//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Strange bedfellows [Edited] // Story: A New Adventure // by Late2TheGame //------------------------------// That morning was certainly an…interesting one. To start, Blaze was awoken by the sound of a mug shattering off the floor. Sitting up, he saw Nimbus, wide eyed, jaw practically on the floor as he looked out the window. “Everything okay?…Nimbus, you good?” A hungover Blaze groaned, to no response. Lifting Coco, the cat he found last night, off of his chest, he got up to investigate. But once he got to the window, his own jaw dropped. The sun was high in the sky as per usual, but so was the moon. The sky was split in half, day on one side and night on another. “…” “…” “WHAT THE FU-“ The next few hours were spend wildly panicking. Well, JJ, Smokey and Nimbus were in a panic, Blaze was frantically carefully searching through all his research materials and books from his cart to see if the could find any evidence of this being the result of some magical artefact or magic phenomena. Also looking for anything that could possibly help fix it. Finding out about an old staff in the Griffin Kingdom that might just do the trick, Blaze readied himself for a long and perilous journey, one that may very well decide the fate of the very world. Only he stood between Equestria, and total annihilat- “H-hey guys…the s-sky, it’s gone back to normal” JJ called from next to the window. Blaze and the others looked for themselves and surely enough, it was daytime. Just like any other day. “Right.” Blaze says, confused and a little embarrassed as he turned back to the living room to gather this stuff, along with Coco who was buried somewhere among all the scrolls and books. “Okay. Cool.” Some time later, after the panic had passed and after they finished tiding all of Blazes stuff back into his cart, Blaze and Coco were ready to set off to their next adventure. The guys tried to convince Blaze to stay longer but he turned down the offer. Blaze was never comfortable staying in one spot too long, so he was happy to get back on the road again soon. In the end, they said their goodbyes as Blaze set off. At least this time he had a little travel buddy with him. He couldn’t believe he picked up a stray cat, but he wasn’t about to abandon her in the side of the street now. He just had to make peace with the fact now, he was a cat owner. It took a few days to adjust to the new routine with Coco, he had almost been suffocated in his sleep twice with her deciding that his face looked like a comfortable place to sleep. But Blaze found that cats were fairly easy to take take of, so long as she was fed, watered and was provided with love and attention, she didn’t make with life a living hell. “Kinda like a girlfriend.” He would joke to himself, thinking he was funny. One day, while he was entertaining her with a spell that creates a harmless laser for her to chase, a flash of light comes from his desk. He turned to see a scroll appear in a spark of magic from a sending crystal he bought to receive his mail, it cost him a pretty penny but it’s not like he had a mailing address. Ending his laser-pointer spell (much to Coco’s offence) he inspected the scroll to see if the seal was from one of his previous buyers, but it was unfamiliar to him. This wasn’t the most unusual thing for him, he had buyers recommend him to their friends before. So he opened the letter, finding another smaller piece of paper inside that he set to the side, and begins reading the main letter: Dear Mr Comet, I have been referred to your services by our mutual friend. My name is irrelevant at this time; however, if you are as good as I hear you are then you will learn it in time, as I will have more work for you to complete. Attached to this letter you will find the location where we can conduct our business. You will meet with me there in exactly 1 weeks time. I look forward to meeting you and working with you toward a new future. “Huh, mysterious.” He thought to himself, taking a sip of his coffee; sometimes these rich, aristocrat types preferred to be all cloak and dagger with the whole exchange. They were usually harmless, and sometimes the items they wanted were already in the possession of another owner so they felt the need to be overly cautious. But he’s seen it before so he wasn’t overly concerned at the moment. He picked up the other piece of paper and unfolded it, finding it showed an address in Canterlot. “Now that is interesting.” He thought out loud, normally Canterlot ponies were far too concerned about maintaining their image and hoarding their money to need his services. He checks his magic strongbox and decides that the trouble was probably worth the money. He spend more than he meant to on the guys night out. That as well as cart upkeep, provisions, stuff for Coco and general carelessness; he decided to go to at least hear them out. At that moment Coco jumped onto his desk, taking a seat on the letter and staring at him with an annoyed scowl. Blaze gave her an amused look as he fired up his laser-pointer spell once again. “Alright alright, I hear you. Play first, work later. But just for 5 more minutes.” They then played for another 3 hours. They day of the meeting has come and Blaze was almost at the location detailed on the letter. An old pub in a quiet part of town, he was to ask the bartender for “new-dawn shot”. At least if this turned out to be a bust, he’d get to try a new drink. He walked into the pub; it was the middle of the day so it wasn’t busy, with only two patrons sitting at separate booths. The pub itself was old and rundown, and it looked as though it hadn’t been cleaned properly in years. As if the health inspector assumed the place was already shut down and ignored the place. “Looks like a nice place.” Blaze thought sarcastically to himself as he walked but to the bar. The bartender was a middle-aged earth pony mare who looked like she could bench him with one hoof. “What’re ya having, hun?” She asked without looking up from the glass she was polishing. “I’ll have a uh “New-dawn shot” please.” Blaze said with slight hesitation. This was the first time he’s had a secret meeting this, well, secretive. At his request, the bartender looks up at him, almost like she was sizing him up. Until she looked back down and spoke. “The rest of yer party is in the private room down the hall. They’ve had all their drinks ordered.” Blaze gave her a not before making his way down the hall. “Last door on the right.” The bartender called out to him. Following her instructions, he finds the door and after taking a breath and cracking his neck, he knocked. To his surprise, a sweet sounding female voice answered. “Come in!” Blaze was a little taken aback by the cheerful tone of the voice coming from the other side of the door. After shaking off the shock he cleared he’s throat and entered the room. Upon entering the room, he was met by a beautiful Unicorn mare with an alabaster coat and a long pastel pink mane, her cutie mark showed an Orchid flower in bloom. He is also surprised to see no security accompanying her; no guards or anything, just her sitting at a small table that stood against the left wall. “Wow, you’re much better looking then I thought you were going to be.” The mare said with a cheerful smile as she watched him walk in through the door. She got up and walked over to him, offering her hoof to him “It’s just so lovely to finally meet you!” Blaze hesitantly took her hoof, giving it a gentle kiss as was the expected greeting for these kind of ponies, in his experience “Likewise, I’m Blazing Comet. And what might your name be?” She lets out a giggle as she brings her hoof to her mouth. “What a gentlecolt! And that accent, Mr Comet you’ll make me blush! But I’m afraid I can’t tell you that juuust yet, be patient though okay?” She said with a wink. “I don’t trust you one bit.” Blaze thought to himself. Feeling a little uneasy at just how cheerful she is being, it was unnatural. “Oh don’t worry, you don’t have to right now. Just hear me out and we can both get what we want.” She said with a gentle, unwavering smile. “Wha-“ Blaze was completely stunned “I didn’t say that out loud did I?” he thought, worried that his mouth was running before he could think. “No. But that’s not what’s important right now.” She said as she made her way back to her seat at the table, gesturing to the other chair on the other side of the small table. “Please, join me.” Blaze stood frozen for a moment before shaking himself awake and walking over to the table, sitting across from her. “That’s one neat party trick you’ve got there.” He said, trying not to think of anything embarrassing. She let out a small giggle at his comment. “Wellllll I don’t know if I’d describe it as “neat” but is has its uses.” “I’ll bet.” This mare was making him more uneasy by the second. “Now, as much as I’d love to continue chatting, your uneasy face is just adorable by the way, I think we should discuss the reason I reached out to you.” She began as she used her magenta coloured magic to pull a large, sealed envelope from her saddlebags that sat on the old bed in the back corner of the room. She placed the yellow envelope in front of him and Blaze gives her one more look before opening it, revealing some files on an old tomb and a map of its location. Along with a sketch of an old spyglass with magic ruins curved into it. “The tomb was built by a wizard from old Equestria, Mystic the Marvel. He liked to imbue objects with his magic, the spyglass is one of those items. It supposedly allows you to read magic and magical effects.” The mare said with a smile. “If you know so much about it already then why have you come to me? Surely you have guys that you can trust to not run with the spyglass right?” Blaze asked firmly. In truth he was starting to have doubts about this job, and was looking for a reason to drop it. “Trust isn’t an issue with me Blazey, I can call you Blazey right? And I picked you because you came highly recommended; also, you should know that if you complete this task, the spyglass is yours! I don’t really care about it to be honest.” She said with a shrug. That…really through Blaze for a loop. So much so that he forgot to ask her not to call him “Blazey”. To be honest It was really tempting, something like that would be invaluable to his work. But one think was still bugging him. “You’re testing me, aren’t you? You want to see if I’m capable using this task so you’ll give me the real job.” The mare’s smile grows even bigger “Looks and brains, you’re making me weak in the knees here Blazey.” She teases with a giggle “That’s exactly right, once you have the spyglass, I’ll contact you again and we can officially enter a partnership!” She was positively beaming. “And what if I refuse this, other job?” Blaze couldn’t help but be on the defensive while taking to this mare. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll just go out separate ways, but I know you won’t refuse.” she says, maintaining her smile “Now, I do have the room for the right, if you’d like to stay~” She looked towards him with half lidded eyes and a grin. Feeling a chill run down his spine, Blaze stood up, took the files and made for the door. “T-thank you for the kind offer but I’ve got my cart waiting outside. I’ll get this done and we can discuss business then okay?” He put on a strained smile as he slowly backed out the room. The mare let’s out another giggle bin response. “I understand, safe travels Blazey~” Once out the door, Blaze wasted no time getting back to his cart and getting as far away from this part or town as possible. Eventually parking it in and near empty street. Spending the rest of the night going over the files. That mare creeps him out, but this job and that spyglass were too temping, the files had information on the wizard who built the tomb, what it was thought to have been used for and the location, including the nearest town. “Ponyville.”