Embarking on a quest

Quillon lay on the bench, about to doze off. When were they going to get here? To be fair, he was so excited that he didn't get much sleep. And he had woken up at 5. After buying the tickets to Trottingham for the group, he was slightly lacking in terms of finances. Eh, he'd been in worse situations. Confound his impatience.

Shadow arrived a few moments after the Pegasus was waiting idly by on the bench at the train station. She giggled at how impacient he was, checking her saddle bag for her doll Celia, a couple score of bits, some snacks, her manga book, and her mp3 player. Checking off in her mind other things she could do with her limited magic, she walked over to Quillon and poked him awake.

The sound of rattling bottles could be heard As Elix headed to the train station. he brought his basic 'away from home' chemicals, which were basic ingredients for any potion he may have to craft on the go. he also pre-made a vial that sped up a ponies healing process, and something he calls 'Fog in a bottle', just in case. He knew basic magic so what his alchemy skills lack he, hopefully he could do himself. besides his chemicals, he had his book on known plants and their use in his potion making, a Canteen filled with his medicated tea, and for entertainment and just for this trip, a Daring Do book. he joined his acquaintances, the Pegasus looking like he was about to drift off on cloud nine.

"Well I'm set. Quil? it is Quil right? You get any sleep? I have a potion that will perk you up faster than Coffee if you need it."

"Wugh?" The pegasus stirred from his sleep. "Gah... took you long enough! Are we ready? I have the tickets in my saddlebags. I think we're set. Just one last thing. Are you really sure you want to do this with me? Once you set hoof on this train, there's no going back." The train pulls into the station. The doors open and a flood of ponies pours out of the train. Quillon is roughly shoved out of the way by a blue pony in a cloak, muttering for him to stand out of her way. He scowls after her, then hops onto the train. "Coming?"

Shadow grinned, her eyes gleaming with the thought of adventure. "Of course I am coming. If I had refused, I wasn't going to just let you have all the fun now would I?" She said, pushing past the ponies to hop onto the train and taking a window seat near Quill.

Elix tried to stay away from the flood of ponies and Smiled lightly at Quill's question as He himself boards the train.

"If i was not sure, I would have declined by now. as long as I have my medication and my potions, I should be fine. Besides, how many times does a pony get to go on an adventure?"

He stated, his pupil-less red eyes seemed to have a shine to them, as if he was excited but could not express it.

Quillon can't help but feel overjoyed at the prospect of heading off on a adventure. And with other ponies no less! He smiles warmly at them. 'I think this is going to be one hell of a trip." The train begins to pull out of the station. 'Hey, do you want to hear a story? Let me tell you about the time I fought off a leviathan with nothing but a maraca and a spoon. It started like this...." As the train begins to move, Quillon can't help but think that he's forgetting something. "Oh snap! Grandpa's compass!" He begins rummanging through his saddlebags, but doesn't seem to find what he's looking for. He slumps across his seat in despair. "Oh Celestia... where could I have.. the Canterlot Library? Piece of Gak..."

Shadow blinked rather quickly at his rambling and her ears flattened when he said he felt he had left something behind. She thought for a moment, remembering one of the few spells her mother had taught her. "Hey, Quil, concentrate real hard and describe what they looked like. I know one location spell that could make them appear, but it only has a fifty percent chance at working. The other fifty percent my hair just catches fire...."

Elix was actually interesting in the story about the leviathan, but it can wait untill they re-located his Grandpa's compass. he went through his bag and pulled out a small vial of a shiny, Green mixture and levitated it to Flare, hearing her plan and the affects if she fail.

"Before you do, drink some of this. it is an elixir to increase you luck; should decrease the chance of failure. Don't want your mane to be ruined by a spell gone wrong. If all you can do is at least locate it, I'm sure a short detour would not hurt, would it Quill?"

"Gaaaah... it's too late to go back for it. Canterlot is too far away. But that spell sounds like it's worth a shot." He rests his head on the table. "Imagine a weathered brass compass. Just an average compass, expect for a few fancy engravings around the side. That's all that there is to know." He takes the potion, drinks it, and rests his head in his hooves. "That was the last keepsake from my grandfather before he passed on. He was my role model, and the one who showed me that Equestria had so much to offer. If I lost his compass, it'd be an insult to his memory."

Shadow nodded and took her part of the potion, swallowing her part before closing her eyes to concentrate on the picture he described. She focused as hard as possible, looking with her mind and found a fuzzy shape of the compass, trying to focus and make that picture clearer. As the train started moving, she was having a hard time locking on, so she took a breath and her horn glowed a pinkish glow, as the compass materialized on the seat next to Quil. After finishing, she leaned back against the window in her seat.

"Oh....headache..." she muttered. She looked up, one eye open. "Please tell me that's the right one?"

Elix smiled a bit as the compass seemed to be summoned. a useful spell it would seem, even though naturally its a fifty fifty chance of success. he put the vial back in his bag and pulled out his book, reading it as the train ride begins. he took a sip of his tea and sighed in content. hopefully he brought enough medicine for this trip, if not, things might become a bit more. . . Chaotic if he is off his medication for too long.

Quillon breathed a sigh of relief, then pulled Shadow into an abrupt hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou! You have no idea how much this means to me." He lets go of Shadow. "This belonged to my grandfather. He was an adventurer back in the day, he'd been all over Equestria. And possibly beyond, though he never told me." A reminiscent gleam passes over his eyes. "Every night before I went to bed when I was young, he'd tell me stories from his travels. He was my hero. Around eight years ago, he died. And that was when my slightly more down-to-earth parents decided to plan out my upbring- woah, getting a bit carried away there." He facehoofs. "So, the story about the leviathan. Right. It was around 2 years ago that I was looking for travel around a coastal town, can't remember the name. I was looking for a ship to cross the ocean to Saddle Arabia. I wanted to see the sights, go on adventures, and maybe even do a spot of treasure-hunting. I got work as a temporary deckhand on a merchant vessel, and we set off. It did not turn out to be a smooth trip, as we were attacked by a leviathan. He was big. Not THIS big," he gestures with his hooves, spreading them out as far as they can go. "He was pretty damn big though. His head was smaller than a house, so as far as leviathans go, he was pretty small actually. Anyway. He started whacking the ship with his body. Dunno why. Maybe leviathans like to eat treasure like dragons do? That'd explain why merchant and trader vessels are attacked by them more than other ships. Going off on a tangent again. Gah. Anyway, we started throwing stuff at him. He didn't take well to that. He started eating crew members. Anyway, while everyone was throwing everything at hood at him, I was left with a maraca and a spoon of all things. It was when he roared that I had one of my moments of bravery. I leapt into his open mouth and whacked his... dangly thing. What are they called Uboas? This thing," he opens his mouth and points at the back of his throat. "He puked up the crew and a bunch of fish. He didn't seem to want to mess with us after that. The bad thing was, since I was a deckhand, I had to clean it up. It stank of dead fish." He shudders at the memory of the stench. "But, while I was mopping up the debris, I found..... this!" He reaches into his saddlebags and retrieves a turquoise crystal, engraved with swirling designs. 'I guess ol' fishguts must have swallowed this during some of his other raids. I'm not sure what it is. It could be a dirt-cheap souvenier for all I know. But to me, it's a reminder never to back down even in the most terrifying situations." He replaces the gemstone. "And that is the tale of how I fought off a creature from the depths with a maraca and a spoon. In a manner of speaking." He gazes out the window. "Judging by the position of the sun, I guess I waffled on for a while. Sorry."

Shadow blinked, nodding and still paying attention, but when he finished at the end with the bit about the maraca and the spoon, she fell over in her seat laughing. A leviathan? There was no way that even existed. Not to her recollection, anyway. Shadow just smiled, righting herself up in her seat before she gave a look to Quill.

"Bullsheep," she said.

Elix was half paying attention to the story, he got the outline of the story, a smile could be seen on his face. this pony obviously had some amazing adventures.

"sounds like you have an exciting life and I bet this adventure will be something normal to you. tell me, have you thought about at least keeping a journal of your adv. . . well obviously since this adventure is to return your journal of souls was it? to its point of origin. say, it might be a while, I will gladly put my book down and see if I can mix some drinks if Flare has a story to tell."

With that, Elix put the book down and looked to flare for an answer before bothering to see if their was a bar on board and if they would allow him to mix drinks. he may have never done such a task, but mixing drinks can't be to different from alchemy and potion making, right?

"W-wah? I'm sorr- hold on a- how can you-" he stutters out. "You think I- How.... what. No. Yes. No. How. What," he slumps onto the table again. "Blegh".

When Quill began to stutter like he was, she just gave him a kind of "what the hell" look, as she was wondering if he was the one who was crazy, not her. She shrugged off the thought when he slid down onto the table. She pat his head with her hoof. "I was only kidding," she began.

"Drinks would be lovely, Elix. You are also right, I do have a story to share."

She took a deep breath. "This is a fairy tale that my mother told me. There was once a princess who was greedy. She had a twin brother, who was raised to be her servant while she inherited the kingdom. The brother fell in love with the princess of the neighboring kingdom and in her jealousy, she ordered her brother to kill the princess. In her rage, she made the kingdom suffer. One day, they rose up and went to kill the princess, but the brother told her to flee, as they looked alike even though they were boy and girl. She fled while her brother was executed in her place, and she regretted everything she did for the rest of her life."

Elix smirked and went off to mix two cups of drinks, mixing in berry juices, some cider, and a bit of what ever was in the white bottle, maybe some kind of liqueur or flavoring. he returned with two drinks levitating in front of him. he was not a drinker due to his condition, but he did not mind making them, as long as they tasted okay. he passed out the drinks and sat down to listen to Flare's story.

"Huh. He certainly got the bad end. To a certain extent, she did too. If there was a moral to that story, it would be... hm.... tartarus hath no fury like an angry mare? I dunno." He turns to Elix. "Whatcha cooking up there, pal?"

She grinned mischievously as she nodded to Quill's moral. She told him that he was right and took a small swig from her own juice, surprised by her own taste-buds as they sent the sensation to her brain that the drink tasted rather good. She grinned again, downing more with glee. She turned her smile to Elix.

"This is really good."

Elix smiled and bowed to the compliment, taking a swig of the canteen full of tea before replying to the two.

"thank you and its just a bit of a cocktail mix of Juices, cider and i believe Alcohol from the smell. due to how much i added, should be enough to relax nerves and give it flavor without having a dramatic side affect of a loss of perception and motor skills."

Elix was obviously an 'egg-head' and a calm minded unicorn, one who you would think just by how he talked and appeared to be an 'easy fight'. but as the two before him might have learned by the contents of his bag and his knowledge of 'mixing' things, he could cause more chaos then a Draconequesse with poison Joke; thankfully, he seemed like a colt of Order.

Quillon's eyes go wide as he drinks the strange concoction. "Mother of Celestia. This is amazing. So, your special talent is making awesome stuff from random stuff? What would happen if you tried to combine a crocodile and an ice-cream sundae? We should try that together when we get back." He gazes out the window. "Looks like we're gonna be on this train for a while longer. I'm gonna hit the hay. G'night." His head hits the table with a thunk and he begins snoring.

Shadow couldn't help but laugh when Quill's face hit the table, as she took another swig and held her cup out for more. "More, bartender, and keep 'em coming. My father owns a tavern and I am sure you could make a ton bits by brewing this for the ponies who love the bottle," she said, smiling to herself at her high alcohol tolerance.

Elix looked at Quill, a bit dumbfounded on how random this pony can be; this could be an exciting trip. he turned his attention to Flames and smile.

"well I always like to have more customers for my business. so far, i supply the medical facilities with my elixirs to help with surgery and recovery. even though i can make a potion to mend bones, some ponies prefer the physical remedy then a mystical one. but half a dozen more i take it?"

he went off the mix up some more, following the same procedure and measurement of ingredients, coming back with a tray of six drinks, all seeming to be identical in smell, color, and volume.

Meanwhile, in Quillon's dreams....

Quillon is surrounded by roiling black fog. Out of it walks a familiar anthromorphic creature, pure black with a consistency like ink, it's head ending in a drooping v-shape, it's face that of a smiling theater mask. "Oh, hey, you're that one guy from my book," Quillon says cheerfully. "Oh, hey, you're that one pony who doesn't know to quit when he's ahead," he replies equally cheerfully. "I see you're on your way to return me to my former home. I'd much rather hang around with you and your friends and screw with you though. So please, enjoy the endless tirade of horrible nightmares I'm going to throw at you Ta-ta!" It smiles and vanishes into thin air as the fog dissipates. Quillon is out in open sky, falling at a breakneck pace. He tries to flap his wings, but looks around to see that they have been turned into waffles. Looking back down he sees a flying dragon look up and open it's mouth wide as a blast of flames consumes him.

"WAGH!" Quillon jolts awake from his sleep. He looks around wildly, still feeling uneasy from his crazy dream, then turns to the window. "Hey! Wake up everypony, we're here!"