We spent the rest of the day playing board games and taking a bite of the occasional snack or two. Or completely empty the whole fridge with no regrets. After all, I had more than enough food already and she still seemed hungry, I guess. I didn't really pay attention to that, but what I did pay attention to was the large losing streak I had after playing with her. How on Equestria is it possibly to roll six on a six-sided dice nine times and win before I even got a turn?! I call watchcraft on that. Last time I played with a unicorn, probably.
However, instead of taking my loss like any other stallion would, I raised the bar and put her versus me in something more difficult - video games. Medical knowledge aside, this was pretty much the area I excelled in, winning several of the hardest games ever made. I didn't score a record time or anything but I beat them, which, in my opinion, is quite a feat. Boasting about myself inside my head and completely ignoring her button presses and combinations, I ended up beaten again, my defeat carried over to nine different games of various genres, from Questria Land to Equine Fighter Alpha 4. Since we played until midnight, I called it quits and went to sleep. She did the same shortly after, shut down the gaming system and I allowed myself to immerse deep into my thoughs and plan something for tomorrow.
On the following day, I woke up at eight but unlike Trixie, I immediately went out and started looking for a shop that has the things we need. However, to hinder my progress, she also required me to get her some sort of disguise since she didn't want anyone to know she was back in town. I sighed, lamenting that I already have hard enough task became even harder, but shrugged it off after a whole hour of no success. It took me an additional two hours to find the shop we needed, but even after that, I was still met with a problem. Apparently, some ponies liked to charge extra if the things were of utmost importance to their customers.
"Sorry, two thousand for a week rental of all the items you listed." proclaimed the white-bearded shopkeeper. "Non-debatable." He smoked his bubble pipe and stroked his beard, as if thinking and then added "Yes, absolutely non-debatable. Take it or leave it."
"Three hundred for one day." I argumented, causing the eyebrow on his dark brown face to raise. "Half now, half when I get back." He shook his head and pointed his hoove at the price list which explicitly said prices are firmly set. It also contained his signature at the bottom, though it was barely readable.
"This is an universal rental shop and in fact, the only one in Ponyville." he lectured me, dusting off the blue shutter shades, which were slowly gathering dust on the nearby shelf, never bought or picked up by anyone. "Everything here is of the highest quality and are certified to not fail their purpose. The prices are firmly set because the previous owner had problems with customers creating custom deals and not paying fully for their rented products." He put the shutter shades on, looked at me briefly and then put them back on their place.
"And what if I want to buy them?" I asked. "Besides, I doubt anyone here would use winter clothing or harnesses at this time of the year. Pickaxes are obsolete too, since the nearest mining town is somewhere in the Badlands and robes are very, very unstylish, even to the taste of the worst-styled ponies of Ponyville." He looked at me oddly, as if he was offended by how useless his wares were in these parts.
"That is untrue." He objected, showing me a book of rentals and giving it to me to read. "All of these things," he placed his hooves arond the rest of the junk he had in the shop. "are used by various ponies. They need them and I need bits." I looked into the book and smiled, going as far as letting out a small giggle.
"But Mr. Smartypants," I mocked him, smiling as I did. "your special book has no record of the items I want being ever rented. So, you are, as a matter of fact, lying to me." I let that sink in, causing him to become angry. Smiling once again, I turned to the last page, which, coincidentally, showed the dates the items were received.
"Get out!" he shouted, grabbing a broom to threaten me and boilling with anger. "GET OUT OF MY SHOP!" I smiled at him and finally took the time to read his name tag. Oldie Brown. Hmm... What a fitting name for a grumpy liar.
"This is fraud, Mr. Brown." I said calmly. "You're giving me the price of something new, while, in fact, all of the items I want are over three years old." I let my words leave my mark and then put the book on the counter, taking a look around. "This is a nice shop. Very nice shop indeed. Wouldn't it be a shame if somepony was notified of your... dirty business and and it was put out of business?" I am not proud for copying and using the same practices as the lawyers use in Manehattan, but just this once, I think they are perfectly justified. Now I just have to wait for that rock-hard ego to snap in half.
"But I... you..." he uttered, pointing at me with the broom and then angrily threw it aside. He gave an angry sigh and ran his hoove through his snow-white mane. "So much for a man wanting to protect his business. You lawdogs always have to show up to mess things up, don't you ?!" He turned to the side and spat on the floor.
"Oh, I am not a lawdog, Mr. Brown." I proclaimed. "I'm just from Manehattan." He gave another annoyed sight and shook his head. Apparently, mentioning one's home wasn't a good idea after all.
"Even worse! The birthplace of all lawdogs!" he said, frowning. "I don't like anywhere from those damned places, just tell me what you want and get out." A real deal, hmm? This just got a lot more interesting.
"Same items, quarter the place." I said, causing the shopkeeper to shout some sort of obscenity. "No one has to know of your little 'secret' and I give you my promise to take it to the grave. I don't know where my proposed journey will take me, but there's one thing to it that should matter to you. If I survive, you get the second quarter, if not, well, at least you'll find happiness in the fact that I'll be dead." The shopkeeper let that run through his head, propping againts his hoove whilst thinking.
"One third now," he said, stooding up from his chair and packing the things up in a compact box. "second third when you get back." Funny how he was a trader who kept proclaiming prices as firm and yet, here he was, attempting to cut a deal with someone who could make could seriously threaten his small business.
"No." I signed, using one of the rarer, yet unused pens to sign a check. "Take it or leave it." The shopkeeper didn't question my decision and just grabbed the check, letting me leave with the things I needed for our expedition. I left as quickly as I arrived, promising myself to never visit that questionable place again.
After arriving back home, Trixie greeted me with a smile and brief hug before wondering if I got all the things we needed. "Well, did you buy everything we need?" she asked, gazing at the box I was carrying. "As well as something for me to hide in?"
"Yes, yes." I assured her, taking the box from my back and putting it on the kitchen table, which was, coincidentally, also the only table in the house. "I had to pull a few strings and make a few screws loose, but I think the result is... great." I slowly opened the box and handed her those old, dusty black robes. She waved them, hoping to get some of the dust off but instead, breathed in some of it.
"How old," she said, coughing. "is this stuff?" From something that's been on a shelve for three years, that's a lot less more dust than I expected, really. This was just a gray cloud.
"I dunno." I answered her, taking the robes from her. "Logs showed three years but it appears to be much, much older than listed." I tried not to breath some of the dust in, but ultimately did, much to my annoyance. Obviously, Trixie couldn't wear something like that.
"What are you gonna do with it?" she asked, noticing my eyes having a reddish color inhaling some of the dust. "Wouldn't I be better with just, I dunno, blankets sewn together?" After hearing that incredible idea, I dropped the robes to the ground and took my best scissors to make the idea come true. I'm not a tailor, but that doesn't mean I can't make things, can I?
After half an hour worth of cutting and sewing my best blankets together, I was finally able to make Trixie's disguise. It wasn't masterfully crafted but pretty much served its purpose. Right after I finished, Trixie grabbed them and put them on and to my suprise, the fitted like a glove.
"This'll do nicely." she said, hiding her face in the robes' hood. "Where have you learned to cut and sew like that?" She moved briefly with the robes, testing if they hold together. Needless to say, they did.
"I didn't, simple as that" I answered her, closing the box on the kitchen table and putting it on my back once more. "Let's get to Canterlot as soon as possible, sooner started means sooner done." Trixie nodded in agreedment and both of us swiftly left the house. Even though we had all the things we needed, I still had doubts whether we'd make it. After all, climbing is not something that's im even remotely acquainted with.
Unfortunately, we walked past the same pub I visited a couple days ago and to my suprise, I once again met with my 'friend', though not conventionally. Someone kicked him out of the pub and he landed near me, standing up and brushing off the dirt off his hooves. He turned around and looked at the pub, cursing the pub, even resorting to spitting. I was puzzled at the fact that he didn't see us, but the rest of his actions were pretty much expected.
"I hate all of ye," he shouted, using a strong southern accent. "ya filthy dirtbags, with beer o' plenty comes responsibilty!" The bartender emerged from the pub and gave an angry look at him, holding an empty bottle as a weapon of sorts.
"See this?" The bartender threw the bottle, but Flamehoof dodged it inches away from his face. "You drank all of it, you-" I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that. Certainly not words a gentlecolt would use. With their exchange of opinions and slurs, the bartender returned back to the pub and in the meantime, Flamehoof stood up and noticed us. He smiled from one cheek to another but quickly turned to a puzzled look, curious as to who the mysterious pony in white robes could be.
"Who' that?" he asked, gazing at the pony oddly. "Umm... you just passin' by or need my help with somethin'? He brushed more dirt off himself and then tried to smoothen his mane, failing every single time. A classic example of untamable mane. Happens all the time to pretty much everyone.
"Who's the pony beneath the robes isn't important." I proclaimed, turning his attention from Trixie's disguise. "The two of us are going on an expedition to reach the highest mountain's tip. Not sure 'bout her opinion, but I'll be happy to have another one on board. You'll have to get your own climbing equipment though."
"A mare, huh? You little liar!" he said daringly and then remembered something completely different. "Wait just one tiny second... shouldn't you be at work?"
"Actually, no." I uttered. "Overslept once and got fired and replaced. Had Nurse Redheart explain what you two were doing before she said goodbye and wished me the best. She was the only one to do so, but still, it was better than absolutely no one noticing that I'm going." Flamehoof shook his head.
"This is why I hate offices." he uttered. "One strike and you're out, same as when you're a royal guard. But still better than-" Before he could finish, Trixie interrupted him, speaking in a somewhat different voice.
"We are not here to discuss that." she said in a lecturing tone. "The question is simple. You with us or not?" I was slightly suprised by her interruption but she was indeed right. We really needed to get a move on. Time wasn't really all that important, but the feeling is excitement was finally getting to me and I wanted to know what all the fuss mentioned in the poem was all about.
"What's in for me?" he asked, gazing at the small box I carried. I looked at Trixie and nodded, signalling her to use whatever dirty tricks she had in mind. If it's a stupid idea and works, it's not a stupid idea after all.
"More treasure than you could imagine and far more than you could carry." she said in a daring tone, drawing an image of yellow, simple treasure box with her magic. "So... is that a good enough reason to join?" She let that sink in and dispersed the image into yellow dust. "Think," she added. "instead of fighting Celestia-knows-where, because of Luna-knows-what, you could just go into a dusty, old dunguon, dodge a few poison darts and grab the loot."
"Get rich so easily?" he asked. "Okay, what's the catch?" No matter how good the offer is, there's always a catch, like a thief needing to be super-elastic or just be the definition of sexy to get past the guards and whatnot.
"Well," I started explaining, taking out the book, which, despite our bags supposedly. "We only know vague information about the treasure and we aren't even entirely sure it exists." I opened the book at the legend with mysteriously added text and continued. "But I don't know anyone else I would take in for additional help." Flamehoof did a double take at us and started thinking. After a few seconds, he came to a rather suprising decision.
"Chance for treasure is better than no treasure at all" he proclaimed. "I'm going, just for the fun and because you guys look like you can barely carry it anyway." I was about to object his claim, but it was true and I didn't have any real counter-argument. I put the book inside my bag and showed him the contents of the box - three, leather harnesses and three, rusty pickaxes. He let out a giggle.
"Are you serious?" he asked. "Did you pick these things up in a thrift shop?" Well, someone obviously liked new, shiny stuff. Stuff I didn't really want to spend bits on.
"Look, we're not digging a tunnel to Saddle Arabia." objected Trixie, still keeping her altered voice. "One ascent, loot and descent. They'll do just fine." Flamehoof stroked his non-existant beard, as if thinking, and then catiously nodded.
"Fine, fine." he said. "But I have to bring a few more things." Before I could ask what the things were, he vanished from sight and reappeared a few minutes later, armed to the teeth and donning a uniform.
"Guns?" I asked, curiously. "We won't need any guns." Flamehoof's face had an unpleasant grin on his face and he took a shotgun shell from his ammo belt, presenting it to us.
"Better safe than sorry." he persuaded me. "One pull of a trigger and everything between the barrel of my shotgun and ten meters is instantly made into red jelly, no exceptions." I sighed, not believing he was such a gun-nut and little bit of a psycho, too.
"This is far beyond any acceptable defensive measures." said Trixie in a bossy theme. "I beg to differ. There is nothing in those mountains alive or stupid enough to attack something at the top of the food chain." While I agree wholeheartedly, mentioning the food chain was not the smartest argument. After all, there are far stronger beasts living in the forests.
"Please, let's just agree to disagree." I stated. "If he thinks they are needed, let him have his toys, we don't need them." Trixie inhaled, wanting to counter my argument, but instead went silent.
"So..." uttered Flamehoof. "Do you have everything we need to make the ascent?" I nodded and handed him his harness and pickaxe. Flamehoof shook his head in disapproval, telling us we were missing a lot of things still.
It took us another two hours to get the addional items, such as a lot of ropes and warm, winter clothing. Unfortunately, due to that, both me and Flamehoof of us had to spend a lot of our money and even I started hoping for treasure. After all, the differences between my pay and his was very obvious and I needed to pay for stuff, too.
Using our last money, we bought a train ticket to Canterlot and made a very risky bet to get everything back. Trixie, or, the 'mysterious pony', as Conner called her, was completely oblivious to our situation and was just glad to be away from Ponyville. Buried in my thoughs and various 'what-if' scenarios that probably wouldn't happen, I waited for the train to stop, full of both excitement and doubt...