//------------------------------// // Canterlot library // Story: Six wishes for six elements // by Malcolm Merlyn //------------------------------// The late train happened to have been a freight train, which meant that the only available places to stay were on the boxcars. As usual, Sanya made no objection towards the engineer or the conductor when informed of this, only telling them that she just needed to go to Cnaterlot. Rather reluctantly, the two ponies allowed her on, not because of the fact that she was well... a strange creature by Equestrian standards but rather, for reasons like it'd be better for her to get some rest and wait till morning where they'll actually have passenger trains running. And here Sanya was, sitting within the boxcar, the cold air reminding her of home in Orussia, a small town near Stalingrado with it's cold winters which were legendary within all of Europe. She was alone. Something she found herself on almost every cold night back at home. Home. How she missed it. That isn't to say she didn't like Equestria. Only being here for about 2 days, she could easily say to herself that she loved the place. Maybe it had something to do with the fact it was full of colorful horses, maybe because the weather was so nice, or maybe because it was just so peaceful, so joy-filled here. Or just all of the above. There was life everywhere, even in seemingly inanimate objects. On this cold night. She was alone. That hardly bothered her as memories of her home with her parents began to flood her mind. She sung a small tune to herself, dedicated to her by her father. "Sweet song kid." Slade said as he dropped down from out of nowhere to the boxcar right besides Sanya. "Nice view up here." "How...?" "You got your magic. I got mine." Slade replied as he scanned the surrounding area. "ETA 8 minutes. So kid... what was that song anyways?" "What? Oh. It was a song my father wrote for me. He is a musician you see..." "He must be a great man. And a great song writer for that matter." Slade said partially to himself. "Thank you. I miss my parents, and I hope one day, after the war is over, I can find them once again... Slade... do you ever miss your family?" Did he now? His wife who was currently insane and had shot him in the eye. Grant, who though had idolized his father, but in the end destroyed himself. His other son Jericho, hadn't spoken to him for ages over rather obvious reasons, fought on the opposite side. The better side, as some would say. And of course, Rose, which... He stopped thinking about that part. He didn't want to anymore after all these years. It was just another ball and chain that would drag him down like this thing that people called a conscience. It only got in the way. "Slade?" "Yeah? Oh right. Well... I miss my family. Sometimes... we're here." "Well. Looks like this joint is open 24/7." Slade commented as he saw that the library lights were on. "Now that's finally something that's going our way." They'd never actually been in the Canterlot library before. So the two didn't exactly know what to expect. To describe the experience a bit, the library itself can be described as the Library of Congress in the US, only with somewhat more of a "cartoonish" and bright feel to the whole place. The only thing missing was the abundance of people which could be expected because A, there aren't any PEOPLE in Equestria and B it's like 1:00 AM. "How do you know?" Sanya asked as she peeked around. "I read the sign outside. Open 24 hours a day." Slade said as he approached the counter. With no one there, much to his annoyance. He rung the bell once. And.... no one. Even after about four times. Sanya shrugged to herself as she listen to Slade muttering something about "worst library service ever". Taking a look around, it would take time to find the "ancient history" and "foreign language" sections or anything along the lines of getting a decent grip of what Ancient Dragon was. "So... where do you think the horses keep their things about ancient dragon languages?" Slade asked to himself as he took a look around. "And where is a librarian or even just anyone who works here when you need them?" It just so happened to be convenient that right as he turned the corner, he almost walked straight into a pony that was dressed as what could be described as how you'd expect a librarian to be dressed. Well... I guess the ID card was really what gave one the assumption. "Oh finally. I rang that bell like eight times and no one showed up. So anyways, can you show me the section to where I can get a grip on what ancient dragon is?" "I am sorry..." The pony said. "Exactly who or what are you?" "I am the "monster" that everyone or every horse in this case has been talking about in town. The one which broke into the castle and showed to the world that your "royal guard" has no business defending anything. Now then, get me..." "Slade... please." Sanya began. "We're looking for a book on ancient dragon... language? I think... but anyways, if you can find us anything on it, we'd be very grateful." "Oh right... you're a human right?" The librarian asked as she stood up. "Oh right... yeah... right this way..." They walked through the almost maze like foundation, taking a few looks around at the fine work of art. "And then... this is the..." Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Something caught Slade's eye. Was it the janitor's closet? He didn't know. But it looked like some kind of door which had a small room. Either a bathroom or a closet. But that wasn't what was interesting to him. It was the small, almost negligible pool of black liquid. Taking the moment, he went over and knelt besides it, scrutinizing what it was. Definitely a type of bodily fluid. Did the janitor forget to do his job or what? Just for the heck of it, he activated his tactical vision. That's when he saw the unconscious equines within the closet. Turning around, he picked up several more living things around him. Unconscious and active. A closer scrutiny revealed that there may be more than one type of... creature that was within this building. They happened to have taken up the majority of the active bodies within the library. He looked back to Sanya who was speaking with the librarian. Something was wrong. Walking over, he hoped that Orussia's language was still the same as Russian. "Саня, нечто неправильно здесь." An eyebrow went up from the young girl as she stopped speaking with the librarian. "Что не так? И мы можем использовать английский." Thank god. "Нет времени, чтобы объяснить. Существует что-то очень не так. Я знаю это, и вы должны доверять мне. Будьте готовы ко всему." The librarian could only squint at them as she or in this case, it wondered what they were saying and then continued with them. "C'mon, it's just down this way. Through the door." Definitely an ambush. Slade made sure to keep his distance from the librarian as his hands began to stray towards his pistol and swords.