Since Time Immaterial [ Private]

Jon blinked in surprise, though most of the effect was lost behind his sunglasses. He didn't know much about marriage, but he figured that Pariah was not demonstrating how to do it properly. Another part of his brain noted that Silver had a bit of a temper, and told him to leave the subject the Tartarus alone. Unfortunately, Jon hadn't moved during the six or seven seconds it took for him to think all of this. He stopped staring after a couple more seconds, taking out his notebook and opening it to the most recent page. "We're supposed to be looking for a couple swords. One that glows like the sun, and the other like midnight. Or something." He gestured to Krix. "We- actually, mostly just Krix is trying to pinpoint the location."

Blade shrugged, he didn't think that Pariah's instinct would be correct, but still it was worth a shot. The "Yeah, I know you're name, you have it when you started class." The stallion headed onto the train and behind Ician. He paused for a short while and smiled a little. "Also, its more like I've had a bad hour or something." He said. "Though I guess it's been that way for all of us." Blade sighed and found a seat for himself and hopefully gain a few answers about what was going during the train ride.

Pariah paused for a moment, watching Ician walk towards the train, before hopping on it. Similarly, he watched quietly as Blade jumped on the train. Finally, he boarded the train himself, after letting a pair of mares on before him. He sat down next to Ician, and nodded at Blade. "I guess you could say that."

---

Silver paused, then sighed and rolled her eyes. "You're hunting swords now? Well, I think I can help with that. This library is renowned for its extensive list of books. Do you know what they're called specifically?" She asked as she glanced around the library.

Blade relaxed as he sat down and rubbed his hoof over his face and mane. He looked over at the two other stallions as the ponies started to board. He was sat next to the window and starred out of it for a little while. He didnt say anything about the blades or the events that had occured from earlier, not feeling comfortable in talking about it in front of other ponies. The last thing he wanted as ponies to started up rumors about the blades that may or may not exist or cause panic from what happened. Celestia would probably tell the public about it anyways because they would need a reason to stay in Ponyville and for why they left in the first place.

Ician sat down with a heavy sigh beside Blade, staring forward at the seat in front of him. His mind, however, was far from the present; racing through his head were prospects of the future. Most of them did not look good. The odds weren't in their favour, and that was something to be very worried about.

That wasn't even the end of it. In order to secure that highly-sought after happy ending, he would have to wade through a veritable ravine of uncertainty. There were too many unknown factors around the legendary swords. Yes, the odds were truly abysmal.

But at least they were there. That was a small source of solace. Though small enough that, Ician reflected, they may as well not have been there.

In his head, he began drawing up plans of counterattack. It kept him sufficiently distracted from the horrid reality.

Krix shook his head slowly, silently saying 'no', as he continued his studies of the map. Content with what he'd managed to do with his map, Krix then went to get some other reference materials and such from some of the various books in the library. Even if he couldn't find ones related to this specific legend, Krix could potentially eliminate other areas from their search if other legends and tales covered other areas.

Jon flipped through a couple pages, scanning the contents. He slowly shook his head. "No names. Though if anyone knows, it'll probably be Pariah. And we have vague descriptions. And we know they were used against..." A pause, and he glanced at the page. "Thanatos. So we can start there." He turned, and began searching the library shelves.

He quickly remembered that he didn't much care for the searching, and he went to ask the librarian if they had any stories about Thanatos.

The train rumbled as it began to leave the station, the sound of its wheels scraping against the rails as it began to chug along. The speed of train continued to rise as it sped away from Canterlot, clearly hurrying away. Pariah sighed, a hoof on his bow. He glanced at his companions, then shook his head. "I have deduced the location of the first sword." He paused as the train shook, glancing out the window. "It is most likely in a cave north of the Crystal Empire, and it will be heavily guarded. I believe the first blade is the Dawn Blade. With it, the second location should be revealed to us..." The train shook again and he stood up. "What the hell is going on?"

"It seems the train is under attack." A voice said, a mare having appeared next to him, facing the back of the train.

---

The librarian stared at Jon, before pointing the wing just past where Jon had been searching. In the mean time, Silver had paled a little and started heading towards the wing herself. "Thanatos you said? Oh lord, my husband was right?" She asked, glancing around the shelves, searching. "Gonna help me?"

Krix would find several older maps, as well as books that detailed caves and old legends that mentioned sources of strange lights being emitted from said caves.

"Under attack?" Ician asked, deadpan. "Of course it would be. Joy." He reached to the hilts of all four of his swords and unsheathed them all, the sound of steel sliding out of scabbards echoing through the train car. "Alright. Let's see who the offender is, shall we? Knowing our luck - or just mine in particular, perhaps - it will be Thanatos." He strode over to the nearest window and peered out of it, trying to spot the attacker. "Let's see here..."

After making the special marks for the strangely lit cave, Krix continued his study, to either further support the notion that it was THE cave they were searching for, or at least continue eliminating other possibilities from their search. When, or 'if' he secretly added to himself, the others arrived, he wanted to know exactly where they were going to recover this first weapon.

"Krix, helped, here," Krix said pointing to the spot on his map that was a growing assurance of the ancient sword's resting place. "Krix, continue, make, certainty," he continued without looking up from the various maps, papers, and other reference material he'd already started to accumulate on the matter. "No, location, no, good. Search, all, north, too, long."

The stallion turned his attention over to Pariah as he spoke and nodded to show that he was understanding. It was nice to some time to talk about plans instead of being in a fight. Blade groaned as he slammed his head into the seat as the train shook, knowing that something was about to happen. "Why?" He asked in an annoyed table to show that he wasn't asking anyone in particular. He grew a little concerned about the mare's tone about being attack and look at her questioningly, but didn't say anything. Instead he opened the window he was sitting next to and wondered why the tactician hadn't simply let him he look out the window when he was next to it. For some reason Blade didn't think it was Thanatos since he didn't seem like the one who would continue attacking now.

A wendingo screamed through the window, its white eyes glaring at Ician's as it rammed the train from the side. Another few could be seen out the window in the distance, chasing the train. The back of their carriage, it being the last on the train, exploded, and a group of wendigos burst in. The leader blinked and was thrown out of the carriage almost immediately, an arrow between its eyes. "Hold them off!" Pariah shouted, already drawing another arrow.

---

There were several other references to the cave in various books, and Silver smiled. "Well done Krix. This could save us a huge amount of time." She placed a dozen books on a small table and began to go through them.


[Sorry for the... rather late response]

"What did I say?" Ician said, sending his swords into a whirl that created four deadly spinning circles, and thrusting them forward into the cluster of wendigoes that threatened to tear them apart. "Nothing ever goes right." His horn glowed even brighter, and two knives slipped their way out of his armour, not getting fully involved in the fight but rather hovering close to his chest, preparing for a defense if the wendigoes got too close for comfort. There were a lot of them, though, so he wouldn't keep his hopes up. But then again, he never really did.

Krix nodded in thanks for the praise, but didn't look up from what he was working on. After a bit more searching, and cross referencing, Krix had a nearly positive location marked on his map. Then he moved onto a different avenue of research and began searching for rumors surrounding the cave, and hopefully finding out what might be lying inside. If this cave had managed to go unexplored for so long, there was likely something there to keep wayward eyes away and prior knowledge about what it was could be rather helpful. On a side note though, Krix would also begin making notes here and there about other points of interest for himself to explore later. This was really turning out to be a fruitful venture.

Blade looked over at the wendigoes and was a little surprised by how easily they fell, but guessed there were going to be a lot of them before this day was done. While Ician attacked, Blade created to orbs in his hooves before throwing them at the wendigoes. One would hit the floor underneath the wendigoes and other to hit the door behind them to hopefully slow them down. The first would grow spikes and try to impale the remainder of the ghostly horses. The stallion looked back out the window briefly, half expecting the ice bitch to show anytime now though hoping she wouldn't.

Fortunately for the group, Shiva was sitting the battle out, instead letting her children attack that train. The wendigoes shrieked in panic as the combined forces of Blade, Pariah and Ician. However, their confidence returned as their numbers swelled, many new wendigoes pushing through Ician's spinning blades and Blade's traps. They leapt at Ician and Blade, several targeting each as ten more leapt at Pariah, who had dropped his bow, ice now spreading on the train from where the wendigoes entered.

Assuming Krix looked hard enough, he would find a letter, tucked in the back of one of the books. In it, a pony had scrawled that he had investigated the cave, only to be pushed back by a cloud of darkness.

This is not fair. Ician gritted his teeth as the knives close to his chest finally found something to do, swinging outwards at the frontmost wendigoes advancing on him. One of his four blades currently spinning in the midst of all the other wendigoes was recalled to him, hopefully slashing through the closest hostiles to him as it continued spinning in its deadly circle.

"We won't be able to keep this up if the wendigoes keep coming!" Ician shouted. "If anyone has a way to seal this hole shut and reinforce the rest of the carriage structure, that would be appreciated!"

The letters presence wouldn't go unnoticed, and as Krix read through the older script, the dog's expression turned curious. "Ponies, know, dark cloud?" Krix asked simply as he looked over towards the other two in the library near him. Slowly, he extended his paw so they could see or take the letter if they wished, though he was being careful so as to avoid possibly damaging the what must be ancient paper.

Blade fired bolts of energy at the wendigoes as they made it past his two constructs. "I think I got! Just cover me!" After he finished, he created another construct in the shape of a ball before tossing it to the nearest incoming wendigo. He had hoped to hit it and then have it bounce off the upper walls of the train to get to the hole, hopefully getting a good number of the creatures in the process. Once, the ball-shaped construct made it to the hole it would expand move over the edges of the door. If he got hit while he held the construct there it would shatter and reopen the hole.

As he sat down to research, Jon quickly remembered that he didn't like getting information from books. They were good sources, yes, but boring. He much preferred fiction. Fiction had to be interesting, almost by definition. But still, he sat at a library desk with three different history books in front of him, mirrored glasses perched on his muzzle. Then Krix brought the letter, and it woke Jon up with a start. "What? Oh, good find. Probably." He got up from the cushion and looked at the letter, not taking it. "Dark cloud definitely means dark magic, and a dark mage. Sombra's the first pony that's coming to mind. Could be wrong, of course. Bunch of other ones." He yawned.

It seemed that Blade's plan had worked rather well, as his construct managed not only to kill a fair number of the wendigoes, but he had succeeded in sealing the hole. With little options remaining to catch the speeding train, the wendigoes outside have up, returning to Canterlot.

Inside the train however, there was still a melee to be had. One of the wendigoes had not engaged Ician immediately, instead watching as it's brethren were caught on his blades. Once he had disposed of them, it would trot forward, a grin growing on it's lips.

Pariah jumped back, drawing a knife as he attempted to fend off the overwhelming number of wendigoes. Having killed two, he stepped back, a third ready to freeze him... Only to have an enormous hammer cave in it's skull. A green stallion, the hammer in one hoof sighed as he was charged by another. He swung the hammer, the pointed end of the hammer piercing it's skull.

---

Silver glanced at the pair, eyebrow raised. "Whilst I cannot say that I have heard of any dark clouds, I think it would be impertinent to assume that it is Sombra. Besides, isn't he dead?" She stared at Jon. "What do you mean, other ones?"

Awaiting his answer, she smiled at Krix. "Well spotted Krix."

As soon as the other wendigoes were dispatched, Ician recalled all his remaining blades to him, and while in the process levelling his knives and single sword currently at his side at the final wendigo approaching him. The sword stayed in a defensive position, while the knives zipped forward in an attempt to spear the wendigo through the chest. In between that and the three spinning blades returning to him in a trajectory that would take it through the wendigo's current position, ician hoped that it would be enough to finish it off.

While Krix knew of a lot of legends, and those surrounding dark magic always seemed to be a bit more known, he wasn't sure which ones Jon was referring to either. So while he continued to look through books and other sources, Krix kept an ear swiveled towards the pony. Besides, a new legend to look into was always on Krix's to do list, and maybe he could find another little treasure to add to his ever growing collection.

Jon stood up a bit straighter, now that he was being directly addressed. "Well, there are plenty of dark magicians in the world. They're rare but there. I've met maybe... only one or two." He did his best to suppress a yawn, shaking himself awake. "Anyway, not important. All we need to know is there's a spell there. And we need to be able to get past the darkness cloud. Do you know anything about it?" He was fully awake now, and some small part of him hoped she didn't. He wanted to start researching something that wasn't history. Mythology. Whichever applied.

Blade smiled as he got to seal up the hole while managing to kill some wendigoes. He didnt realize the wendigo heading towards him until the last moment where Ician went to attack it. His attention shifted back to Pariah as a hammer suddenly slammed into the wendigo attacking him. The stallion gave the green pony a simple nod and turned his attention back to the rest of the cabin, his horn still alite as he looked around. He would dim his horn until he was sure there wasn't anything else ready to attack them, firing a quick bolt of energy at anything that did attack.