With a little yawn I rub my eyes. There’s hardly any hurry this morning. It’s supposed to be a pretty clear schedule today. With a stretch and flap of my wings I hop off the bed and look out the window.
“Clear skies, just as they should be today.”
Despite just waking up I’m not hungry. Making my way to the kitchen table I take a hoof full of strawberries from a bowl and stuff them into my mouth. That should do just fine for now. I usually don’t get hungry until around noon anyway. Biting into them I nearly drowned on the juices.
Stepping outside I feel the sun on my face. It’s such a good feeling on days like this. Despite having little to do today I really should get to the office. Things always come up around here even on the good days. Plus I have to keep good appearances.
I begin a light trot down the street. Sure I could fly, but a good trot now and again is nice on days like this.
“Morning” somepony calls out.
Smiling I turn my head towards them as I pass “Good morning”
As I trot along I see some fillies gathered together playing a game. Kids are interesting. They do strange things, or at least I think so. Watching them as I approach I try figure out what they are doing. One of them has a stone and looks at it really close, as if something is inside it. The others are sitting around her, watching as she talks while looking deeply into the stone. Squinting a little I feel my head tilt to the side slightly. I really can’t tell what they are doing. Some kind of pretend I guess. As I get closer I begin to hear her story.
“I see way, way back in time. Boltcaster is flying through the skies over the ocean and then, suddenly, he sees land!” The filly with the stone is telling quite the tale. Funny it’s about Boltcaster, founder of Boltsamore and in fact my great ancestor. Most of the Pegasus of the region look up to him and it’s unsurprising why.
“ooo” all the fillies say as the stone-holder tells her tale.
“Boltcaster files in closer and sets hoof on the land and says” She tries to deepen her voice and sound heroic “This land shall be Boltsamore, new land of the Pegasus!” That’s not what happened at all, but something about this is familiar to me. Not the story the stone-holder is telling, but what she seems to be doing. It reminds me of an old local legend about an artifact that allows ponies to see the past. I hadn’t heard the tale since I was quite young myself. Few ponies seem to know the story at all.
“Hello little fillies”
They all turn towards me and their faces seem to light up at seeing me. It’s making me feel a bit hot and I think I’m blushing a bit. They don’t seem to notice though.
One of the shouts at me “Astroblitz! What are you doing here?”
“I was just passing by. But, I wanted to ask you all something.”
They look a bit confused. The filly with the stone was the one to speak up “What would you want to ask us?”
“It’s about that game you were just playing. Did somepony tell you the legend of the seeing stone?”
“Seeing stone?” She replied, “I thought it was called the Viewing Glass?”
“I just meant, you know, the legend of a magic object that lets you see back in time. Somepony told you that story?
“Oh, yeah. Why?”
“I was wondering if you could tell me who told you. I haven’t heard that legend since I was a filly.”
“It was Grizzly.”
“Grizzly…? Grizzly Graybeard? But he doesn't live in Boltsamore anymore.
“He was in town the other day to get some things and he told some of us that story.”
“I see.” How strange for that story to have popped up again. Then I realize they are all just staring at me while I was thinking, waiting for me to say something else I guess. “Thank you girls, I’ll be off then.”
I raise my wings and give them all a little salute as I take off.
“Bye Astroblitz!” I hear a few of them yell behind me as I speed off.
Landing on the steps city hall I head straight to my office. As I get some of the boring work out of the way a thought comes to mind. It’s nagging at me. It’s a worry from my fillyhood. Doing mindless paperwork I try to push the thought aside.
“It’s just a legend, if it were real surly somepony would have found it by now… right?”
I did not convince myself. The temptation to get answers is too strong. I cannot help myself but think of the opportunity I would be missing out on. To finally know what was said.
“Raz.” I call out.
A moment passes and I hear quick paced hoofsteps, then appears a head from around the doorway.
“Yes?”
“I need to check on something, do you think you can handle things for a bit? I should be back before too long.”
“Yes. It should be a breeze.” She smiles and seems quite pleased at saying this.
Thinking for a moment a little chuckle escapes my mouth. She made a joke. We literally have a breeze scheduled in about an hour.
“Good one Raz,” praising her joke. I raise my wings “It shouldn’t take long, just have to get some information and I’ll be back.”
And then I take off out the window.