

For a moment, he realises that there was no longer solid deck beneath his hooves. His wings snap immediately to attention, and he springs up into the air, hovering.

He looks down and sees the Crystal Viper accelerating towards the sea. "Well... that can't be good."

He raced after it as fast as he could.

"Dangerous.. but FUN!" Sky says before pulling one of the many levers, the ship pulling up again just two meters above the sea, now moving even faster and keeping the low altitude.