Ponies of Fayra — Legend of Harmony

by chaosdrop

Chapters

001 - Lost and Found
009 - We Should Just Ask
026 - Reflections of Past Light
030 - An Unexpected Shortcut
046 - The Apple Valley Express
002 - A Moment of Illumination
003 - A Late Morning Run
004 - Getting to the Bottom of...
005 - In the Mood for Something Different
006 - Galloping in the Moonlight
007 - Rule #1 Always Leave a Note
008 - Bunny on the Run?
010 - Light as a Feather
011 - A Solid Nights Rest
012 - Guiding Light
013 - An Early Morning Swim
014 - Lightenup
015 - Weather Bell Mystery
016 - A Moment to Think.
017 - Rocky Waters
018 - Special Somepony Plans
019 - Camping by the Everfog
020 - Legends
021 - Pushing Ahead
022 - Stop, Drop, and Roll
023 - Mystery on Halfway Island
024 - Fairytale Friends
025 - Zeph's New Rule
027 - Left Behind
028 - Helping Old Friends
029 - Runs in the Family, Or Not...
031 - Now Playing
032 - Real Magic
033 - A Kindred Connection
034 - Considerations
035 - The Map Quest
036 - A Magical Interrogation
037 - Customer Assistance
038 - Where's Your Sense of Curiosity?
039 - Public Service Announcement
040 - Tracking a Mystery
041 - An Evening in the City
042 - Memories of Long Ago
043 - Kitsunny?
044 - Morning Coffee
045 - Bedtime Story

001 - Lost and Found

“It was a dark and stormy day in the Lost Isles.”

“Zeph, it’s literally the sunniest day I’ve seen in a week. Not a single cloud in the sky.”

“I’m trying to build a mood. Now, if you don’t mind, can I get back to my narrative?”

“Why do you even need a narrative? We’re looking for a lost cat toy?”

“It helps me stay in the detective’s state of mind. Now, if you don’t mind, Zain, can I get back to my narrative?”

“Fine—”

“…was a dark and stormy day on the Lost Isles when the great cat-tastrophe occurred.”

“Found it! It just fell behind the steps.”

With a heavy sigh, the light gray pegasus, her mane a cascade of grayscale hues, adjusted her black hat and straightened her tie as she approached her brother. His aquamarine mane and dark blue fur were complemented by his overly formal midnight blue attire, his most contrasting feature being his large, rimmed gold glasses. With a swift motion, she snatched the cat toy away from him.

“You think there’ll ever be a real mystery to solve around here?”

“I want to say yes? I mean, we literally live in a place with ‘lost’ in its name.”

“I’m tired of finding lost things!”

“Well—if things aren’t lost, you can’t find them.”

“I’m not a lost and found expert. I’m a detective! I want to solve mysteries, stake out an evildoer’s headquarters, or uncover a grand conspiracy.”

“The only ‘grand conspiracy’ in the Lost Isles is how Flare gets her pizza to taste like burned driftwood, no matter what the toppings are.”

“Speaking of, I’m kind of hungry. I wonder what the pizza of the day is?”

“Driftwood, what else?”

“Could you at least pretend she makes good pizza? The least you could do is support her.”

“What have I been doing this whole time? It’s not like I’ve ever complained while eating it.”

“How about a compliment next time?”

“I’m a widely respected reviewer, Zeph. I can’t bend my opinion in favor of a friend or practical family member.”

“She’s getting better, and it’s been her dream since we were fillies to make the best pizza in the Lost Isles. It’s our duty as her friends to support her. It’s not like your quill is moving while you’re eating a casual personal dinner. You can turn off your work persona from time to time, you know?”

Making her way over to a lazy black cat, Zeph dangled the toy in front of it only to have the cat look up at her like she was crazy. Zeph sneered at the cat, then dropped the toy in front of it. The cat turned its head and closed its eyes.

Picking up the toy again, Zeph made her way to the front of the house and found Lilly, an elder, gray-maned mare with a long faded blue coat, watering her flowers.

The moment Lilly noticed Zeph, her face lit up with joy as she made her way over.

“You found it! Lucky’s going to be so thrilled! He’s been such a grumpy kitty since he lost his four-leaf clover toy. The other day he was so depressed he wouldn’t even eat his favorite fish.”

Zeph saw a look of utter disgust wash over her brother’s face, causing her to smile nervously as she hoped he’d keep his mouth shut. Her brother wasn’t very good at hiding his thoughts, feelings, or opinions.

Zain walked by Zeph and nudged her on the shoulder. “Let’s get going. We told Flare we weren’t going to be late today, since she had a surprise for us.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Zeph enthusiastically agreed with her brother and made a quick departure.

As the pair left ear range, Zeph heard her brother shudder in disgust.

“I don’t know why ponies keep cats as pets.”

“If you don’t think about what they eat, they’re kind of cute.”

“Zeph, they eat other pets!”

“I know, I know, it’s gross, but thank you for not making a scene.”

“I’m just tired of having the same argument over and over. I feel as if I haven’t had a unique conversation in years. While I don’t understand why you care about solving some grand mystery so much, I would like something new for a change. I mean, seriously, my last review column was the three hundred and twenty-fourth part of reviewing surfboard designs because the only regularly interesting thing that ever happens around here is surfboard art, and that’s just because it erodes so quickly. If Luna ever comes up with true waterproof paint, or runs out of original ideas, I don’t know what I’m going to fill my column with most of the time.”

As the siblings made their way down the sun-bleached boardwalk that sprawled out in countless unorganized directions as if it had been built by a community of intoxicated spiders, Zeph’s eyes wandered across the tropical cityscape of her home. Ever-changing, yet always the same. Ponies were always doing things, but they were always the same things. When she was a filly, the city’s many twists and turns felt like they held countless mysteries and endless possibilities, yet as she explored, she came to realize that despite its appearance, it was filled with more or less the same down every corridor, with only a few unique standouts dotting the city as major landmarks.

As the pair passed by Sundancer’s pet shop, Zeph’s attention was pulled to a rather peculiar, and exceptionally grumpy, looking lavender-colored bunny.

“Hey Zain, since when do bunnies come in lavender?”

“I’m pretty sure they don’t. I suppose Sundancer dyeing bunnies to try and find them homes could be something new to review.”

“I didn’t dye any bunny any color,” came a rough female voice from around the corner, followed shortly by the bright yellow pegasus the voice belonged to. “Cloudy and Storm found that little guy washed up on the beach a couple of weeks ago and brought him in. Though he’s only been out for adoption for a couple days. He wasn’t seriously hurt, but the poor little guy was pretty malnourished. That said, he’s a pretty weird bunny, so no one’s wanted to take him in yet.”

Carefully watching the bunny, Zeph felt strange, as if she was watching a bored pony rather than a pet or wild animal. He was sitting unnaturally, had unusually shaped paws which he tapped impatiently against his leg, and stared off into the distance with a deep sense of awareness. For a brief moment, he looked towards her and rolled his eyes, as if to say, “oh great another pony gawking at me.”

“You want me to write about him? My next column will be posted on the board tomorrow.” Hearing her brother’s voice, Zeph’s attention snapped back to Sundancer.

“Nah, he seems to be getting grumpier the more ponies stop to look at him, so I think I need to put him in the back and find him a home another way. Though if you know anyone who wants a precocious escape artist bunny, let me know and I’ll interview them.”

Zeph’s eyes went wide. “Escape artist?”

“Yeah, he’s always trying to escape, the little rascal. I’d just let him go, but since he’s obviously not native to the Lost Isles, it would be the death of him. I’m sure I don’t have to remind the island’s foremost detective of all the poisonous and deadly things around here.”

Zeph chuckled awkwardly as she tried not to remember some of the grimmer outcomes of her missing pet and pony investigations. Most of the time when a pony went missing, they just got lost amongst the city boardwalk, but every once in a while… she shuddered and shook her head intensely. “Indeed not. Where do you think he came from?”

“Not much of any real clue. While he was recovering, I did my best to figure something out about him, but came up empty-hoofed. At this point, I’d have to assume he came from the mainland.”

“Then it seems like the obvious thing to do would be to return him there.” Zeph’s eyes darted towards the bunny as she noticed his paw stop tapping at the sound of her words, but her attention was soon stolen back by the sound of Sundancer laughing flamboyantly as she dismissed the outlandish idea.

“No pony’s been to the mainland in recorded history, nor am I letting anypony just toss him on a raft and send him back out on the ocean alone. Like it or not, he’s a member of the Lost Isles now.”

Looking back over at the bunny, Zeph noticed a clear sign of irritation, as if he could understand what was being said. Wanting to test her theory, she decided to press Sundancer a bit and see how the bunny reacted.

“Just because no pony’s done it in a while doesn’t mean no pony is willing to do it.” Looking back at the bunny from the corner of her eye, Zeph noticed he was now looking straight at her inquisitively, but once again turned his head and rolled his eyes as Sundancer laughed.

“Detective, I know you like to try and solve things, but this is one best left alone. He’s just one of us now, and you both need to just accept it.”

Still studying the bunny out of the corner of her eye, Zeph tried to come up with a rebuttal to Sundancer in order to get his attention again. Running out of ideas fast, but not wanting to let the chance for the most exciting mystery in ages to escape her hooves, Zeph suggested she could adopt the bunny, which seemed to stun both Sundancer and the bunny. After a moment, Sundancer put her hoof on Zeph’s shoulder as she looked her straight in the eyes.

“Detective, the only pet I’d allow you to adopt is a rock.”

Feeling bemused, Zeph found herself speechless.

“Even if she got a rock, Flare would be the one who got stuck dusting it.”

Hearing her brother’s voice, Zeph snapped out of her state of shock. Feeling flustered and annoyed, she glared at the two for a moment while she contemplated her next words carefully. She knew if she gave a knee-jerk reaction, it could lose any hope she had at securing the bunny. Knowing she had little time to think, she gave a quick direct glance over to the bunny, who looked into her eyes for a moment before smiling at her, then returned to looking even grumpier than before. Feeling as though she knew what he was thinking, she looked back to Sundancer and cleared her throat.

“How about a challenge, then? Anything you want, but if I win, I get to adopt him.”

Sundancer looked between Zeph and the bunny for a moment before sighing. “Detective, we both have better things to do with our time.” Zeph stood firm and stared intensely into Sundancer’s eyes. “Okay, if it means that much to you.”

“Come on, Zeph, you can’t possibly want to adopt him. You’ve never wanted a pet before. You don’t even like lavender-colored things!”

Zeph took a deep breath and gave her brother the most intense “please be quiet” glare she had ever given him, and with that, he sighed and looked to Sundancer and waited for her challenge.

The first part of the challenge was a breeze, a simple question-and-answer session about what bunnies need to eat and how to take care of them. Having politely listened to countless bunny owners talk in great detail about their precious little fuzzballs, of which she usually had near zero interest, Zeph knew about everything any pony could know about them.

“I’m surprised you know so much about bunnies, but no matter your depth of knowledge, the true test is whether you can handle them.” Sundancer gave Zeph a wicked smile as she walked over to the cage. “If you can catch him, he’s yours.”

Unlatching the cage, Sundancer stared in confusion as the bunny walked out of the cage, calmly and sat between Zeph’s front legs. Sundancer scrunched up her nose and stared intensely at the bunny before tapping her hoof on the ground.

“I-I, what? Aren’t you going to run? You’re free, get going!” The bunny looked at her unamused before hopping up on Zeph’s back and turning his head away from her, as if to convey that he was completely ignoring her. “Uhm, hmm, well… I guess he’s yours? B-but if you have any trouble with him, bring him back.”

“That’s it. You’re just going to let her take him?”

“I guess? Honestly, I’m a little confused. He hasn't let anypony come close to him since he regained his strength. I’ve also never seen a bunny ride on a pony’s back before either… Maybe you remind him of his last owner, and they had him trained to do that? He seems to be unusually smart for a bunny. Anyway, let me know if you need anything, I guess…”

Author's Note

Feel free to leave comments predicting what you think will happen next. Even if that part of the story has been written already. I always love hearing about what people think will happen. If you don't want to risk predicting spoilers for people in the comments: https://tally.so/r/wQO1oY

Special Note: This series is being written for my niece and nephew. e.g: Expect it's content to be appropriate for pre-teen / early teen audiences.

I plan to keep writing it until:

A: I run out of story to tell.
OR
B: My niece and nephew lose interest.

IF B happens Then:

As long as the series has a reasonable audience after they lose interest it will likely still continue until I've ran out of story to tell. As of now (Chapter 43) they say they are more excited about this story than they are new Minecraft book releases, so that's a good sign. They both—really love their unofficial Minecraft fiction books.

I've been striving for 1x chapter every other day.

This is also still a "rough" story as far as I'm concerned. I do periodically go back and revise small details such as descriptions in the story from time to time. Especially as I get to know characters better. Suggestions for better descriptions are always welcome.

009 - We Should Just Ask

Arriving at the west ridge plaza Flare, Zain, and Cozy, who had joined them despite the fact it was nearing her usual bedtime, split up and began asking ponies if they had seen Zeph or noticed anything strange when they woke up.

While Flare herself had come up empty hoofed, Zain had a pony tell him he was woken up by a pony running by in the middle of the night, and that he was fairly sure the pony was heading in the direction of the docks. He didn’t get a good look at them, but could swear they were wearing a hat that matched the one Zeph wore everywhere.

Getting to the docks, the trio once more split up and began searching. None of them were able to come up with any leads. No pony was at the docks at night, and every pony they asked told them the same thing. “It’s unsafe to be on the docks at night.”

As the trio sluggishly walked out of the docks, Cozy began running over to an empty bay. “Is that… It is!”

Trotting after Cozy, Flare looked in the direction she was pointing to see a glow berry floating in the water.

“A discarded glow berry?” Muttered Zain, clearly unimpressed with Cozy’s find.

“Not just any glow berry. That’s one of the ones I gave Flare in her last shipment.”

“How can you tell?” asked Flare in a perplexed tone.

“It has a slight bluish glow. Those only come from one cave chamber, and I’m the only pony who harvests them.”

“So….” Muttered Zain towards Cozy.

“According to Flare, you, Zeph and Argon are the only ponies who eat them. So, unless you were here tossing berries in the water last night, that means Zeph and Argon must have been here recently.”

As an elderly pony passed by, Flare stopped him and asked if anything looked out of place around them.

“The old trot glider that’s usually here isn’t. That’s the only thing I see different than normal. If I remember correctly, that trot glider was taken out of general use a couple years back on account of being too prone to breaking down. No one liked to use it because they were too afraid of getting stranded, so it was put over here out of the way. Since it’s not here, I’d wager it finally got recycled.”

“Or it was borrowed by Zeph!” Declared Flare.

Zain rolled his eyes. “Why would Zeph need a trot glider?”

“I don’t know, maybe because she, uhm… I don’t know, but she was at the library yesterday. We should see if Emmy knows something.”

With no other leads, the trio of ponies made their way to the central library. As they approached the door, Cozy tugged on Flare’s tail feathers. Looking back at Cozy, she saw her motioning with her head to go to the side. Not sure what was going on, Flare nudged Zain and the pair followed Cozy off to the side of the library and to an open window.

“Why are we here, Cozy?” Whispered Flare.

“Because the three ponies from this morning are in there talking to Emerald. I’m going to sneak in through the window and listen in.”

Without another word, Cozy jumped on Zain’s back, jumped again, and glided through the window, leaving Flare and Zain alone.

“She’s lighter than she looks, and she looks pretty light.” Remarked Zain.

“Yeah, the time I talked her into going wing gliding with me, she nearly blew away. She’s the only pegasus I’ve ever known who can actually use their wings to glide in the air.”

“I’ve never asked how did you meet her, anyway? I don’t remember her going to our school.”

Flare laughed awkwardly, not really wanting to share such an embarrassing story. “Well, it’s a long story.”

“We probably have a while.”

Flare bit her lip as she tried to suppress her embarrassment. “It’s kind of embarrassing, but I was out wing gliding, lost my bearings and wound up lost in a cave system. When I started crying, thinking I was doomed, that’s when Cozy appeared out of nowhere and led me out of the caves. After that, I kind of made the habit out of visiting those caves whenever I was out wing gliding alone and Cozy always seemed to be there.”

“Kind of hard to imagine you crying in a cave. You’re one of the toughest ponies I know.”

“To be fair, I was just a filly back then. We were still in Ms. Greenwaters class.”

“Now the question is why were you out wing gliding—alone at that age?”

“Because you and Zeph wouldn’t come out with me enough.” Flare stuck her tongue out playfully.

“We hung out at the beach like every other day.”

“Precisely, which meant I was just alone at the beach half the time. That was back before we were good enough friends that we just hung out after school all the time.”

“So, what did Cozy look like when she was that young?”

Flare thought hard for several long moments, trying to search her memories for a time when Cozy looked any different from what she always had, but came up with nothing.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine. I just can’t seem to remember Cozy ever looking different. I mean, she didn’t always wear the blue bow she does now. That was a gift I gave her a long time ago, but other than that, I just don’t remember her ever changing. I’m sure it’s just change blindness, though. I’m sure she changed, just not enough for me to remember.”

“That’s kind of strange. Then again, this whole thing is pretty strange, and feels like something Zeph would love. If she were here. It’s kind of funny she’s turned into the kind of mystery she’s always wanted. Though I’m sure this is all some weird misunderstanding. Anything that seems too weird always is. In fact, why are we spying on ponies? We should just go ask them what’s going on.”

“That’s true… I just got caught up in following along. We’ll let Cozy have her fun for a few more minutes, then we’ll walk in. If I wasn’t worried about Zeph, I wouldn’t rush her.”

“I still don’t think there’s anything to worry about. Zeph is sometimes reckless, but she’s not dumb. I mean, she did seem oddly intent on trying to help Argon get back to the mainland, but I don’t think she’d actually do it … do I? I mean, that would mean crossing the buoys and that would be dumb.”

“You don’t sound convinced that she wouldn’t do it.”

Zain looked lost in thought for quite a long while before he replied to Flare in an empty, unconvincing tone. “I don’t think she would.”

After standing in an awkward silence for quite some time, the pair decided to go back to the front of the library. When they looked through the glass doors, they didn’t see any pony. Upon entering, Flare also didn’t hear any pony. It was as if they were the only ponies in the building.

026 - Reflections of Past Light

As Cozy and Emerald turned around a corner and Zeph’s house came into view, Cozy noticed that there were several ponies working around the outside of Zeph’s house, seemingly hanging decorations. As the pair approached, Clover trotted up to them.

“Emmy, Cozy! You come by to decorate too?”

“Decorate?” Squeaked Cozy, feeling more than a little confused.

“Zeph’s house, of course! Every pony’s really excited for Flare and Zeph, so one thing led to another, and now there’s a community effort to set up a party for when they return. We don’t know when they’re getting back, though, so we’re working fast. Personally, I was just going to get them a nice bouquet that blended their colors together, but when Zain found out Flare and Zeph were dating, he wanted to arrange something big!” Clover looked to her side, then nudged up close between Cozy and Emerald and whispered, “Between us, I think it’s revenge for not telling him about it before leaving.” Clover pulled away and giggled.

Cozy stared at Clover with her nose scrunched and eyebrows raised in disbelief. “W-what?”

Clover’s face lit up. “Oh— you’ve been living under rocks like usual for the past few days, haven’t you? In that case, let me fill you in. Zeph went missing a couple days ago, but that turned out to just be her setting up some surprise romantic thing for Flare. Which then led to them touring the islands together to celebrate their relationship!”

“Tha—“ As Cozy started to speak, she was cut off by Emerald.

“That’s so sweet! I couldn’t be happier for them; they’ll make such a cute couple.”

“B—” Cozy was once again cut off by Emerald.

“But we’re kind of busy at the moment. Cozy and I were just going to grab a quick dinner at Flare’s, then get back to our research. Since it sounds like Flare isn’t around, we’ll head back into town. Did you have anything you needed hauled away? Zeph always keeps her home a bit messy. I assume you had to do quite a bit of cleaning?”

“Yeah, it was pretty messy. Everything’s loaded in the wagon over there. But I was just going to take care of that myself on my way home.”

“We can handle it. The recycling center’s the opposite direction from where you live, isn’t it? And we want to do something to help.”

“Awesome, I’ll leave it to you then. The wagon can go back to Farm Stand Alley when you’re done. Before you go, you should check out the inside of the house!”

Cozy followed behind Emerald as the trio made their way over to Zeph’s doorway and peered inside. Every wall was completely covered in decorations, and there were dozens, if not hundreds, of things hanging from the ceiling.

“Oh my…” Emerald said as she reached up and tapped her glasses.

“Uhm…” Cozy’s eyes wandered around the mess of color, not entirely sure what to focus on for several moments before Clover broke the silence.

“I know, right? We’ve had a lot of ponies come by to add a thing or two. I think they’re going to be pretty surprised when they get back.”

“I would certainly think so…” Emerald laughed awkwardly as she turned away and started walking towards the wagon. “We should be going, but keep up the wonderful work!”

Cozy followed beside Emerald quietly until they were well out of range of Zeph’s house.

“Flare’s going to faint when she sees that mess,” Cozy snipped.

“Rumors are a strange thing. I wonder if there’s any truth to any of it?”

“How should I know? I don’t pay attention to romantic stuff. That said, we do know it’s fundamentally based on a lie, since we know they’re not doing what ponies think.”

“Is your aversion to romance due to it being too dangerous for you to get that close to any pony?”

Cozy went to give her generic reply about simply not being—that kind of pony, but realized even though Emerald had the wrong idea about what she was, she had the right idea about her motive. “There’s no point in pining for something you can’t have. It would be like a pegasus getting worked up about not being able to fly.”

“It’s funny that you used that analogy, since I’ve always wanted to fly. I love paragliding, the feeling of being above the world with the wind rushing through my feathers. It makes me feel as if I’m connected to something deep inside me.”

Cozy glanced down to her bracelet, feeling an intense amount of guilt knowing that she could allow Emerald to experience her dream with the help of the pegasus cube, but it would mean putting a serious fracture in the veil of her lie. With a pony who liked to pry into things, nonetheless.

As the pair neared the recycling center, they took a moment to rummage through the cart until Cozy had found enough of Zeph that she felt she could tune the compass well enough to overcome the static of the Everfog.

With the compass tuned, Cozy thanked Emerald for the assistance, then began to break away, but was stopped by Emerald.

“Did you want to get dinner together before you leave?”

“I’d rather get some extra sleep…” Cozy looked back down at her bracelet as her guilt continued to eat away at her. “H-have you ever heard about how the moon phase affects magic?”

“In some stories, a full moon amplifies magic, whereas a new moon weakens it. In others, it’s important to brew elixirs on the new moon to infuse it with positive energy during the waxing phase. There’s more, but why do you ask?”

“We’re just near a full moon, and … I was thinking if you wanted to, you could meet me at the far side bluff to test something before I left.” Cozy tapped her bracelet, figuring Emerald would understand without her having to say more.

“Oh— You think it would work for me?”

“Worth a try, if you’re interested.” Looking away from her bracelet and back to Emerald, Cozy couldn’t help but feel her consciousness lighten at the brimming smile on Emerald’s face.

“I’d love to. Where should I meet you?”

“Let’s meet up at Star Watchers Point. Since it’s the only place ponies go at night there, it’ll be easy to know if we’re alone by meeting there.”

“Understood. Mum’s the word, and I’ll see you there.”

Breaking off from Emerald, Cozy made her way back home, where she took a short nap and packed a rather large supply of glow berry extract. Last time, she hadn’t taken much as she assumed her trip would be relatively short, as in short enough to survive off fresh glow berries and a single bottle of extract, but now knowing that Zeph wanted to stay in the mainland, and that Flare was somewhere out in the Equitoria wilds as well, she knew she needed to be prepared to be away for a great, long while.

With her things packed, Cozy paced around her thinking room slowly for several laps. Not thinking about anything in particular, but simply soaking in the moment. When she began feeling anxious, she made her way to Star Watch Point, where she found Emerald sitting on a blanket, looking up at the stars.

“When I was a filly, I used to come up here at least once a week and watch the stars. Sometimes I would fall asleep and dream I was flying amongst them.” Emerald giggled as she looked over to Cozy.

Cozy looked up at the stars and felt the weight of her past creep up on her. Yet another reason she enjoyed spending her time in caves was to avoid the stars, as, like flying, they reminded her of a time she considered best forgotten.

Shaking her head and refocusing her mind on the moment, Cozy looked back to Emerald and smiled at her visibly eager energy. The old mare may as well have been a small filly waiting for a reward. Having been channeling energy into her bracelet since she left her home, Cozy had concentrated enough energy to cast a strong enough levitation enchantment to allow Emerald to fly for at least a couple of hours. Walking up to Emerald, Cozy touched her briefly as she walked past and over to the edge of the bluff, where Cozy took off her saddlebags and laid them on the ground.

“Do what I do, and you’ll be fine. Of course, you’ll be fine regardless with me around.” Cozy gave Emerald a smug smile.

Jumping off the edge, Cozy did her best to fly in a way that she was sure Emerald would be able to mimic. As expected, Emerald was able to follow behind her with relative ease, at least after Cozy channeled a bit more energy to subtly nudge her along. As Cozy guided Emerald around, she couldn’t help but think it was a good thing she didn’t need the levitation artifact to fly herself, as it was taking every last bit of its potential to guide Emerald along.

As time went on, watching Emerald’s excitement grow reminded Cozy of her youth, and how she used to fly through the night sky while dreaming about all the things she’d do in life. Feeling tired of being tied down by her current state of mind, Cozy let herself slip back to a time when it felt like she could do anything she set her mind to, to a time when the world felt as though it was filled with endless potential. Gliding through the sky, Cozy lost herself for several long moments as she spun around and watched the sky until she felt her enchantment beginning to weaken. Snapping back to the here and now, Cozy guided Emerald back to the bluff.

As soon as she landed, Emerald picked her up and twirled her around. “That was amazing, thank you—so much! It was everything I always dreamed it would be!” Emerald pulled Cozy in for a hug before letting her go. “You know, you are really light. I’m surprised you even need that artifact to fly.”

Cozy felt her mind sink at the reminder of her lie as she walked over and began putting her saddlebags back on. However, when she turned back to wave farewell to Emerald, she couldn’t help but smile.

As she soared from the Lost Isles, Cozy’s mind slipped away as she watched the twinkling stars reflecting in the water. Emerald’s question lingered, along with the memories of Emerald’s immense joy from getting to experience her dream, even if just for a fleeting moment. It made Cozy wonder if a time could ever come that she would allow herself to fall in love, even if just for a moment.

030 - An Unexpected Shortcut

Zeph trotted alongside Cedar with Argon on her back as Kira lay atop Cedar doing her best to hold on. Kira had tried hard to keep trotting along with them, but by the time they had been going for an hour, she had collapsed from exhaustion. Zeph felt bad for not realizing how tired she was getting, but it wasn’t something she was used to watching for either.

As the group approached a steep drop, Zeph looked to both sides of the cliff and sighed. “This looks like the start of a—very long detour.”

“You can’t fly, but could you glide over?” Asked Cedar as he bent down to let Kira off his back.

“I’m pretty sure I mentioned that Cozy was the only pegasus I knew who could glide.”

“Yeah, but not even a little?”

“Not even a little. Besides, even if I could, we’re not breaking up.”

Zeph watched nervously as Argon hopped all the way to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

“Maybe don’t stand that close to the edge?” Zeph called to Argon, who ignored her for a moment before motioning for her to come over.

Taking a deep breath, Zeph made her way over to the edge of the cliff and looked down. A long way down, she could see a large viney web below.

“If you’re thinking we jump down into that web, you’ve lost your little bunny mind.”

Argon looked at her unamused. A moment later, she got the image of a black-furred colt with a black mane wearing what appeared to be jungle-colored body wraps stuck in the web. Looking closer to where Argon was pointing, she could see the same pony indeed, stuck in the vines.

“That’s not good… I’m not sure what we can do though…”  Zeph got a mental image of her helping the pony out of the web.

“I’d like to, but…”

Argon continued to stare at her as if to say, “You can’t possibly be considering leaving him there.”

“I’m not, but we’re not getting down there anytime soon.”

Zeph looked over to Cedar, who was still pretty far back with Kira.

“You mind coming over here and yelling down to a pony? Your voice is way louder than mine.”

“Oh, uhm, y-yeah…” Cedar gulped hard as he inched slowly over to the cliff.

“Let me guess. You’re afraid of heights?”

“Not normal heights, but this… This is not normal.”

“I’m not exactly comfortable being this close to the edge either. Though, I’m not really scared of heights, just the splat at the end if I fall.” Zeph laughed awkwardly. “You can just call from there,” Zeph said after she had noticed that Cedar had frozen in place.

As Cedar called, Zeph watched the pony below, but didn’t see any movement.

“Either he can’t hear us, or he’s sleeping… or … uhm, yeah…”

Zeph turned back to see Cedar taking several long, deep breaths before inching closer to the edge before freezing in place again. A moment later, Kira came up behind him.

“You can do it!” She exclaimed enthusiastically.

Which prompted Cedar to let out a huff of air. “I can do it!” Cedar echoed as he slammed his hoof down in front of him, causing the ground to start shaking.

Zeph felt herself turning sideways. Looking behind Cedar, she saw the edge of the cliff break apart. Turning to Argon, she grabbed him in her teeth and ran as fast as she could, but feeling the ground slip from beneath her hooves, she used her last bit of footing to toss Argon as hard as she could towards the cliff.

As Zeph fell, she saw Argon run back up to the edge of the cliff, which allowed Zeph to breathe a sigh of relief. As she watched him shrink in her vision. She knew he’d be fine, even with her gone. Cozy would find him, and she would—

Before Zeph could finish her thought, her world suddenly turned into a blur as she jerked around, forcing her to instinctually close her eyes. When she stopped moving, she felt unable to move. Opening her eyes at the sound of a squeaky male voice calling out to her, it took a few moments for her vision to clear and for her realize that she was tangled in vines, hanging near the pony she had seen earlier.

“Good, you’re alive! Nice to meet you. My name’s Clef Noir of the Sparkmaster clan, and you are?”

“Zeph—Zeph Cloudchaser of the Lost Isles?” Zeph said in a daze as she studied the oddly colored pony in front of her. From a distance, he had appeared black, but up close, he appeared to have ash-colored markings throughout his fur. As she looked him over, her gaze moved to his bright blue eyes and then to the rather sharp-looking horn sticking out of his head. “Y-you’re a unicorn? Wait, Cedar! Kira! Are you okay?” Zeph yelled as loudly as she could.

Zeph heard Cedar’s voice call out from beneath her. “Yes, ma’am. Just hanging around.”

Kira’s voice came from above her. “That was kind of fun, but I feel really sticky now is that normal?”

“Falling off cliffs is a normal thing for you?” Asked Clef looking inquisitively at Zeph.

“No. This is not normal.” Remarked Zeph as she began wondering how she was going to get free. A moment into her thoughts, she saw a mental image of Cozy flying down the cliff. “Now that would be nice.”

A moment later, she heard Cozy’s voice calling out from above her. Looking up, Zeph saw Cozy descending slowly, with Argon on her back.

“Now I’ll admit I—could have gotten here sooner—but I also get the feeling you could have been safer.” Snipped Cozy.

Zeph smiled at Argon, who was energetically waving to her, before turning her attention back to Cozy.

“Where have you been?”

“The Lost Isles, actually, but I’ll explain that after I get you and your new… friends out of this.”

“Hello, I’m—” Cozy cut Clef off.

“I don’t care. At the moment. Stay quiet and let me think.”

Cozy landed on Zeph’s hat, which felt weird as she could barely feel her at all. It was as if a small bird was perched atop her.

Zeph gulped as she heard a familiar clicking sound. “I-I think you need to think faster. I get the feeling we’re about to have company.”

“I suppose that’ll have to do.” Feeling Cozy jump off her hat, Zeph looked down to see several large timber web spiders crawling up the cliff side towards them. Looking back towards Cozy, Zeph saw her pull a cork out of a bottle filled with glowing yellow liquid. Zeph watched as Cozy flew around and splashed every pony with what she assumed was glow berry juice.

“I don’t see how making us taste like glow berries is going to help, unless you’re trying to deter them from eating us.” Remarked Zeph as she watched Cozy dump the rest of the bottle on Cedar.

“That might work—if I had—a lot more glow berry extract, but I don’t. So you’ll just have to settle for a chain spell.” Cozy tapped her bracelet, which caused Zeph to feel so light that she started pulling upward on the vines.

“Not to complain, but even if we can float, we’re still stuck!”

“True, but you probably don’t realize that what’s sticking you to the vines is reversal magic and not sap.”

“Which means?”

Cozy tapped the vines, which caused them to slip off and fall to the ground with a loud thud as the cliff side rocks and spiders went with them, leaving Zeph, Cedar, Kira, and Clef floating in mid-air.

“If you nullify the magic, they become super slippery, instead of super sticky.” Cozy explained as she pushed every pony up a bit and to the other side of the cliff.

Once every pony was over solid ground, Cozy tapped each of them, causing them to flop to the ground.

Before Zeph could stand, Argon hopped over to her and hugged her. Picking him up, Zeph held Argon tightly as she watched Cozy turn her attention to Kira and Clef.

“Okay, now as for you two... I’m most curious about you.” Cozy said as she pointed to Kira.

“I’m Hakumei Kirameki, but you can call me Kira, and I’m a pony!” Kira said with a big smile as she held her hoof out in the same way Cedar had when he introduced himself to her.

Cozy stared at her dumbfounded for several long moments until Zeph cleared her throat. “She doesn’t have any memories of who or what she is. We were at a ruin, and Argon touched the gemstone that’s now on her forehead, and she just kind of appeared.”

“He touched the gemstone?” Cozy turned her attention to Argon for a moment before turning her attention back to Kira. “Now that’s… strange.”

After a few moments, Cozy finally held her hoof out and introduced herself. “I’m Cozy.”

“A-And I’m Clef Noir of the Sparkmasters!” Clef said enthusiastically as he stared starry-eyed at Cozy, who turned to him with a look of contempt.

“What’s a ‘sparkmaster?’”

“It’s the clan I’m starting, and I’d love it if you joined!”

Cozy scrunched up her nose. “I’m not even a unicorn. I’m a pegasus. See the wings?” Cozy flapped her wings as she pointed to them.

“That doesn’t matter. The Sparkmasters care not for such things; we are dedicated to the pursuit of all magic to bring harmony to all!”

Cozy turned to Zeph. “I thought you were supposed to be returning a bunny to his earth pony home, not meeting the strangest ponies in Equitoria.”

“I’m working on it… Though to be honest, I’m really not sure where to go…” Zeph laughed awkwardly, as she hoped Cozy could guide her in the right direction somehow.

“I can lead you out of the Everglow and to the earth ponies.” Declared Clef. “But I’ll need to stop by my clan first.”

046 - The Apple Valley Express

As the credits began rolling, Flare looked over to River as he pulled his mobile away from its docking station on the back of the empty train seat in front of them.

“Do other worlds really exist like that?” asked Flare.

“Maybe? But probably not. It would be cool, but honestly, it seems more like pure fiction. Since you’re asking, I assume it’s now one-hundred percent safe to say you’re not a crossworld pony.”

“Sadly, no, but it would be fun if I were.”

“Not far from Apple Valley now. You getting excited?”

“Kind of nervous, actually.”

“Understandable. It’s the biggest city in Equitoria. It makes Emerald City look like a small town. The center of it all. Unless you’re a unicorn, I suppose.”

“I don’t know anything about unicorns.”

“They’re an odd topic. Honestly, I’m not really sure what’s real versus fiction when it comes to them. One actually stopped by the tea shop a couple of years ago. Said he was on a sojourn to find true meaning in life. He wasn’t exactly your poster unicorn by any means, calm, courteous, and insightful. A far cry from the crude, rude, primeval ponies you usually see them portrayed as. Unless it’s a horror movie, then they’re always creepy magic monsters. I’ve only seen two movies where they were good ponies, and both were underrated indie flicks, which you wouldn’t know about. The movie you just watched was produced by a big studio. They had a huge budget, and that’s why it looked so realistic. Whereas indies are small studios, or even sometimes just single ponies making films or shorts on their own.”

“City ponies sure have a lot of complicated things. But they are impressive things.”

“That we do. Sometimes too much so. I do sometimes wonder what life would be like in a simpler time, but then I realize that would mean losing almost everything I enjoy. Life without computers, mobiles, or video games is hard to imagine. Though maybe if you told me more about it?” River asked with a sly smile.

“I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“How about just telling me what your normal day is like?”

“Usually, I’m up early getting breakfast made and lunch prepped. After that, I have some time to socialize before making lunch. Once lunch is taken care of, I go out and do any running around, then come back and eat leftovers for dinner or eat dinner at somepony else’s place. I don’t usually do community dinners. The cooking guild recommends a maximum of two community services a day, four days a week, which I mostly adhere to. Though I tend to make breakfast every morning unless I’m away from the pizzeria. Like now.”

“Is anyone running it while you’re gone?”

“No… I kind of left without a lot of notice. So I’m sure I’m going to get scolded by the other cooking guild members when I get back.”

“I’m guessing the ‘cooking guild’ is some kind of local government agency that oversees restaurants?”

“Not really, but kind of? It’s best described as a community effort to coordinate things, exchange tips, and help each other out when needed. Also, a way to take centralized feedback and better support the community. Food is an important aspect of life. Everypony needs to eat, after all.”

“I think I get it… So, what do you do when you socialize?”

“Depends on who I’m socializing with. If it’s just me and Cozy, we tend to play games, talk, work on weird cooking projects together, or play around outside. She’s the only one who skates with me. If it’s Zeph, then I help her with whatever case or mystery she’s working on. If it’s Zain, we tend to just talk about whatever he’s reviewing. If it’s Clover, we mostly just talk about guild stuff. She’s not part of the cooking guild; she’s part of the farmers’ guild, but the two guilds do so much together that it feels like we’re in the same guild. If it’s a group thing, then we’re usually hanging out at the beach, working on a project, fixing something, or otherwise just messing around having fun.”

“So you’d say you enjoy your life?”

Flare nodded enthusiastically for a moment before stopping and half-frowning. “It does get a little lonely sometimes, though… Everypony can be busy, and I don’t know… I just don’t really like being alone for long. And for some reason, being around ponies besides my best friends just doesn’t count. Like, I can spend the whole day wandering around town talking to ponies, come home, and it’s just me alone, and it’s just… really lonely some nights.”

“Boyfriend doesn’t stay over much?”

Flare blushed as she rubbed her hooves together. “I-I’ve never had a boyfriend, actually. Not for a lack of trying, mind you. I just can’t get Zain to notice me as more than a friend…”

“Ah—classic best friend crush trope. In the movies, the best way to handle that is just being blunt and upfront.”

“I thought I was… but it turns out I wasn’t, and now he thinks I’m dating his sister…”

“Are you?”

“No! Me and Zeph are practically sisters. I can’t think of her that way. Sure, I can’t imagine my life without her—that’s why I’m out here—but as a romantic partner? She’s good-looking, but not my type, and I already see her as much as I can. Even if we were together, I wouldn’t see her any more than I already do. I want a pony to share the little moments in life with, not just the big ones. Zeph could never be that. Actually, that’s unfair, since it’s not just her, it’s me too. Zeph needs a pony who wants to do what she does. That way she has a pony to share the little moments with too. I love going on adventures with her, but not all the time. The only rest that crazy pony knows is exhaustion.”

“What exactly does she do?”

“She’s a detective, but really that’s just what she sells her societal contribution as. If I were going to give her a title, I’d call her an adventure-obsessed mystery hunter.”

“So what’s she up to while you’re out exploring? I’m guessing she was the friend who was going to be coming along with you?”

“Oh—uhm, not exactly… I had a new friend who was going to be coming out here with me. Zeph is, uhm, busy with a lost pet at the moment.” Flare smiled awkwardly.

“She trying to find Argon and get the reward? At this point, anypony who finds that bunny is set for life.”

Flare stared blankly at River for several moments, unsure what to say.

“With all the silence, I’m starting to think my joke might have landed on the truth? Which you did say you were ‘out here because of her,’ and you did seem pretty interested in Argon this morning… and had been looking into him from the sounds of it, but you didn’t really know anything about Starshine, so probably not, actually.”

Flare bit her lip nervously as she realized she’d said way too much while she had been talking. For whatever reason, she felt comfortable around River. Even now, staring into his calm, waiting eyes somehow relaxed her. She wanted to tell him everything; she wanted to have somepony to talk to, to guide her, and River felt like the perfect pony, but that’s all it was—a feeling. Her mind screamed at her to find a way to keep the truth hidden, to keep herself hidden, to find a way out of the conversational hole she had dug for herself.

Flare sighed in relief as an announcement echoed through the train to begin preparing for departure.

Arriving at the Apple Valley train station, Flare followed closely behind River as he navigated the bustling building of towering ponies. As Flare dodged and squeezed, she was thankful she had River with her. It was all she could do to follow him. She felt as though if she stopped to catch her bearings, she’d be trampled or squished in the chaos.

Once the pair emerged from the building, Flare breathed a sigh of relief. The air was still leaden with scents of metal, smoke, and stone, but at least she was free of the suffocatingly dense perfumes and body odor of the train station.

002 - A Moment of Illumination

After an awkwardly silent walk, the pair of siblings and their new companion found themselves in front of the Sunny Sky’s Pizzeria. “I’m not sure my stomach’s ready for this…” groaned Zain.

“Don’t be so melodramatic.”

“The last time she said she had a surprise for us, she got an entire basket of special hot peppers from the market and made ‘rainbow lava pizza’.”

“I’ll admit that one was a bit rough…”

Feeling a weight off her back, Zeph looked to her side to see the lavender bunny hopping to the ground as he sniffed excitedly into the air. A moment later, he hopped off into the pizzeria. Not wanting to be left behind, Zeph followed after the bunny and found him staring at a partially eaten, practically glowing orange pizza sitting at an empty table.

“No pets on the tables!” Yelled a female voice from across the pizzeria. Turning to face the voice Zeph waved awkwardly at Flare.

“Sorry about that, he got away from me…” Looking back to the bunny, she saw him now sitting on the bench next to the table. “You really can understand ponies, can’t you?” Whispered Zeph. The bunny nodded affirmatively and pointed to the pizza, then rubbed his belly. Looking back towards Flare, Zeph yelled, “Is this pizza the surprise you wanted to show us?”

“Nah, that was just an experiment Cozy wanted to try. You’re welcome to eat as much as you want. Though we concluded that the experiment was a complete failure.”

Zeph grabbed a slice of pizza and put it on what appeared to be an unused plate, and placed it next to the bunny. Who ate it as if it was the best-tasting food in the world.

“That’s good?” The bunny nodded enthusiastically, then lifted the plate indicating he wanted more. After giving him two more slices, Zeph decided to try a nibble herself. “It kind of tastes like… nothing?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty weird. It’s made from crystal glow berries, which are pretty tasteless, but Cozy wanted to make a sauce with them to see if it would make a cool-looking pizza, which it did, but it also sucked the flavor completely out of all the other ingredients too.”

Zeph watched as Zain took a nibble and smiled as he whispered under his breath. “Best pizza I’ve ever had here. She finally made something that doesn’t taste like driftwood.”

Rolling her eyes, Zeph looked back towards Flare, who was now walking towards them with a saddlebag on. Reaching the table, she reached into her bag and pulled out a thin rectangular metal and glass box, then placed it on the table while brimming with excitement.

“This is the surprise I wanted to show you.”

Zain sneered and rolled his eyes. “We’ve seen those weird things before. They’re weird, but not exciting.”

“Yes, but have you seen one that does this before?” Zeph watched in awe as Flare tapped the object, causing it to spring to life. Suddenly, the once pitch-black glass showed a vibrant glowing picture of a flower-filled meadow unlike anything Zeph had ever seen before with numbers floating in the sky.

Zeph broke her gaze away from the glass and looked up at Zain, who was looking at the glass slack jawed in shock until the glass went black once more.

“What do you think?”

Zain grabbed the object and tapped it the same way Flare had. “I think this might be the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen. What do you think the numbers mean?”

“It kind of looks like it could be the time. It changes every minute or so,” Declared Flare.

“It changes?” asked Zeph as she inched closer to the object to watch. A moment later, sure enough, the number on the end went up by one. “You think these things are some kind of ancient clock?”

Hearing a flop, Zeph looked over to see the bunny hop on the table and make his way over to the device. Flare tried to stop him as she shouted, “hey, I said no pets on the table!” After grabbing the object, the bunny hopped back down on the bench and began touching it.

Zeph watched in awe as the glass changed from a clock to a bunch of tiny pictures. Most of which looked completely foreign to Zeph, but a few looked familiar, like the notepad, flower, and calendar.

“What’s up with this bunny?” asked Flare, who seemed to be having a hard time deciding if she wanted to stare at the bunny or the glass, which kept changing. Zeph told Flare the entire story as they watched the bunny rapidly change between images on the glass until he sighed heavily and huffed. Sitting back, he seemed to tap on the flower image, which caused the glass to change to the most shocking scene of all.

Zeph found herself staring at tiny images of…

“A-are those earth ponies!? I thought they were just made up legends. They look so real,” Mutter Zain in a state of disbelief.

The images of earth ponies in a surreal cityscape that Zeph could barely comprehend flew across the glass as the bunny swiped his paw down the glass until he suddenly stopped at a picture of a poster of rather intense magenta colored earth pony mare wearing a strangely textured blue dress, and glowing necklace stood with her mane blowing in the wind and the text “Today’s dreams are the foundation tomorrow is built upon.” Looking away from the glass, she saw a heartbroken expression on the bunny’s face as tears formed in his eyes.

Putting a hoof on his shoulder, she nudged him. “You doing okay? Do you know that pony?” The bunny rubbed his eyes as he nodded. “Is she your owner?” He thought for a moment, then nodded in a tippy manner, then followed with a shrug as if to say close enough. “So, not your owner, but some pony who’s important to you?” The bunny nodded again.

“Does this bunny actually understand you?” asked Flare in a bemused tone.

“It seems so.”

“What’s his name, anyway?”

“That’s a good question…” The bunny swiped away the image and then tapped on the Notepad image, which brought up a blank screen. A few swipes later, the formally blank section of the glass read, “Name = Argon.”

“I’m guessing that means your name is Argon?” asked Flare. The bunny nodded.

“That’s one mystery down only a gazillion left to go,” quipped Zain.

Zephs attention was caught by the glass flashing red for a moment before going black. “That didn’t look good.” Argon picked up the object and pointed to a circle on the back of it. “I have no idea what that means,” Argon sighed heavily, then proceeded to act out as if he had died. “So you’re saying it’s died?” Argon indicated that she was half right. “So, it’s kind of dead. Can we bring it back to life?” Argon nodded and pointed to the circle on the back. “Still no clue what that means.” Argon glared at her for a moment before pointing at the pizza. “Sure, you can have some more.” Argon shook his head.

Flare clapped her hooves together. “He’s trying to tell us it needs fuel! I have some lamp oil in the back. Will that work?” Argon indicated that she was right, but the oil wouldn’t work. “Does it run on glow berries then?” Argon slammed his paw against his forehead. “So, no… Well, I’m stomped.”

“Do you have a pencil he could use to write?” asked Zeph. Which prompt Flare to trot to the back and returned with a relatively small pencil, which was still so large that Argon could barely hold it let alone attempt to write with it, but after a moment of struggling he broke off the tip of the pencil and began to write on a piece of paper provided by Flare. Once he was done, all three ponies looked at the paper and unanimously agreed it was mostly gibberish. “Most of these words mean nothing to us, and the ones that we do know don’t make sense in the context… Sorry.”

Zain cleared his throat. “So, just to recap things. We know that earth ponies really do exist. Argon is from wherever the earth ponies are, and that crystal glow berry pizza should be added to the regular menu.”

Flare stared at Zain, perplexed. “But it’s completely flavorless. Why would you want that added to the regular menu?”

Author's Note

I always thought it would make more sense for Earth ponies to be the technologically advanced ones because they seem like they should be the most intune with metallurgy.

003 - A Late Morning Run

Waking up at first light, Zeph rolled her shoulders in an effort to shake off the morning stiffness as her eyes adjusted to the waking world. As her vision cleared, her eyes landed on the still sleeping lavender bunny next to her. She wasn’t accustomed to sleeping next to anyone, in fact she had no memories of sleeping next to anyone at all. Most ponies sleep next to their parents when they are young, but Zeph didn’t have much of any memories of her parents. They were around, but not involved in her life much at all. They had, instead, chosen to focus their attention on her younger brother for a variety of reasons. Not only was he more agreeable according to them, but he was also home, whereas for as long as Zeph could remember, she strived to spend as little time home as possible. Often going as far as to sleep out in public places to avoid wasting time traveling during a case.

Zeph so rarely spent time at her filly-hood home that she didn’t even have her own bedroom. When she was home, she slept in the common room, and even in her own home, she used her “bedroom” as an archive room and the main common room for her actual sleep. Despite her lack of attendance, her home was anything but dirty as Flare, her neighbor and filly-hood friend has always made a point to come by and clean at least once a week, claiming that it’s the least she could do for all the things Zeph helped her out with. Though Zeph wasn’t entirely sure what she helped her out with, that was so deserving. Sure, she solved a missing item case every so often, and helped move things when needed, but otherwise, all she did was eat her food and cause her problems.

As the smell of Flare’s cinnamon breakfast bread filled the air, Zeph’s attention was caught by Argon springing to life and bouncing over to the window to follow the scent.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get some soon, but later. I like to be the last one there. That way, Flare’s free to talk.” Argon stared at Zeph inquisitively as if to ask what her relationship with Flare was. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I think she might just see me as a pity case. I mean, I’d like to think it’s more romantic than that, but…” Argon stared at her more as if to say “go on.”

“Well, for one, I’m pretty sure I would have accidentally starved to death long ago without her. When I’m neck deep in a case, I can get so wrapped up in research I forget to eat.” Argon rolled his eyes as if to say “you’re being overdramatic.”

“I know what you’re thinking, and, no, I’m not just being overdramatic, I’m really that bad sometimes. If my lack of eating didn’t get me, dust probably would have. I’m pretty sure I’ve only actually dusted once in my entire life.” Argon raised an eyebrow and tapped his paw as if to say, “I still don’t believe you.”

“Okay, okay, sure, I would probably take care of myself if she didn’t do it for me—and I’m a horrible pony for it, but it makes me happy that she does what she does and I want her to keep doing it… because I’m lazy.” Argon gave her a cracked smile and shook his head. “Not sure what you’re trying to say on that one.” Argon hopped away from the window and over to the table where he wrote down, “self lies = unhappiness.” Which caused Zeph’s heart to skip a beat as she tried to come up with a rebuttal, but after a few moments of staring into Argon’s eyes, she sighed. “You’re a tough interrogator, you know that?” Argon looked at her unamused. “Fine, it makes me feel happy when she does things for me, like maybe it’s a sign she feels the same way?” Argon wiggled his paw as if to say, “maybe, but...”

“Y-you think she doesn’t like me that way!?” asked Zeph in a panic. To which Argon shrugged and began writing as if to say, “no clue, but…” a moment later Argon finished writing, “kindness != love.”

Zeph groaned, “I know, but I can hope, can’t I?” Argon shrugged as if to say, “I suppose.”

As the smell of cinnamon dissipated, Zeph listened closely until she could hear a group of ponies leaving the pizzeria, at which point she had Argon hop on her back and made her way over to the Pizzeria. As she approached, she was waved over by Flare, who presented the pair with their food.

Zeph laughed as Argon took a nibble of the cinnamon bread and made the most adorable sneeze. “Oops, sorry about that little guy. Guess I went a bit overboard with the cinnamon,” Flare said as she handed him a napkin. “Thinking about it, should he even be eating bread? That doesn’t seem like something bunnies should eat.”

Zeph thought for a moment before answering, “You have a good point. Honestly, I keep forgetting he’s a bunny. Do you have anything else he could eat?”

Flare nodded and headed back. A moment later she reappeared with a large bowl of greens with a handful of crystal glow berries on top. Zeph watched as Argone enthusiastically devoured the glow berries before casually nibbling on the rest of the salad.

“I wonder if glow berries taste different to him than us? He really seems to love them,” noted Flare.

Zeph looked towards Argon and asked if it was normal for him to eat glow berries, to which he nodded enthusiastically.

“Any chance I could talk you into keeping them in stock for him?” asked Zeph.

“Don’t even need to ask. For some reason your brother—really liked the glow berry pizza, so I’ve gone ahead and added glow berry sauce as a regular option. Though I’ll be honest, it’s kind of annoying that the first thing I make that he seems to actually like is some weird Zain concoction.”

“Why would that matter?”

“Because I’ve been trying to impress him for years, duh.”

Zeph found herself so taken back by what Flare had just said that she could barely mutter, “W-what?”

“Don’t play dumb. You know I’ve been trying to get your brother to ask me out for years.”

Feeling a tap on her leg, Zeph looked down to see Argon nudging her to reply.

“I’m sorry, but I really hadn’t noticed that—at all.”

Flare stared at Zeph dumbfounded for a moment, before getting a look of excitement on her face. “That must be it!” She declared enthusiastically as she practically jumped for joy. “I’ve been too subtle! If the Lost Isles’ best detective couldn’t even figure it out, I’ve clearly been too coy. According to Auntie Seagazer though, mares should ever directly tell the stallions they like that they like them though… You’re supposed to impress them and get them to admit they like you first.” Flare trailed off into a mumble, “But how else can I impress him, I already…” Zeph zoned out as her mind began to race as she tried to figure out if it had always been obvious that Flare liked her brother, and she was just unaware of it because of her own hopes and feelings, or if Flare really was just—that bad at conveying her intentions. Zeph really couldn’t remember a time when it seemed like Flare was specifically trying to “impress” Zain… if anything she could think of a dozen or more times when It seemed like Flare was trying to annoy him… Zeph’s eyes went wide as she realized that the times when Flare was annoying Zain were very likely the times she was trying the hardest to get his attention.

Feeling a tap on her leg, Zeph broke out of her thought process and looked down at Argon, who was pointing to Flare. When Zeph looked at Flare, she noticed she was waiting for something. Zeph looked at her nervously for a moment before smiling awkwardly and saying, “Come again?”

Flare sighed heavily. “What should I do?”

“About?”

“Are you okay?”

“Actually, not really. Sorry. Uhm, I-I’m kind of distracted today. Y-you know, trying to figure out how to help Argon. W-which I need to get going on that. I need to, uhm, get to … the library before it gets busy.”

Flare looked at Zeph in disbelief, “Get to the—library before it gets busy? Since when is the library—ever busy?”

“I-it happens.” Zeph squeaked out in defense of her ill-thought out excuse.

Flare sighed heavily. “Are you—really okay, Zeph?”

“Yep, 100%. Just, you know, in a case solving mindset.” Zeph did her best to give a reassuring smile.

Flare stared at Zeph unamused, “Zeph, you only give definitive answers when you’re lying.”

“What!? Phst— I give definitive answers when I’m not lying.”

“Your name may as well be Zepharella, probably-might-be-seems-like-it-could-be, Cloudchaser.”

“Well, that seems a bit long for a name.”

“Precisely. You don’t give definitive answers, you generally give some long indefinite statement. I quote from the last time I asked you if you needed help when you got trapped in your bedroom, ‘that might be beneficial to my ability to solve the case.’”

Zeph chuckled awkwardly. “That does sound like something I’d say…”

“You seemed fine when you got here, so what’s the issue?” Zeph fidgeted around awkwardly as she tried to come up with something other than the fact the pony she likes isn’t interested in her. “Zeph, this isn’t about me liking Zain, is it? I mean, I guess if you really had no clue then it would be kind of shocking… But it’s nothing to worry about. We already act like sisters.” Zeph, trying her best not to cry at Flare’s words, needed to think of an excuse to get away quickly. A moment later, she felt Argon kick her in the leg before zipping out the door.

Zeph suppressed a smile as she looked back at Flare while doing her best to look panicked. “Sorry, Flare, w-we’ll talk later. Don’t worry though, I’m uhm, probably, cool with you and Zain.” Not waiting for a reply from Flare, Zeph rushed out the door after Argon. Making it out the door, she could see him in the distance, clearly trying to make himself noticeable as he continued to flee.

After a lengthy pursuit, she managed to catch up to Argon, who was patiently waiting for her on a bench near a quiet nine-way street intersection.

Panting heavily, Zeph sat next to Argon. “Thanks for the assist, but you know, you could have stopped running a long time ago.”

Author's Note

In my headcanon pagasi have hollow bones and are super light. The way I like to think about them is if they were to stand on a cardboard box it wouldn't even buckel. Which is why I picture their home as being a lot like a sprawled out ground based community birds nest built just high enough off the ground to avoid needing to do much of any landscaping.

004 - Getting to the Bottom of...

Not entirely sure where else to go Zeph and Argon made their way to the central, or rather only library on the Lost Isles. Supposedly many generations ago there had been several libraries, but over time they got damaged by storms and had what remained of their collections merged at the central library, which to put simply is the most well built building in the entire Lost Isles, and would likely stand until the end of time as far as any pony was concerned. Unlike most buildings rather than being made out of random salvage and wood, the central library was made entirely of carved polished stone. While the outside of the building showed some signs of erosion, the inside still looked pristine.

Making their way into the library, Zeph made her way up to the welcome counter, where she found Emerald Pages, an older green mare with a once-yellow mane that was now gray with a few remaining yellow streaks.

Putting the strange glass and metal object on the counter, Zeph looked her old friend in the eyes and said, “Morning, Emmy. I have a couple of questions for you, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all, dear. I always have time for my favorite detective.”

“First, do you recognize the symbol on the back of this thing at all? Like, does it remind you of anything you’ve seen in a book, maybe?”

Emerald looked over the object for a moment while humming, then shook her head. “Nothing particular comes to mind. Why do you ask?”

“I think it’s the secret to these things. This one was glowing for a bit, and since that’s the only symbol on it, I thought it might have something to do with getting it working again. Anyway, let’s move on to the next thing. I need a map or a guide to get to the mainland.”

Zeph’s confident smile turned to a frozen stare as Emerald’s eyes narrowed and her expression turned to one of intense seriousness. Suddenly feeling like a schoolhouse filly staring up at an angry teacher, Zeph couldn’t help but take a step back.

“The—mainland. You want to go to the—mainland?”

Zeph nodded awkwardly.

“Why?”

Zeph gulped so hard she could swear she heard it echoing throughout the library. “I-I need to return Argon to his home.” Zeph turned to her side to show Argon riding on her back.

“I remember you. You’re that rascally escape artist bunny Sundancer brought in a while ago. I suppose she did conclude that you must have come from the mainland. Still, I can hardly believe she would try and higher Zeph to take you home.”

“She didn’t hire me.“

“She didn’t?” Emerald said with a hint of surprise.

“Nope, I wandered by her shop the other day and—”

“And you did what you always do.” Zeph sighed in relief as Emerald’s intense expression softened a little. “Well, I’m sorry to say I can’t help you with that. There are no such guides, maps, nor—anything else for that matter. You need to remember the golden rule, young lady. One should never go beyond the buoys. No exceptions. Do I make myself clear?”

Feeling rather disappointed, Zeph nodded and turned to leave, as she didn’t want to risk upsetting Emerald any further.

“However, as for that symbol, you mentioned earlier. I just remembered a book we should look into.” Turning back, Zeph saw Emerald wink at her as she began trotting off into the library. “Come along dear.”

Feeling a bit confused, but hopeful, Zeph followed Emerald deep into the library, so deep in fact that she felt as though they had gone several stories underground. As the trio passed through the sixth locked stairwell, adorned with ample signs warning away any pony from entering, Zeph began to feel quite a bit uneasy, especially as both times she had tried saying anything Emerald shushed her and reminded her she was in a library.

Reaching an unassuming bookshelf, Emerald tapped a series of books, which caused a faint clicking sound. A moment later, Emerald pushed the bookcase aside just far enough for a pony to enter and waved Zeph through.

Once the trio was on the other side, Emerald closed the bookshelf, leaving them in pitch darkness for a brief moment until Zeph could suddenly see by a faint glowing green light coming from a pendant Emerald had assumably pulled out of her saddlebag and put on, as she hadn’t been wearing it before.

As Emerald began leading the way once more, she broke the long silence. “I always figured I’d bring you here someday. Though admittedly for different reasons.”

“What is this place?”

“The very heart of the Lost Isles, and all that remains of its founding.”

As the trio walked into a large dome-shaped room filled with almost entirely empty shelves lined with crystals embedded in them, which began to glow in faint green light revealing a statue of what appeared to be a female dragon standing on the bow of a ship with three Pegasus riding along with her. Beneath the statue was an ornately carved stone box with a hole in the same shape as Emerald’s pendant.

“As you have probably no doubt surmised by the statue, the legends about Pagasi being led to the Lost Isles by a dragon are, in fact, true. At least according to the notes left behind by the past caretakers, that is.” Emerald chucked awkwardly.

“Notes left behind?”

“As you can see, no original books remain. They all turned to dust long ago. The only thing left is a few journals by the previous caretakers, along with a couple of books that have been copied over the ages. I’ve done my part by making fresh copies of everything left. Sadly, past caretakers didn’t always do the same.”

“So, not to go too far off topic, but I really want to know…”

“You’re wondering what happens if I put my pendant in the slot in the box, aren’t you?”

Zeph nodded enthusiastically.

“You’re in luck, as we need to head down there, anyway.”

A moment after Emerald put her pedant in the slot, the floor opened up, revealing a staircase down another floor. Emerald began walking down and motioned for Zeph to follow.

“According to the journals Amber, the dragon who lead the Pagasi to the Lost Isles, crafted several compasses and imbued them with her magic. These compasses allowed Pagasi to navigate the whirlpool maze that surrounds the islands. Amber herself could fly unlike Pagasi, so she didn’t need them herself, but she wanted to ensure that the Pagasi could come and go as they pleased after she was gone.”

“I’m guessing you have one of the compasses?”

“Indeed, in fact, two remain to this day.”

As the trio reached the bottom of the stairs, they entered a hallway lined with dragon statues. Zeph was quick to notice that many of the statues were holding something. The first a stone tablet, the second a metal box, the third a crystal, the fifth an ornate stone staff with a green sphere atop it, the sixth hands were empty, but it was wearing a pendant that looked just like Emeralds, the seven a compass, and well there were more statues Zeph couldn’t see well enough down the dimly light passage way to make out what they had.

Emerald took the compass from the statue and handed it to Zeph.

“The stone tablet the first statue was holding has the route you need to follow, but I already have several paper copies made. Which will give you two parts of your three part puzzle.”

“What’s the final part?”

“Some way to use them. No living pony has experience sailing boats on the open water beyond the peaceful shores of the Lost Isles. It’s a two-day voyage though what is described as a parlous journey best left to only those who are one with the water.”

“Uhm, hmm … That could be a bit of a problem.”

Emerald nodded. “Indeed, I’d say a near hopeless venture.”

“If you think it’s hapless, why give me the compass and route?”

“Because I want you to have a chance. You’re the only pony on the Lost Isles I wanted to entrust becoming a caretaker to. If I let you go out without them, it would be certain death. At least with them you have a slim chance of survival.”

“That’s not very encouraging.”

“And yet, is it discouraging?”

Zeph laughed awkwardly as she thought about the fact that she was already trying to figure out the best solution to make it to the mainland. Not at all whether or not she should be going there.

“That’s what I thought. I’ve been watching and helping you solve cases since you were a filly. I know you don’t back down from a case once you set your mind on it without good reason, and the unknown is not a good reason for you.”

“The unknown is just another mystery to be solved. Speaking of mysterious… I have so many questions.”

“Which I will gladly answer if you promise to disregard your quest to return the bunny to the mainland.”

“W-what?”

“I don’t want you to go. It’s foolhardy and honestly just plain dumb. You and that bunny can both live long, happy lives here. There’s no good reason to risk near certain death.”

“He has some pony important waiting for him.”

“They can get another bunny, I’m sure. Pets come and go in our lives all the time. Honestly, it’s no small miracle that he survived getting here. If he was a pony, I’d tell him to not test his luck any further.”

Feeling a weight lift from her back, Zeph turned to see Argon hopping down. Walking in front of her, he motioned for her to hand him the compass, which she did. He looked at it solemnly for a few moments before hopping up the statue it had been on and placing it back in its hands, as if to declare he understood the risks and agreed with Emerald.

Zeph watched the heart-broken bunny slowly drag himself down the statue and begin walking back up the stairs.

“Hey!” Zeph yelled towards Argon in a thundering voice that caused it to echo several folds. “We’re not giving up.”

Argon looked back at her and shook his head, as if to say, “it’s over.”

Zeph walked over to him and stomped her hoof on the ground. “Look me in the eye and tell me you’re truly fine with never seeing that earth pony again.”

Argon tried to look Zeph in the eyes, but turned his head away after every try.

“We are going to get you back to your home.”

Argon looked towards Zeph, perplexed as if to say, “but why?”

“Will life ever feel the same without her in your life?”

Argon shook his head.

“Do you have the ability to get back to her on your own?”

Argon shook his head.

“Well, I do. Sure, it might be slim, but it’s there. And before you go thinking, I’m just overly selfless. I’m not. I’ve wanted a real mystery to solve my entire life. This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for. A mysterious bunny from a mysterious land, a mythical race of ponies turned real, legends of dragons declared fact, magical artifacts, secret conspires. If I don’t help you, it’ll haunt me for the rest of my life. If you can look me in the eye and tell me you’ll be happy staying on the Lost Isles, I’ll let it go, but if you can’t, we’re taking that compass.”

Zeph watched as Argon struggled to look her in the eyes again. After a couple of moments, Zeph walked back to the statue and put the compass in her saddle bag before returning to Argon and giving him a reassuring smile.

“We’re getting you home, and I don’t want you feeling guilty about it, no matter what any pony says.”

Argon looked Zeph in the eyes and smiled weakly as if to say, “Thank you, but you really don’t have to.”

“You’re a real softy at heart, aren’t you?”

While Argon looked at her awkwardly, Zeph stepped towards him and gave him a hug.

Emerald cleared her throat. “I have a few questions if you’re done…”

Author's Note

Zeph is a—very selfish pony.

Also this is as far as I've written before I started posting on Fimfiction. So, further chapters will come sporadically as life allows me to write. As long as my Niece and Nephew are enjoying the story I'll likely finish around 2 chapters a week.

005 - In the Mood for Something Different

Making her way out of the library, Zeph was suddenly brought aware of her growling stomach as she realized that the sun was mere moments from setting and she hadn’t even had any breakfast. Not ready to face Flare, she turned to Argon. “So I’m thinking we grab something to eat from one of the nearby places and then get started on finding what we need.”

Argon pointed at the sun, made a gesture of it setting, and then looked at her inquisitively. “I know. It’s getting late. I know how the sun works. I just don’t want to go home.” Argon continued to stare at her, waiting for her to continue. “Because I’m sure Flare is going to be waiting for me. I—really don’t want to see her at the moment, you know?” Argon smiled awkwardly as he pointed to Zeph’s far left. Turning her gaze to where he was pointing, Zephs heart stopped as she saw Flare standing just to the side of a pillar, tapping her hoof.

“And—why wouldn't you want to see me?” Asked Flare in a harsh tone.

“W-why are you waiting in front of the library!?” asked Zeph, completely ignoring Flares’ question.

“Because I figured there was a good chance you’d still be here and be starving. So I brought you dinner. Worst case, you weren’t here, and I’d give your food to Emmy. Now that I’ve answered your question, how about returning the favor?”

Zeph gulped so hard she thought her throat might actually collapse. “Uhm, I-I really need a break from pizza? I’ve had it quite a lot lately, and well… Just wanted a little variety. I-it’s good to have variety. That way you don’t get overly used to one thing.” Zeph smiled awkwardly as she hoped Flare would believe her.

Flare stared at Zeph as she thought for a moment, then smiled at her. “Sometimes it’s like you can read my mind. I was just thinking that Zain might get burned out on pizza all the time. I guess not every pony can eat pizza every day of the week like I can. In that case, let’s stop by the farm stands on the way back and pick up some salad ingredients. I wanted to start trying to make more robust salads for Argon, anyway. I was talking to Sundancer today, since she came in for lunch and gave me a lot of good tips on what bunnies need to stay healthy. She seemed pretty worried about the little guy.”

“Probably because she doesn’t trust me to take care of him.” Muttered Zeph whispered so low, she was sure Flare wouldn’t hear her.

“Yeah, I kind of got that impression.”

Zeph was stunned for a moment, as she wasn’t expecting Flare to hear her. After a moment of awkward silence, Flare excused herself, as she wanted to give the food she had made for Zeph to Emmy since they were going to have salads instead.

As soon as the large glass doors closed behind Flare, Zeph turned to Argon and whispered. “Now’s our chance, let’s go!” Argon looked at her as if she was crazy and shook his head.

“Come on, do you have any idea how awkward it’s going to be to walk home with her—and have dinner?”

Argon bobbed his head as if he had experienced so many similar conversations that he was no longer phased nor amused by the idea. After which he gave her a firm stare as if to say, “Yes, yes, now if you’re done being a foal about this talk to Flare.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one doing the talking.” Zeph gulped as she just realized she had said something mean. “Not that there’s anything wrong with the fact you can’t talk.”

Argon rolled his eyes and shrugged before giving Zeph a half smile and waving his hand towards the door just as Flare came through. Which Zeph interpolated as his way of saying. “I know I can’t talk; no need to sugarcoat it. Also, I’ve stalled you long enough. You can’t get away.”

As Flare approached the pair, she smiled at them. “It’s pretty funny watching you two from a distance. You always seem to be having quite lively conversations. ”

Zeph chuckled awkwardly. “He’s easy to talk to.”

Flare trotted past Zeph and motioned for her to follow. “Sundancer seemed worried that he would be left home alone all the time, but honestly, seeing you two together, I get the feeling you’re just going to take him around everywhere.”

“I kind of get that feeling too, actually,” Zeph said as she felt Argon hop on her back.

“I know we’ve never been on the greatest talking terms, but be honest with me. Do you not think I’m a good match for your brother? Is that why you’ve been acting so weird?”

Zeph’s mind came to a screeching, bewildered halt at Flare’s words. How could they not be on the best of talking terms? She literally tried harder to talk to Flare than any other pony in all of the Lost Isles. Feeling a gentle kick on her back, Zeph snapped out of her dazed state and muttered, “What do you mean we’re not on great talking terms? We literally talk to each other almost every day.”

“Yeah, about flighty chit-chat stuff. A couple times a year when Zain’s around and he’s nudging you along, we’ll get into more in-depth conversations, but otherwise it always feels like you’re struggling to avoid personal conversations around me.”

Zeph felt a glut of irritation and confusion boil up at the back of her mind. How could things have gotten so misinterpreted? Sure, she went out of her way to hide her feelings because she didn’t want to risk their friendship, but was she really that opaque? As she thought about it, Zeph realized that she did, in fact, mostly talk to Flare about the happenings around the Lost Isles and details of the case she was working on, whatever thing her brother was reviewing, or whatever new pizza Flare was working on and little else. Feeling a gentle kick on her back, Zeph snapped back again and looked towards Flare, who was thoughtfully staring in front of her while they trotted down the pathways.

Feeling another kick, Zeph sighed, “We always have great conversations.”

Flare laughed sharply as she paused for a moment to make a dismissive hoof gesture. “Sure, about work, but we literally almost never talk about anything on a personal level. The only reason I even know what your favorite color is, is because Zain told me a long time ago.”

Zeph laughed awkwardly, as she had already realized that Flare was right. She never talked about personal things. Zeph didn’t enjoy talking about personal things with any pony, not even her brother, but he had the power to force her to. She’d felt as a detective it was important for her to do her best to keep her personal feelings out of things.

“Honestly, most of the time I feel as if we’re practically sisters because I know so much about you from Zain, and we spend a lot of time together, but after this morning I’m starting to wonder what you really think about me?”

“I think you’re great. Honestly, I do.”

Flare hummed disapprovingly. “A near-definitive answer… You started with ‘I think’, which is good, but you added the definitive at the end…”

“I—”

“No, you don’t have to explain yourself. It’s fine. I know I have some improving to do.”

As the trio reached the farm stands and Flare trotted off to start gathering things, Zeph sat down at a bench and stared at Argon, who hopped in front of her.

“Well, you were right, kindness does not equal love.”

Argon looked at her sympathetically for a moment, then put his paw on her leg as if to say, “I didn’t want to be right, I just wanted to be honest.”

“I don’t even know what to think now, you know? Like one small part of me wants to tell her how I’ve been feeling, the rest of me just wants to run away and never see her again.”

Argon shook his head while giving her a firm look, then put his paws on his chest before doing a motion about letting go while giving her a reassuring smile.

“I feel like you’re trying to say I shouldn’t just run away from her. I should try and embrace what’s going on and go from there?”

Argon nodded and smiled.

“You know it’s kind of weird, but sometimes I swear I can hear, or rather feel, what you're trying to say.”

Argon rolled his head in a half circle, looked over at Flare curiously, who was in the distance and then looked back to Zeph as if to say, “Anyway, back to the topic at hoof.” Then he scratched his chin while giving her a thoughtful look.

“What do I think about Flare now, eh?”

Argon put his paws on his chest and looked at Zeph inquisitively.

“I mean, I think so… I don’t know… I mean, it’s weird, but Flare made some good points. I really don’t talk to her about personal things, whereas I seem to talk about them with you constantly. Maybe I was never really in love with her? I’m starting to wonder if I really know what love feels like… I guess ponies always say it’s like a deep personal connection that they can’t explain, which I thought maybe I had that with her, but now I really don’t think so… Really, out of any pony … critter, I seem to have that with you. I don’t know. How would you feel about a pegasi partner?” Zeph said jokingly, but a moment after saying it began to wonder if she wasn’t actually a bit serious. Even though she had only known Argon for a short while, she already felt a deeper connection with him than any pony. She was even willing, no—excited, to put her life on the line for him. In fact, as she paused for a moment to sincerely consider the adventure they would be taking together, she couldn’t help but smile in a way she had never felt before.

Argon stared at her unamused for several moments before tipping his head a little as his expression changed to thoughtful contemplation, as though he wanted to say something, but couldn’t come up with a way to say it.

“You’re pretty adorable when you think like that. Anyway, you don’t have to actually answer that.” Zeph’s smile faded as the image of the powerful magenta earth pony flashed into her mind. “You already have some pony important in your life.” She said with an unintentional somber tone.

Argon immediately shook his head and stuck out his tongue, touched his chest before putting his paws over his heart, then pointed to both Flare and Zeph.

“So not your owner, not your love interest, but an important friend… or family. For some reason, I feel like you meant to say family, but couldn’t?”

Argon nodded.

“It really is kind of strange how I can feel what you mean.”

As Zeph saw Flare trotting back towards her, she looked at Argon again and smiled. “I think this is going to be a lot less awkward now. Thank you.”

Argon gave her a reassuring smile, then hopped back on her back as soon as she stood up.

“Sorry about that guys, I got—way too into learning about greens and flowers from Clover, but I think you're both going to love the salad tonight!”

“It’s cool. It gave me time to think about things.” Zeph said as she was looking back at Argon out of the corner of her eye for a brief moment. “I think I know a few good ways for you to catch Zain’s attention.”

Author's Note

Probably not true for all people, but personal experience is that if you don't feel comfortable being yourself around a love interest, especially after several years of knowing them, then it's probably not actual love. When I was in k-12 there was someone I liked for 5 years. We were good friends by the end of the 5 years. Then one day they said they were interested in someone else and it was confusing feelings for a day and then a sense of freedom after that. It's funny, but by tricking yourself into thinking you're in "like" with someone, you tend to ultimately close yourself off to finding real being aware of love.

006 - Galloping in the Moonlight

Walking into her home Zeph didn’t even bother to light a lamp, nor take off her satchel despite being full of crystal glow berries that Flare had given her for Argon before making her way over to the corner of the room and collapsing on her moon bathed bean bag.

As she sank into the folds of the beanbag, she felt an intense wave of relief wash over her. After she sank completely into the beanbag, she felt Argon hop off her back, and a moment later he hopped in front of her.

“It’s been a—long day and a long while since I’ve been this happy to return to my bean bag.”

Argon smiled at her and bowed his head before hopping over to the pillow Zeph had given him and dragging it next to the beanbag so he could sleep close to Zeph.

Every moment she stayed on the beanbag, Zeph’s eyes felt heavy, but she wasn’t quite ready to fall asleep just yet. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Argon and cleared her throat. “Hey, kind of serious question for you.”

At her words, Argon sat back up and faced her with eager curiosity, as if to say, “Go ahead.”

“Do you think there’s a place for me in the earth pony world?”

Argon stared at her contemplatively for a moment before holding up his paw and wiggling, then looking back at her with curiosity as if to say, "Maybe, but why?"

"Because I’m thinking I’m not coming back. Sure, I learned that the Lost Isles has more mysteries than I thought it did, but it also proved that the only true mysteries here are for historians. I have friends and family, but what does that matter if I don’t have personal fulfillment? I don’t want to just feel like I’m muddling through life my entire life; I want to feel like I’m doing something truly meaningful. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I know some of the cases I’ve solved here are meaningful to the people I helped, but they were all just so little. Most could have been done by any pony.”

Argon stared into her eyes with a look of deep contemplation then turned away from her and looked back with a concerned expression.

“You’re not sure I can handle life in the earth pony society?”

Argon smiled gently as if to say, “It would be rough.”

“I’m fine with it not being easy. I’m kind of tired of everything being easy. Of course, getting to the mainland isn’t going to be easy in itself. I can get a wing glider easy enough, but not sure that’s enough for us to actually make the trip. Ideally, I would use a trot glider, but…”

Argon looked at her and rubbed his paws together with a greedy look on his face. Zeph didn’t understand what he was trying to say, but for some reason, images of circular pieces of metal filled her mind.

“No idea what you’re trying to say.”

Argon started counting on his paws.

“Oh, how many? We’d only need one. It’s just going to be us going.”

Argon slammed his paw against his forehead.

“If you want to know the issue of getting a trot glider, that’s because they’re really only made as a community shared item. Even carriers don’t need one entirely to themselves.”

Argon scratched his head for a moment and then thought about something for quite a while before appearing to come to a realization. As Zeph watched him for some reason, her mind was filled with the odd circular pieces of metal and she got a feeling that it was somehow strange that they weren’t anywhere to be seen.

“Strange thought, but do you have the ability to project images into ponies’ heads?”

Argon looked at Zeph as if she was crazy, and shook his head.
“Just thought I’d ask. Since the images that appear in my mind while we talk seem to be getting more vivid the longer we’re together.”

Argon made a paw gesture that seemed to say, “And this has never happened before?”
“Not that I know of. Do you see images when I talk?”

Argon shook his head.

Zeph yawned so hard nearly fell off her bean bag. Argon hopped over and patted her on the leg as if to say, “Goodnight,” before hopping back on his pillow.

Closing her eyes, Zeph drifted asleep in mere moments. After what felt like only a few seconds, Zeph felt a hard kick against her leg. As her eyes flew open, she felt a small paw over her mouth and soon realized that Argon was trying to keep her quiet while pointing out the window. Her mind suddenly flooded with the images of three ponies standing outside her door along with an immediate sense of danger.

Motioning to Argon to follow her, she swiftly slinked her way across her common room and into her archive room, where she quietly unlatched a small crawl door at the back of the room that was unintentionally partly hidden behind a bunch of boxes and made her way through. Once in the alley behind her house, Zeph heard a loud crash from inside her house, no doubt one of the ponies trying to enter her archive room by opening the door too wide.

Zeph paused for a moment as she thought about staying to see if she could overhear anything, but felt a renewed sense of urgency when Argon kicked her again and motioned that they needed to run.

Getting a mental image of herself tied up, Zeph wasted little time in leading Argon away from her neighborhood while staying in the sandy area between houses rather than the walkways to hide her footsteps. Once she felt she was far enough away, she got back on the walkways and galloped until she had passed through several large intersections before allowing herself to rest at a bench.

Looking towards Argon sitting in front of her, she let out a big sigh. “I thought things like that only happened in books. I mean, sure, I’ve investigated ponies disappearing plenty, but in the real world it’s not other ponies disappearing them.
That’s not a thing that happens in the real world.”

Argon looked at Zeph with a raised eyebrow as if to say, “Strange, this feels fairly normal to me.”

“This is normal in the earth pony world?” Zeph squeaked out in disbelief.

Argon held up his paw and waffled it for a moment, then shook his head, then pointed to himself and smiled awkwardly.

“So, kind of, but not really, just happens to you… You wouldn’t happen to know what those ponies wanted, do you?”

Argon nodded, then made an annoyed huff as he seemed to realize he had no way of conveying the information.

“Just try thinking about it in images.”

Argon rolled his eyes, then closed them. A moment later, Zeph could hear faint echoes in her mind.

“When Ironhoof gets here, we break in and get this over with.”

“I don’t like this. It’s wrong, we shouldn’t be doing it.”

“She can’t be allowed to leave the Isle; according to the boss, she’s unpredictable and could leave at any moment. Tonight may be our only chance to do this without being noticed.”

Hearing a sound behind her, Zeph looked back to see a coconut fall from a nearby tree. Sighing in relief, she turned back to Argon.

“That’s amazing. I could hear them talking… Sounds like we need to make a break for it tonight.”

Zeph sighed heavily and looked at Argon with a pained smile. “I don’t think we have much of a choice; we’re going to have to do something bad… We’re going to have to steal a trot glider.”

007 - Rule #1 Always Leave a Note

After making their way over to the community dock closest to the exit point of the mainland, Zeph, and Argon quietly scouted the area to ensure no pony was around before grabbing a supply pack from the dock depot and picking out a trot glider to pilfer. Wanting to cause other ponies the least amount of stress, Zeph picked an older looking trot glider that clearly hadn’t been used for a while, but otherwise seemed to be working.

Zeph placed her saddlebags and the supply pack in the trot gliders lock box keeping only the compass she had gotten from Emerald.

Zeph went slow at first, using only the sail. Thankfully, the wind seemed to be going the way they needed to avoid making noise, but once she was a fair ways away from the dock she began trotting at full speed. Trot gliders, unlike wing gliders, had a mechanism that transferred a pony’s trotting movement into forward momentum, which allowed them not only to move without wind but also to move far faster. Since ancient pony ships relied on wind power alone, Zeph was hopeful that a trot glider would cut down the travel time of the voyage.

Reaching the brightly colored buoys that encircled the entirety of the Lost Isles, Zeph slowed her pace and took a deep breath.

“This is it, the point of no return … literally. Ponies who cross the buoys never come back, unless they just barely cross them, of course.”

Zeph chuckled awkwardly as she remembered a time when she had been wing gliding with Flare and had crossed the buoys in an attempt to impress her with her bravery, but had instead only gotten a lecture from her about being reckless.

“Yep, reckless may as well be in my middle name, too.”

Argon stared at her, confused.

“Sorry, just thinking about a time in my fillyhood when I was around the buoys. You probably don’t know this, but the buoys are actually a major sign of danger. No pony ever patrols past the buoys, and in fact, patrols tend to only keep the buoys in the edge of their vision. So even just being close to the buoys is considered really dangerous.”

Argon looked away from Zeph across the seemingly endless ocean, and then looked back at her with a weary smile.

“I appreciate the concern, but it’s too late to even think about turning back now. I mean, I feel a little bad leaving without telling any pony… In hindsight, I should have left a note on the docks or something… Wasn’t really thinking about that until after we shoved off. I’m sure it’ll be fine, after all, uhm, ah, Emmy knows we were planning on leaving in a week-ish-month-or-so…”

Argon rubbed his head and looked awkward as if to say, “Sorry about that, I should have said something.”

“Maybe for the better? Those three ponies seemed awful intent on making sure we didn’t leave. Speaking of, I kind of want to get going. I don’t see any ponies behind us, but I’ll feel better once we’ve made some good distance beyond the buoys.”

Zeph stretched for a moment, then stopped by the lock box, where she grabbed a month full of glow berries to chew while she trotted.

As the night drug on, Zeph felt her lack of sleep catching up to her. Barely able to keep her eyes open, let alone keep trotting at full speed, she eventually took Argon up on an offer to watch the compass while she took a nap.

008 - Bunny on the Run?

Springing out of bed at first light, Flare trotted over to the window and took a long deep breath of the ocean air.

“New day here I come!”

Putting on her roller skates, Flare made her way to her pizzeria and started her morning routine. She had mastered the art of combining her morning exercise with her morning prep work. Skating between workstations, she not only had breakfast ready to serve by the time ponies came in, but already had dough rising for lunch.

As the morning rush began to die down, Flare prepared a salad for Argon, figuring it was only a matter of moments until Zeph came in.

With the salad made, and the last pony gone, Flare began to wonder where Zeph was.

“Not like her to be—this late, unless…”

Having the unnerving feeling that Zeph could be once more trapped inside her archive room, Flare flipped over her diner’s open sign and skated the short distance to Zephs.

Knocking on the door and not receiving any answer, Flare grabbed her spare key out of her saddlebag, but when she went to use it found that the door was already unlocked.

Making her way in, she gasped at the sight before her eyes. Zeph’s archive room door was laying in pieces on the floor.

“Z-Zeph, are you alright!?”

Rushing over to the archive room, heart pounding, Flare began digging through the mess.

“Zeph, if you’re trapped under any of this, make some noise!”

Not hearing anything, Flare began to panic as thoughts of Argon and Zeph lying unconscious under the pile somewhere flashed through her mind.

As Flare frantically dug through the mess, she suddenly heard a voice behind her, which had caught her so off guard that she tossed the box she was holding over her head. Seeing its content start to rain down, Flare ducked her head for a moment then looked behind her to find Zain.

“Normally it’s my sister making the mess and you cleaning it up.”

“Zain! I think Zeph and Argon could be trapped and unconscious in here somewhere.”

Zain looked at her suspiciously for a moment, then looked at the room filled with collapsed junk.

“I suppose it does look possible, but I feel like that’s pretty unlikely.”

“She didn’t show up for breakfast today, and when I came to check on her, this is what I found. What else could it be?”

“A lot of things, but if you really think so, I’ll help you look.”

Working together, the pair was able to check the enormous pile fairly quickly and came up empty hoofed. Feeling worn out and like it was getting close to the lunch rush flare sighed in a mixture of relief and frustration.

“At least she wasn’t trapped… Maybe she was just in a hurry to follow a lead or something this morning. Seems weird, though she didn’t talk about anything work related last night. You going to come to the Pizzeria for lunch?”

Flare stared at Zain wishfully.

“S-sure, a glow berry pizza sounds like a good lunch.”

Flare stuck out her tongue at the thought of the flavorless pizza, but smiled at the thought of getting a chance to make Zain lunch. As the pair made their way back to the Pizzeria, Flares’ mind was too busy thinking of ways to try and spice up a glow berry pizza to worry about Zeph and Argon. However, once her new creation, along with the rest of the lunch pizzas, were done and served, Flares’ mind went back to Zeph as she sat down next to Zain and took a slice of his pizza.

“You have any clues where Zeph could be?” Flare said, as she took a tiny nibble of her latest creation, which, to her surprise, actually tasted a little like… something… she wasn’t sure what that something was, but it was actually something.

“No, uhm, what’s with the weird face?”

“This actually tastes like something!?”

“Yeah, after you eat glow berries for a while, they seem to get an oddly addictive, sparkly flavor.”

“Guess that explains why Argon liked them so much. I got the feeling he’s eaten quite a lot of them. I wonder if any pony else actually eats these things?”

“Nope, you’re the only pony who wants them for food, outside of myself, of course.” Came a small voice from the entryway. Looking over, Flare saw the small stature of her long-time friend and now crystal glow berry supplier Cozy Candles. A tiny pink feathered and yellow maned pegasus who could easily be mistaken for a child by anyone who hadn’t known her for long.

“Hey Cozy, you wouldn’t happen to know where Zeph is, would you?” asked Flare, hopeful, as Cozy was one of very few ponies who were up most of the night on account of her prefering not to spend much time out in the sun.

“I saw her run by when I was out for my walk this morning. Well, my morning. It looked like she was chasing after a lavender blur that could have been the bunny you were telling me about.”

“That’s odd. As well as they get along, I wouldn’t have guessed Argon would try to make a run for it at night.”

“If you want to talk about odd, not too long after Zeph zipped by, I saw a trio of ponies looking all over the place for something. When I asked them if they needed any help, they just told me little fillies shouldn’t be up so late and told me to go home. I ignored them, of course, and instead followed them for a while. They kept talking about, ‘needing to find her before it’s too late.’ And ‘the boss isn’t going to be happy if they come back empty hoofed.’”

“That’s really strange… do you think they were talking about Zeph?”

“Zeph is a ‘her,’ I guess, but if they were, they were going in the wrong direction. They were slowly moving towards the docks near here, whereas I saw Zeph going towards west ridge.”

“West ridge…” muttered Zain. “I remember reviewing food once at a place in west ridge that claimed their food was based on ancient pony fair as west ridge was the first inhabited area on the Lost Isles.”

“What’s your point?” Asked Flare.

“Maybe she was taking Argon there to try and get him food that reminds him of home?”

“No pony is up cooking that time of day,” Cozy said with a snorty laugh. “She was out closer to dinner than breakfast, and no one makes dinner that late either.”

“Speaking of, you want your usual?” asked Flare as she got up.

“Actually, I was hoping for glow berry pizza.” Cozy said with an innocent wishful smile.

“Should be enough of this one to split one more way.”

Cozy plopped down next to Flare and started eating after thanking her for the food.

After a couple of moments of silent eating, Zain cleared his throat. “So, now that we know Zeph’s fine, I assume we’re just going to wait until she comes home tonight and ask her what happened?”

“What gave you that idea?” barked Flare while she stared unamused at Zain. “She went running after a bunny in the middle of the night and never came back. As soon as we’re done eating, we’re going to west ridge.” Flare finished with a hard hoof slam on the table.

010 - Light as a Feather

Cozy followed the quartet of ponies at a distance, being careful to watch her steps so as to not make any sound as they descended into the depths of the library. As the group moved, Cozy found it increasingly strange that the group moved in silence and carefully checked if any pony was around before moving down to each floor.

As the group neared a dead end, Cozy watched as Emerald tapped a series of books which caused a faint clicking sound. A moment later Emerald pushed the bookcase aside just far enough for a pony to enter, then motioned for the other three ponies to enter. Once they were through, Emerald entered herself and closed the bookcase carefully behind her.

Cozy waited a few moments, then made her way over and tapped the same series of books. When she heard the click, she hid for several long moments, wanting to see if any pony would come out. As no pony did, she went back to the bookcase and carefully opened it just far enough to see in. Seeing a long, dark hallway, she placed her ear against the crack to see if she could hear anything.

Focusing her attention, she could hear faint voices echoing from the distance.

“It’s not as if we didn’t try. We were up all night searching, and all morning asking around and no pony has seen her since yesterday evening.” Said a gruff male voice Cozy remembered as belonging to the largest of the three ponies, a brawny, older, gray stallion she had met earlier that morning.

“Did you talk to her brother?” Inquired a soft female voice that Cozy recognized as Emerald’s.

“And who might he be? It’s not as though we have ever met this Zeph pony before.”

“You have a point. I’m just used to everyone around her knowing her, though even if you don’t know her, you surely know her brother Zain.”

“Only Zain, I know, is the famous reviewer.”

“That’s him.”

“Aye, he is a hard one not to know. Though still, don’t know where he lives off the top of my head. Doesn’t matter now, anyway. The boss told us to come here and use a compass to find her before it’s too late.”

“I think you all are being too paranoid. Zeph is a smart pony. She’ll ask around, every pony will tell her it’s too dangerous; she won’t be able to get a trot gilder, or any other vessel that could make the voyage. The only thing she has access to is a wing glider, and no pony is naïve enough to think they could spend two days on a wing glider. The only reason I even gave her the directions and compass was to get her interested in knowing more.”

“Which in itself is a major problem. You gave the lass an ancient, unchecked, likely uncalibrated, compass! If she did use it, who knows what it would actually be pointing to. The boss doesn’t want to take any risks.”

“Well, ‘the boss’ should be less secretive then. I’ve been a caretaker for over forty years and the only contact I have with ‘the boss’ is when you come in here demanding things for them. I’d like to know how you even knew I gave her the compass. Zeph isn’t the kind of pony to go blabbing about secrets.”

“That’s not for you to know. Now if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Fine.”

Cozy heard some rumblings, as if something was being moved. A little while later, she could hear the faint whisper of voices, but they had become too distant for her to make out the words. Biting her lip, Cozy opened the pathway a little further and ventured in, being careful not to close the bookshelf all the way behind her to allow for a quick escape if needed.

Making her way through the winding pathway, she stopped as soon as she could make out voices once more.

Cozy closed her eyes as she listened to the soft female voice she knew belonged to Emerald once more. “… what you came for. Now how about answering my question? What are you going to do with Zeph once you find her?”

“Don’t know, don’t need to know. Boss said bring her in for her own safety. I’m not one to ask questions I don’t need to know the answers to. That’s why I have the job I do.”

Hearing a faint click behind her, Cozy jumped slightly. Rushing back, she found that the entrance had closed behind her. Even with her night vision, Cozy was only able to make out the layout of the pathway, not the details of it. Reaching into her saddlebag, she pulled out a cluster of crystal glow berries and held it in her mouth as she frantically studied the now seemingly solid wood wall that used to be her exit.

After a few moments of frantic searching and not finding anything, Cozy returned the glow berries to her saddlebag and made her way further in, hoping to find a place to hide.

As she came to a well lit, large, open room filled with largely empty shelves in the center of which stood a statue of a female dragon and a trio of ponies together in a boat, she heard the gruff male voice echo from an opening in the floor.

“It’s still not working.”

“Maybe we should just take it back to the boss?” Came another voice Cozy recognized as belonging to a gangly yellow mare that had been with the larger stallion.

“Suppose we have no choice. We’re done here.”

Hearing hoof steps coming her way, Cozy quietly hopped into the boat and laid as flat as she could.

Cozy stayed calm and listened as the hoof steps made their way up out of the floor and out into the dark hallway. She was careful to note that only three pairs of hoof sounds had left, which meant there was still some pony in the room below. Most likely Emerald.

After spending quite some time on the bottom of the boat without hearing anything, Cozy’s patience ran out, and she made her way out of the boat and towards the staircase in the floor. Hearing nothing, Cozy tiptoed down the stairs without a sound. Reaching the bottom, she found herself in yet another dimly lit hallway. Though this one was lined with dragon statues, most with objects radiating magical energy. A sight Cozy rarely saw outside of crystal glow berries and the few functional relics she’d come across in her caves.

As Cozy carefully walked down the hallway examining the objects, she came to a sudden halt as an intense chill rushed through her very being. One of the statues was holding a hoof mirror, and within it was her true reflection. Cozy stared mortified at the image of a translucent glass like pony staring back at her. Taking a deep breath, Cozy shook her head and re-centered her focus. Emerald could be anywhere she needed to stay on full alert.

As Cozy made her way down the hallway, she started to hear clanking and clicking sounds. Going towards the sounds, she came to a doorway off the side of the hallway where she could see the shadow of a pony casting on the wall.

“That should do it.” Declared the soft female voice belonging to the pony inside the room. Hearing hoof steps coming towards the door, Cozy hid behind a statue.

As Emerald came out the door, the hallway was suddenly lit up by a more intense green glow.

“Is some pony here?” Asked Emerald in a concerned voice. “I could have sworn I heard something just now. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. Or maybe not. It still makes no sense how they knew everything. It was as if they knew everything we talked about down here. I wonder…”

Cozy felt an intense rush of dread as the light of Emerald’s pendant suddenly bathed her and she found herself staring into Emerald's deep green eyes frozen in place with an awkward smile. Emerald stared at her with a look of completely bewildered shock for several moments before her expression changed to one of cold analyzation. A moment later, Emerald lowered her muzzle next to Cozy’s ear and whispered so faintly she could barely hear. “Follow me, but make no noise and keep acting like I never saw you.”

With that, Emerald turned away from Cozy and began making her way further down the hallway. When the pair reached the end of the hallway, Emerald looked around her for a moment and then disappeared behind a tapestry. Not sure what to expect, Cozy followed suit and found herself no longer in an ornate stone hallway lit with magic, but instead in a dusty cave lit only by the light of Emerald's pendant, which she was holding in her hoof staring at it with intense concern.

Not particularly enjoying the green light coming from the pendant, Cozy decided to once more pull out a cluster of glow berries, but this time hooked them to her saddlebag. So that they would just provide ambient light. Cozy always carried around a couple of clusters of fresh glow berries specifically to use as lights.

With the berries in place, Cozy looked back to Emerald, who was smiling as she sat her pendant on the ground, then motioned for Cozy to lead the way deeper into the caves.

As the pair walked, Cozy could hear water trickling in the distance, and her mind relaxed as a deeply familiar scent filled her nose. After a few twists, turns, and narrow corridors that Emerald had barely managed to squeeze through, the path opened up into a cliff overlooking a massive cavern. One that Cozy knew well, as it was one of the central caverns that connected a great many of the North Isle caves.

“This should be far enough.” Declared Emerald in a normal talking voice.

“Far enough for what?” Cozy said in a distrusting tone, as she wanted to emphasize her distrust of Emerald.

“Far enough for us to talk. I’m not sure how they’re listening in. One of the artifacts most let them. Or perhaps my pendant? When I was invited to be a caretaker of the library ruins, it was given to me by the previous Ironhoof.”

“Who’s Ironhoof?” squeaked Cozy, feeling annoyed at even having to ask.

“I was right. You’re not working for ‘the boss,’ are you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m helping Flare look for Zeph. That is my only interest in all this. You and that trio of strange ponies were talking about her, so I followed you, looking for answers. Simple as that.”

Emerald let out a concerned hum as she pulled a compass out of her saddlebag. “If Flare doesn’t know where Zeph is, then this really may be our only hope of finding her.”

“What’s with the compass?”

“In theory, they point towards whirlpools in the ocean. That way you can avoid them by—not following the needle. However, as I’m sure you overheard, it seems they can actually be calibrated and used to track just about anything. Since Ironhoof was in a hurry, he did it in front of me. I now know how to do it myself. I tested it with one of my feathers first and got the compass to track me; then I used one of Zeph’s feathers. So, in theory, this compass now tracks her.”

“Didn’t the Ironhoof pony say the compass didn’t work?”

“The compass he had… Which was a replica compass I had made decades ago. Honestly, I’m surprised it even fooled him.”

“Why did you have a fake compass made?”

“It was supposed to be a gift for my great-aunt. She was the caretaker before me. I never got a chance to give it to her, though. It took a little too long to have made, as the pony I commissioned was obsessed with detail. Anyway, can I trust you to take this compass and warn Zeph? Tell her everything. Especially the part about her own compass potentially not being calibrated to whirlpools.”

“Why trust me? You literally just found me spying on you, and while we have talked before, not much.”

“I know plenty about you from Flare and my own digging.”

A cold chill pulsed through Cozy’s body at Emerald’s words. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, find Zeph and make sure she’s safe.”

Cozy’s mind stirred with a mixture of emotions for a moment before she took a deep breath and made an angry huff. “I don’t need—threats to find Zeph. I’m already doing it!”

“I wasn’t threatening you, I was making you an offer. Make sure Zeph’s safe and I’ll make sure you’re registered as a proper citizen so you can live a normal life.”

“I don’t need any—favors either.”

“Just keep my offer in mind just in case helping Flare isn’t enough of a reason for you at any point. As long as Zeph’s safe, we’re on good terms.”

Emerald held out the compass for Cozy to take. Cozy sneered at the compass but accepted it, and in exchange held out a cluster of glow berries for Emerald. “You’ll need these to find your way back. Since you don’t have your pendant.”

Emerald hesitantly took the berries. “Aren’t you coming back with me? I figured we’d talk out here, but then we’d go back through the library.”

“No. If I go back, I’ll run into Flare.”

“Why would that be a bad thing?”

“Because I can’t let her come along. When you see her, tell her not to worry. I’ll make sure Zeph comes home safely.”

With that, Cozy walked over to the edge of the cliff, jumped and glided off into the cavern.

Author's Note

This is the final chapter in book one.

I'm going to take a bit of a break before book two so next update will probably be a little slower.

011 - A Solid Nights Rest

Zeph lay on her back staring up at the clouds listening to Argon tinker away. It seemed like every couple of hours something on the trot glider would break, but Argon had thus far been able to get everything working again with the parts and tools in the trot glider’s lock box. The first time it had happened early in the morning, Zeph had genuinely thought they were doomed, or at least limited to wind power, but by the third time it happened, she had developed a deep trust in Argon’s ability to fix things.

Hearing Argon’s signature squeak of success, Zeph got up, thanked Argon, and once more got trotting. After a couple of hours, the pair was able to reach a small island that served as the halfway marker. Pulling up on the beach, Zeph was relieved to find an ample supply of coconuts which supplied both food and water.

Once Zeph had the trot glider lockbox along with herself filled with coconuts, she pulled out the directions to the mainland and aligned the trot glider only to realize that the compass wasn’t pointing the way it should be. She looked at the instructions, looked back at the features of the island, and then handed them over to Argon as she began to speak.

“This is 98% the place, but the compass is pointing straight ahead, and it’s supposed to be pointing to the right.”

Argon stared at the directions for quite a while, before looking back to Zeph and nodded as if to say, “this is most definitely the spot.”

“Hmm… in that case, either our instructions are bad or our compass is broken. Which one you think is more likely to be wrong, some ancient magical compass, or instructions that were literally carved in stone.”

Argon looked at her with an unamused stare.

“Okay, yeah, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is what our options are. If we decide the compass is wrong, we keep trying to follow the instructions and hope for the best, but—”

Argon tapped his paw against the instructions. Zeph paused and read the line he was pointing at which clearly told them they needed to use the compass to navigate through a section that was impossible to do without it.

“Okay, so, best to assume that the instructions are wrong, but the compass is right, since otherwise there’s not going to be any way through. I suppose we know roughly which way the Mainland is, so as long as we avoid whirlpools and head that way, we should reach it… I hope…”

Argon stared at her concerned, and then pointed back the way they came, as if to say, “we should return to the Lost Isles.”

“Don’t be such a worry bunny. We’ll be fine. And I’m only half saying that because I don’t want to go back and risk being caught.”

Argon rolled his eyes and then made a series of gestures that depicted them getting sucked in a whirlpool.

“Speaking of, how did you get to the Lost Isle anyway? A two day boat voyage through a maze of whirlpools seems like it would be kind of hard to do by random chance.”

Argon shrugged, which caused Zeph to see a hazy image of what seemed to be a bedroom filled with glowing objects followed by a vivid image of the beach she knew from the north isle.

“What’s with all the glowing things in the earth pony world? I’m pretty sure every time I get a mental image from you about it, there are always tons of glowing things like the thing Flare found.”

Argon looked at her for a moment with a thoughtful expression which caused images of the objects to flash through Zephs mind. A few moments later Argon signed and made the gesture Zeph had come to know as meaning, “it’s too complicated to explain.”

Feeling a bit frustrated with her lack of ability to directly talk to Argon, Zeph sighed and looked out across the ocean.

“I think we should just use the compass to avoid whirlpools and find our own way. We’re already halfway there and we’re stocked up on enough supplies to last several days now.”

Argon looked at her, then looked out over the ocean with a worried expression before looking back at her again and giving her a weak smile as if to say, “I have my concerns, but if you say so, I’m with you.”

“Then it’s settled. Though I’m thinking we get a good solid night’s rest here. I enjoy being out on the water as much as any pegasus, but it would be nice to keep my hoofs on solid ground a while longer.”

012 - Guiding Light

Cozy circled around her evernight plumeria tree several times as she studied the various magic relics on the shelves of her thinking room. A moderately sized dome roofed cavern with a stream of water running through it, which she had guided through a circular basin for her evernight plumeria tree, a bio-luminescent tree she had sprouted herself from a hoof-full of seeds she had acquired from her homeland.

The shelves in the room were carved into the wall, a painstaking adventure that had taken Cozy several years to complete, but one she thoroughly enjoyed. At the far left and right of the room were well maintained ornately carved wooden bridges leading over the inlet and outlet for the water stream. The bridges had taken far less time to make than the shelves, though it had taken quite a bit of work getting all the wood.

Stopping in front of a metal band with a modestly sized faceted purple gemstone in it, Cozy studied the magic particles emitting from it for a few moments while she muttered. “Weak-levitation, it would make flying easier… Actually better than that, it would allow me to fly while wearing my saddlebags!”

Taking the band from its shelf, Cozy slipped it around her front leg and tightened it, before making another loop and a half around her thinking room before stopping in front of a rather large cylindrical object covered in gemstones. “It would be nice if this thing wasn’t so big… I don’t think there’s anything else in here that’s going to be of any use.”

Looking over to her water clock, Cozy sighed. “I need to get going. I don’t like the idea of taking off so early in the night, but I really can’t risk waiting any longer than absolutely necessary.”

Leaving her thinking room, Cozy made her way to her central common room, where she inspected the contents of her saddlebags, then replaced her glow berries with a fresh set before donning them. With her saddlebags on, she tapped the gemstone on the band she had taken from her thinking room and began to focus on its magic. A moment later, she felt a smidge lighter than she did without the saddlebags.

Taking a slow look around her home, she drew a long, slow breath. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been away for long. I hope everything stays working properly while I’m gone. If I come back to flooding or dead plants it’s going to be—really annoying.”

Turning to the exit to her home, Cozy took a sharp deep breath and began making her way down the long winding and ever narrowing pathway leading out of her home. By the time she reached an exit into the larger cave systems, she was just barely able to squeeze between the rocks. She had purposely made her home in a place that was impossible for any pony larger than her to enter.

Once Cozy was in the main cavern system, she came to an annoyed halt as she began to hear a faint voice in the distance calling out for help. “Really—really!? Right now, of all times, some pony is going to get lost down here.”

Cozy let out an annoyed huff, then began tracking down the owner of the voice. As she traveled through the caves, Cozy listened to the ever more frantic cries for help until she was close enough that she knew the pony could hear her calling back.

“Calm down already, you’re fine!” Yelled Cozy as loud as she could muster.

“W-who’s there?” Came back a rough female voice.

“Doesn’t matter, just stay put and make noise so I can track you!”

“O-Okay.”

“Why are you in the caves this late?” shouted Cozy, knowing that keeping the pony talking would also keep her calm.

After a long silence, the voice called back, “I-I was looking for lazuli moss. I tripped on some slippery rocks and broke my lantern. I’ve been wandering in the dark ever since.”

Cozy stopped for a moment as she thought about the fact that lazuli moss only grows on the far western side of the caves, the near complete opposite of where the lost pony was.

“Why are you looking for lazuli moss?” Cozy said in a suspicious tone, only to realize a moment later she had spoken so softly the pony wouldn’t have been able to hear her. Shouting out her question again, Cozy waited for several long moments before she received a reply.

“It’s a gift for a friend of mine.”

“Next time have some pony who knows what they're doing acquire things for you.” Cozy said in an annoyed huff, as she didn’t particularly appreciate being lied to.

As Cozy made her way through the dark caverns, she thought about what was really in the part of the cave system the pony was in. It was easily the most desolate and dangerous place in the entire cave system. The only thing Cozy ever found in what she called the lost caverns was magical artifacts, like the one on her leg.

Suddenly feeling uneasy with the idea of the mystery pony seeing her rather unique accessory, Cozy released its enchantment and placed the band in her saddlebags.

Making her way around the last couple of corners, Cozy found the lost pony standing in the dark, dangerously close to a sheer drop. As Cozy approached the pony, she was quick to realize that it was the gangly yellow mare that had been with Ironhoof. She hadn’t recognized the voice likely due to her being so stressed that her voice had worn rough. Same with her fur and feathers. The mare was covered in dirt as if she had been crawling through narrow pathways.

“It’s you again…” muttered the yellow mare in disbelief.

“Yes, me again. The little filly who needs to go home, so she’s not in danger.” Cozy said in a sarcastic tone as she sneered at the mare. “Seems you need to be the one who scampers on home before you get hurt.” Cozy said with a wicked grin, unable to contain her satisfaction with getting to return the insult.

“Why is a filly wandering around these caves alone?”

“I wasn’t wandering around—these caves. Do you have any idea how dangerous—these caves are!?” Cozy shouted, ending with a firm hoof smack on the ground, which, giving her lightweight, was more of a subtle tink. “I was wandering around the safe part of the cave system. I harvest glow berries as my societal contribution. How about yourself?” Cozy watched critically as the yellow mare seemed to struggle for a moment before answering.

“I-I’m a carrier, I-I mostly deliver things to other islands.”

“Most not be very heavy deliveries as scrawny as you are.” Quipped Cozy, enjoying the look of frustration on the mare’s face.

“L-letters, mostly. Uhm, c-can you lead me out of here?”

“I’ll lead you out, but not to lazuli moss. You’re in the completely wrong location, and it’s late.” As Cozy spoke, she made her way over to the drop near the yellow mare and looked down. “You’re lucky you didn’t fall…” As her eyes ran across the cliff edge, they were drawn to a magical aura and dim green light emitting from a bag just barely dangling on a ledge. “Did you drop something?” Squeaked Cozy.

The yellow mare nodded shamefully. “When I entered the room, I almost fell. I dropped my bag, and just froze in place.”

“You should always carry glow berries with you when spelunking, they're not bright lights like lamps, but better than nothing.” Cozy said as she studied the cave to see if there was any safe way she could retrieve the mare’s bag. “Don’t move.” Cozy said, as she hopped off the edge of the cliff.

“W-what are you doing!?” shouted the mare in a panic.

“Getting your bag. It’s not nice to litter in the caves.” Gliding down, Cozy landed next to the bag. Taking a moment to study the aura, she noted that it was very similar to the one coming from the compass Emerald had given her, and the dim green light was coming from a pin affixed to the side of the bag that looked an awful lot like the pendant Emerald had been wearing. Not wanting to seem suspicious, Cozy slipped the bag around her neck, then began hopping back up the side of the cliff. The weight of the bag along with her own saddlebags made it harder than expected, but given her wealth of experience, it was still a simple feat to scale the near sheer cliff.

Getting back to the top, Cozy slipped the bag off and held it out for the yellow mare, who was staring at her wide eyed in a state of bewildered awe. After a couple of moments, the yellow mare took her bag and slipped it around her own neck while she spoke. “Thank you very much… Uhm, I still don’t know your name.”

“Cozy.”

“Thank you, Cozy, and sorry about last night. You clearly know how to take care of yourself. M-My name’s Star by the way, or actually Northstar, but everyone just calls me Star.”

Cozy began leading the way out of the cave.

“So is that big stallion you were with the one you want the lazuli moss for?”

“Y-yeah, it’s his birthday soon.” Star said with a slight gulp at the end.

Cozy rolled her eyes as she thought to herself, “This pony is so bad at lying it would be easy to corner her, but what good would that do? Whatever’s in her bag is likely going to be used to track Zeph. Speaking of the bag, I best ask about the glowing pin before it looks strange that I don’t find it strange.”

Clearing her throat. “So, what’s with the eerie glowing pin?“

“It was a gift from my father.“

“Okay, but why does it glow?“

“I don’t know. Sorry…“

“Suppose that’s why you didn’t pack any glow berries.”

“Yeah…”

Cozy cringed at how awkward the conversation had become. It was clear that she wasn’t going to get any useful information from the strange pegasus, but perhaps she could learn more about her personally in order to judge her character.

“So, what kind of hobbies do you have?”

“Drawing, mostly.”

“Anything in particular you like drawing?”

“Landscapes, mostly.”

“Not a very talkative pony are you?”

“Not really, I’m sorry…”

After quite a few awkward attempts at starting a conversation, Cozy’s ears picked up another voice in the distance as the duo entered a major cross section, this time it was one she recognized right away as belonging to Ironhoof.

“I hear your stallion friend in the distance calling out your name.”

“Y-you do?”

“It’s faint, but yes, if you follow the path to our right you should meet up with him soon. I’m going to go left though. I think you’ll be fine on your own from here.”

“Y-you shouldn’t be in here alone either. We should leave the cave together.”

“I doubt we’re going to the same place. You’ll be fine. Just call out to him when you get to the next big room and he’ll hear you.”

“Where are you going?”

“To get back to work, of course. I have glow berries to harvest. If you didn’t notice I don’t have a basket of glow berries with me since I left them behind to come save you.”

“Oh, sorry about that…”

“It’s fine, just be more careful next time.”

013 - An Early Morning Swim

Zeph watched the last remnants of the sunset alongside Argon as she listened to their fire crackle.

“Suppose we should get some sleep.” Zeph said, right before yawning.

Argon hopped away from her and stood on guard.

“What are you doing?”

Argon looked at her with a serious expression as he put his paw on his forehead and looked around cautiously as if to say, “Isn’t it obvious? I’m on watch!”

Zeph sighed. “It’s a deserted island. Can’t be much more dangerous than sleeping in some of the random public places I have.”

Argon stared at her unamused, which caused Zeph’s mind to fill with images of her being bitten by snakes, eaten by some furious monster she didn’t even know what was, and finally an image of her being carried away by ants.

“I think that last one is ridiculous. Ants aren’t going to carry us away while we sleep. Though you do have a point about the snakes…”

Argon nodded while making a triumphant pose and pointed to himself while smiling, as if to say, “Leave it to me, and get some rest.”

“Okay, but only because I know you can catch up on some sleep once we’re back on the water.”

Feeling more than a little exhausted, Zeph lowered her head and closed her eyes. Within seconds she was asleep, and in what felt like a half lifetime of dreaming about being adrift on the ocean, Zeph opened her eyes as she felt a familiar paw on her mouth.

Blinking a couple of times, Zeph noted the direction Argon was pointing as an image of a large, shadowy figure hiding behind a tree came into her mind. Looking towards the trot glider, Zeph wasn’t sure she could get to the glider and get away from the island at any reasonable speed to outrun a wild animal of any sort. As she turned her vision back towards the tree, Argon was pointing at her blood ran cold as she realized she hadn’t planned anything out if there was trouble.

Hearing a crackling sound behind the tree, Zeph picked up Argon in her teeth and ran towards the glider as fast as she could. Upon reaching the glider, she tossed Argon on and began pushing out to sea as fast and hard as she could, figuring at the very least she could get him far enough from land to be safe. As Zeph began pushing the trot glider with all her might, she heard a frantic male voice calling out from behind her.

“WAIT! I didn’t mean to scare you. Come back!”

Looking back, Zeph came to a sudden stop as she saw an older orange earth pony with a dull red mane running towards her suddenly trip and go rolling through the sand.

Not sure what to do, she looked to Argon, who seemed to be studying the pony.

“You know this guy?” Asked Zeph, not sure if she should pull the trot glider back or keep pushing it out.

Argon shook his head, but pointed to the pony and made a gesture which Zeph interpreted as, “We should talk to him.”

Pulling the trot glider back up on the beach, Zeph watched the earth pony closely as he dusted himself off and trotted up to her.

“Sorry again, you looked like you were sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake you. I was just waiting for you to wake up naturally, so I could introduce myself without scaring you, and….” The pony laughed awkwardly as he rubbed his leg. “I’m Cedar, by the way, and you are?”

“Zeph Cloudchaser, and the bunny’s Argon.”

“Ah~ I think I remember my mother talking about bunnies. Haven’t ever seen a furry animal before. Birds and reptiles are the only things here.”

“How long have you been on this island?” Asked Zeph in a bewildered tone.

“My whole life, actually. My parents shipwrecked here before I was born. My father built a boat and went off to try and find help some great long while ago. Recently~ish my mother passed. So, yeah, just me on the island now… and, well, you and your bunny.” The strange stallion smiled awkwardly at Zeph.

“I don’t know how to respond to that…”

“How about; you need a ride? Because I could really use a ride off this island.”

Zeph looked over to Argon, who shrugged. “We’re trying to get to the mainland if you want to come along, but you should probably know that we may not survive the trip.”

“In that case, you’re welcome to stay here!”

“That’s not an option.”

“Whelp, that settles it then, I’ll come with you! I just need to pick up something back at the house and I’ll be ready to ah, how did Dad put that… Shove off! Yeah, that was it. You want to come see the place? It’s actually pretty cool. I even added some stuff myself.” The stallion smiled at Zeph, brimming with pride.

“Suppose it probably couldn’t hurt…”

A moment later, Argon hopped on Zeph’s back, and the pair followed behind Cedar. Though Zeph found it difficult to match Cedars’ pace, as his walk was closer to her trot.

“Never seen anything ride on a pony’s back before… Of course, I’ve also never seen a bunny, or a pony with feathers before, either.”

“I’m a pegasus.”

“I have no idea what that is.”

“I guess just a pony with feathers… Speaking of new things. I’ve seen pictures of earth ponies, but up close you’re really big. Like I can put all four hooves in one of your hoof prints.”

“So, where you from? If you’ve never seen an earth pony before, you must come from someplace different than my parents. Mother always made it sound like earth ponies were everywhere back where she came from.”

“I’m from the Lost Isles. Which is kind of the opposite, actually, all pegasi.”

“Pegasi, that’s a fun word. All pegasi sounds like a good thing, at least I assume that also means no unicorns.”

“Yeah, no unicorns, but why would that be a good thing?”

“According to mother, they eat other ponies.”

Zeph looked back towards Argon, who waffled his hand as if to say, “Kind of, but not really.”

“Why did your mother think that?”

“According to her, one ate my grandfather, and that’s why they were exploring the ocean in search of a safer place to live.”

Zeph looked back towards Argon. “Exactly how not true is it that unicorns eat other ponies?”

Argon thought hard for a moment, which caused a series of text images to flood her mind, but they came too quickly for her to make out the details. When the images stopped, Argon made his usual gesture that it was too complicated to explain.

“I talk to animals a lot too, but they don’t usually act as if they can understand anything I say… Unless I’m holding food and ask if they want any.” Cedar laughed bombastically.

“In my experience it’s best to think of Argon like a pony who can’t talk.”

“That’s pretty neat. Is that common in the Lost Isle?”

“No, but maybe more so in the mainland, since that’s where he’s from.” Zeph felt a tap on her back. Looking back, she saw Argon shaking his head. “Or not…”

Not too long after the trio entered the forest, Zeph was surprised to see a rather large, wooden and stone structure surrounded by gardens hidden within.

“This is the main garden. I’ve been trying my best to keep things alive and well. Still not as good at it as my mother, but still manage to get far more food than I need. Speaking of help yourself if anything catches your fancy.”

“I’m still stuffed from my coconut binge. So, what are we here to get, anyway?”

“I just want to get my mother’s saddlebag. She said if I ever found a way back to the mainland, I should take it with me.”

As the group made their way through the lush garden, Zeph’s attention was caught by a stone statue of a female dragon that looked an awful lot like the one from the central library.

“What’s the story behind the dragon statue?”

“I was told it was already here when my parents shipwrecked. While digging around it, my dad found a strange compass in a stone box. As for what made the compass strange, it’s that it doesn’t point north; instead it points east along the east coast of the island, and west along the west coast of the island. If you want it, you’re free to have it. I’m pretty sure I know where it’s at.”

“That could be—really helpful.”

“Alright, let’s get that found!”

Zeph sprinted after Cedar as he suddenly broke into a causal trot. Upon reaching the house, Cedar pushed open a large stone door as if it was made of bamboo. Stepping into the house, Zeph felt smaller than she had ever felt in her life. Everything around her was huge. It was as if she was suddenly a small filly once more.

“This must be what Cozy feels like all the time.” Zeph muttered in Argon’s direction. A moment later she felt a light tap and, when she looked back, saw that Argon was staring at her unamused. “Oh right, and you. You’re even smaller than Cozy.” Zeph laughed awkwardly for a moment before turning her attention back to Cedar, who was already halfway across the common room, which had a large stone table decorated with painted coconut shells. As Zeph made her way through the room, she couldn’t help but marvel at the walls of the room, which were painted as a large mural depicting rolling grassy hills that just stretched into the distance, creating a surreal feeling of openness.

“This way!” Cedar called out as he gestured up a large stone staircase.

Pulling her attention away from the walls, Zeph picked up her pace and followed behind Cedar. As she accented the staircase, she felt more like she was climbing a mountain. Reaching the top, she was panting as she watched Cedar walk around a room filled with piles covered in crude fabric.

“Pretty sure it was…. This one!” Cedar grabbed the fabric atop a pile in the far right and pulled it off, causing the entire room to fill with dust.

Unable to focus for several moments while she sneezed, Zeph heard Cedar apologize. By the time she could focus her attention on him again, he was unwrapping a bundle of fabric. Watching as he unrolled the bundle, Zeph saw the compass along with a pendant that looked like Emeralds.

“Oh right, I forgot about the glowing necklace thingy. Huh, you’d think I’d remember something that strange. Not every day you see things that glow on their own. Of course, that’s also why mother didn’t really like it either. Said it was ‘magic’ and that magic was what drove unicorns to eat other ponies.”

Zeph looked over to Argon. “Magic doesn’t actually drive ponies to eat each other, does it?”

Argon looked at her for a moment, then shrugged.

“That’s not encouraging, but better than a yes… Pretty sure Emmy doesn’t eat any pony, so I’m going to say we should take the pendant with us?”

Argon got a thoughtful expression for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

“I’m getting the feeling that the bunny’s the one in charge.”

“We’re a team on this adventure. So, I don’t make decisions without his input unless necessary. Especially since he knows—way more about earth ponies than I do. Honestly, the only thing I knew about earth ponies until I met him is that they probably didn’t exist.”

“I like to think I exist.”

Zeph picked up the pendant and placed it around her neck, then picked up the compass and placed it in her saddlebag.

014 - Lightenup

Cozy glided down and landed next to the trot glider she had spotted from above. Looking down at the ground, Cozy raised an eyebrow.

“One set of normal sized hoof prints, a few bunny prints, and one set of rather massive hoof prints. Interesting, so at least one earth pony is on this island too.”

After studying the prints for a moment, Cozy had mixed feelings about what could have conspired. There were a set of clean prints leading into the jungle, but there were also some troubling looking mangled prints as well. Deciding to be cautious, Cozy flew low to avoid leaving her own prints until she reached the harder dirt of the jungle.

Following the prints through the jungle and up to what she assumed was some kind of dwelling, Cozy’s attention was caught by the dragon statue in the center of the garden.

“Not in nearly as good of a shape as the last one.” Whispered Cozy under her breath before moving forward.

Reaching the house, she kept to the shadows and out of view of the open door. As she slinked around the outside of the building, her ears picked up a male voice that no doubt belonged to the earth pony.

“That wraps things up.”

“Is there anything else you want to do before you leave?” asked a female voice Cozy recognized as belonging to Zeph.

“Nope, I’ve done everything there is to do here more times than I’d care to try and count.”

As Cozy carefully listened to the two pairs of hoof steps echoing through the house, her mind suddenly turned to a feeling deep within her that told her that there was a strong magic power nearby. As it seemed Zeph was safe for the moment, Cozy snuck around the outside of the building towards the feeling of magic.

Following the magic, she came to a stone building away from the main house hidden beneath a thick layer of vines. If it hadn’t been for the magical energy radiating from whatever was inside, it would have been impossible to find.

Analyzing the surrounding magic, Cozy realized that it was a rare form of pure magic, one she could use to amplify any other magic. Concentrating the ambient magic, she funneled it into her bracelet and used it to levitate away the dense layers of vines just high enough for her to enter the building.

Once inside she let the vines fall back down and took a cluster of glow berries from her saddlebag. Making her way down the staircase, she found herself inside what she assumed was the remains of an old root cellar. Every surface was dense with dust and spider webs.

As cozy made her way to the back of the cellar, she used her newfound enhanced levitation magic to clear the way of webs and debris. Reaching the back wall, she noted a block that had a slightly distinct color compared to the other around it and used her magic to pull it from the wall.

Hidden behind the block was the source of the magical energy, an apple sized brown cube shaped gemstone inscribed the four seasons along the sides, the sun on top, and the moon on the bottom. A series of symbols she recognized as representing the royal earth pony family.

“I haven’t seen these symbols in a long while. But, since when did the earth ponies care about magical artifacts? Suppose it doesn’t matter, this will be helpful. Though too dangerous to carry around, as is.”

Cozy took a moment to calm her mind as she thought about what she was willing to sacrifice in order to conceal the cube. Thankfully, it was small, so she wouldn’t need much. She decided on a bit of the lower part of her mane as it would only seem as though she got a mane cut.

Running her hoof along the back of her mane, she took a piece of it off. Using her magic, she warped the former piece of hair into a tight fitting container around the cube. When she was done, she examined her work and smiled. With the cube sealed, she’d be able to control its output of ambient magic. Allowing her not only to conceal it but also use it herself. Of course, its output of ambient magic was far lower than what was around her now, as the dense magical energy in the cellar was the result of the magical particles pooling for decades. Still, it would be enough to enhance the levitation magic of her bracelet by enough to say make a moderately sized boulder light enough to push out of the way.

Placing the cube at the bottom of her saddle bag Cozy made her way back outside and followed the newest set of hoof prints back to the beach where she saw an orange earth pony standing atop a mostly submerged trot glider while Zeph and Argon floated nearby.

“Apparently they had no concept of how much earth ponies weigh…” Cozy muttered to herself.

Flapping her wings, Cozy took off and glided towards the trio, who only seemed to notice her moments before she landed atop the masthead.

“Detective Zeph, it looks like you have taken on more than you can handle, or at least your stolen trot glider.” Snarked Cozy.

“Cozy? You can fly?” Exclaimed Zeph, seemingly ignoring Cozy’s snarky comment.

“All pegasi can’t fly?” Asked the earth pony.

“No, no, they can’t. In fact, Cozy’s the only one that I know could glide.” Remarked Zeph.

“If you take a look at my leg, you’ll see a rather helpful bracelet. I found it a while back in the deeper chamber of the caves. It’s imbued with a levitation spell. Not enough to fly with, but enough to make me light enough to fly since I could already glide.“

“Ah, so that’s why you can suddenly fly.“

“Big pony, what’s your name and can I jump on your back?“

“Ceder, and I guess so?“

Cozy jumped from the masthead to Ceder’s back. Once atop him, she channeled the energy from the bracelet into him until he was light enough that the trot glider was floating normally again before jumping off his back onto the trot glider’s rather crowded deck.

“I’ll need to touch you every couple of hours to keep the spell active. Hopefully that’s not going to be an issue.“

“Nope, not a problem.”

“So, Cozy, really, how are you here? Even if you can suddenly fly, we’re in the middle of the ocean.“

“You can thank Emmy for that. She gave me a compass that points to you. So I was able to fly straight to you, which made it a quick trip. Through an unnerving one. Seeing giant whirlpools from above is kind of off-putting, especially when a compass that’s supposed to be pointing towards your friend is pointing directly at the whirlpool.“

“Emmy did say she had two compasses, but why does it point to me?“

“I’ll tell you the whole story once we get going. The thing you need to know now is that your compass may not work, so I’m going to be guiding you through the whirlpools. So, I’m going to fly up and find a safe path for us first, after that we can talk.”

015 - Weather Bell Mystery

Flare slammed a glow berry roll down in front of Zain before rolling over to the other side of the table and sitting down in a huff.

“This is so annoying! Emmy’s hiding something!”

“Still thinking about yesterday, I take it?” Asked Zain half heartedly as he bit into his glow berry roll.

“Why are you not more bothered by this!? Your sister is missing, and the only thing we have is some cryptic message from Cozy saying not to worry, but who’s now also missing.”

“Call me crazy, but I do trust my sister and Cozy. I’m sure they’re fine.”

“And I’m sure we need to figure more out. After breakfast we’re going to the library and refusing to leave until Emmy tells us what she really knows.”

“Or, hear me out. We could continue on with our lives like normal ponies. I’m kind of supposed to be heading to the South Island to review a new restaurant tonight.”

“Even if you trust Zeph and Cozy, how does that make it okay to leave things as they stand and go on like life is normal?”

“What else am I going to do? Worry, run around the island aimlessly looking for clues? Pester ponies who have told me everything they seem to be able to tell me?”

“At least it’s something! I am not losing my two best friends without a fight!”

“They’ll be fine and back before you know it. This isn’t even the first time Zeph has up and vanished for a long while without telling you.”

“No, but it’s the first time she’s done it without telling you.”

“I mean, yeah, that is a little concerning, but not—that concerning. She’s a big pony, she’s allowed to do things on her own.”

Flare growled at Zain and got up from her seat. “Fine. You can go off and eat whatever new weird thing whatever pony is trying to make popular. I’m going to find your sister, whether you help me or not.”

Zain let out a sigh. “Technically, it’s an old family recipe that was discovered in a recent time capsule opening. Believe it or not, it’s a pretty major deal, a lot of ponies will be disappointed if I don’t have a review up ASAP.”

Flare took a long breath and then turned to Zain.

“I’m not going to argue anymore. I need to get going. Can you at least clean up for me?”

“No problem. I don’t have to be at the docks for another couple of hours.”

“Thank you.”

Skating into the kitchen, Flare grabbed her closed sign and put it up outside her pizzeria as she made her way out.

As Flare zipped through the market, Clover waved her over.

“Hey Flare! Great news, I got some new types of greens in.”

“Sorry, Clover. I need to get to the library so I can talk to Emmy this morning.”

“I don’t think you’re going to find her at the Library. She passed through the farm stands not too long ago. Pretty sure she was heading out of town with three other ponies, that I don’t see around much. When they passed my booth, though, I heard them mention the weather bell.”

Flare turned and rushed off towards the weather bell as she yelled back a thank you to Clover. Rushing through town, Flare arrived at the edge of town just in time to see Emerald disappear down a side road. Skating after her, Flare followed the group of ponies from a distance as they made their way out to the old weather bell tower. An old stone tower surrounded by a tall thick stone wall to protect it that no pony knew the origins of, but that every pony accepted as the foremost authority on when to stay indoors. When the bell rang, it meant a serious storm was coming, and it wasn’t safe to come out again until after the next time it rang. Despite its accuracy, no pony seemed to know who ran the tower. Many, including herself, believed it was haunted. Especially after she had let Zeph talk her into camping there for a week during the storm season and seeing no pony ring the bell. In the end, even Zeph had to simply put it in her file of unexplained mysteries.

Moments after the group entered the bell tower courtyard, Flare rolled up to the gate and carefully looked around the corner. She was surprised to see no pony. As her eyes frantically looked around, she saw a doorway in the stone wall that she was sure wasn’t there when she had stayed the week in the tower with Zeph.

Quietly rolling over to the doorway, Flare could hear voices from inside, and soon after, a rumbling under her. Looking down, she saw that the stones on the ground were beginning to rise. Scrambling through the doorway, Flare watched in awe as the stones closed off the entrance, leaving nothing but a stone wall behind her.

Rolling a little further down the dark hallway, Flare suddenly found herself rolling down a spiral staircase. No longer concerned with staying quiet, she did all she could to avoid tumbling over as she came down the stairs at full speed. Entering a rather small eerily green lit room, Flare was unable to avoid ramming into the group of ponies she had been following, causing them to all pile together.

Still dazed from the impact, Flare’s attention was brought forward as a demanding female voice called out. “Who are you, and what are you doing here!?”

Looking towards the voice, Flare froze in place as she stared at a green female dragon, which stood at the height of a tall stallion standing upright with her arms crossed. Flares’ mind stayed blank as her eyes wandered across the details of the form in front of her until they reached the piercing yellow eyes which demanded an answer.

Gulping hard, Flare stood up. “I-I’m Flare, F-Flare Brightdawn. I-I was following Emmy to find out more about what happened to my friend Zeph.”

The dragon let out an annoyed huff, which caused a bit of smoke to escape her mouth. “Yet, another unconvinced cause by our dear Emerald. Though perhaps a favorable one this time. Anyway.” The dragon’s voice changed to one of airy annoyance as she uncrossed her arms and made a waving motion that seemed to dispel the uncomfortable intensity of her gaze. “Before we get to anything useful, you’re going to need to understand what you just stumbled upon, and the importance of keeping your muzzle shut about it.” At her final words, the dragon stared back into Flare's eyes with such intensity that Flare could feel her heart skip several beats until the dragon’s gaze shifted to Flare's right. “Which goes for you too, Emerald.” The dragon rolled Emerald’s name in a low growl, which, well, not directed at Flare, sent a cold chill down her spine.

“First, how much do you know about the true history of the lost Isles?”

Emerald began to speak, but was cut off by the dragon. “Not you. I already know what you know. Unless you haven’t read the books in my mother’s archive, but I doubt that’s the case.”

“Sorry.” Emerald said in a meek voice as she bowed her head.

“Oh right, you probably think I’m my mother. While I do share her name and initial appearance which inspired her statues. Make no mistake, I’m not the Amber who founded the lost isles. But her daughter, who hatched centuries after she was driven away from the Lost Isles.”

“Driven away?” Emerald muttered in surprise.

“I’ll explain, after we catch the other pony up on things. Now, Flare, what do you know?”

Flare stared blankly at the dragon she now assumed was named Amber as she tried to recall what she was taught in her history class. “A family of pega—”

Amber held up her hand as she cut Flare off. “That’s enough. You clearly don’t know anything more than any normal Pegasus. Emerald, if you would summarize what you know for the girl.”

“Of course, during some kind of turbulent period on the mainland, the dragon empress Amber guided the pegasi to the Lost Isles. A place where we could be safe from the troubles of the mainland in exchange for our loyalty to her. Would you like me to go into more details about what’s known about her reign?”

“No, I’ll take it from here. The dragon empress ruled the pegasi until she was driven mad with power, like any dragon who allows themselves to hoard treasure, power, and influence. When her greed became too great for the pegasi to bear, they rallied together and drove her from the Lost Isles never to be seen again.”

“I-I’d never read anything about that before. The books say she was a kind, benevolent leader who vanished when she felt the pegasi could manage themselves.”

“A pleasant story, which I’m told the elders tried to keep alive for quite some time before letting it, along with everything else about the dragon empress, fade from history. One that I let survive for those who go seeking to find. That way, when ponies find the ‘true’ history of the pegasi they are content and seek no further.”

“Why would you do that?”

“For the same reason, some pony crafted the story in the first place. Because it’s more inspiring.”

“Then why even tell us that it isn’t true?”

“Because I need you to realize the importance of keeping my secret. The reason why you’ve never met me in the past, despite the fact I trust you to manage my mother’s archive, is because the fewer ponies who should know of my existence, and the less I come in contact with treasure, the better. I want to spend my life on a peaceful island inhabited by peaceful ponies.”

“I see, so that’s why Ironhoof does everything for you… But then why do you do anything? Why not just live in peace away from ponies?”

“Why do you help any pony? Because it’s the right thing to do. Besides that, do you even realize you’re asking me, why don’t I just spend my life alone in a hole somewhere without friends or family?”

“Good point, sorry. Wait, family?”

“Ironhoof, Northstar, and Inkwell, all three I consider family. And all pegasus kind, I consider friends.”

“You’re clearly not related to them…”

“The Inkwell of the past hatched me, The Ironhoof of that time trained me, and the Northstar believed in me. They may as well be considered my true mother, father, and sister. The ones besides you now are their great many grandchildren… Dragons live quite a lot longer than ponies.”

“What’s with having the same names?”

“A silly tradition, and nothing more. Digressing, you—both understand the importance of keeping my existence secret?” Amber said while staring into Flare's eyes.

“I think so, but what does all this have to do with Zeph?”

Amber laughed bombastically. “You’re either not the most curious of ponies, or you care for your friend an awful lot. So let me skip to the point. Zeph is in—serious danger… and/or in the process of putting the rest of us in serious danger too. The pegasi of old didn’t follow my mother because they otherwise had a nice life.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Flare stood firm and looked into Amber’s eyes to show her resolve.

“A way to find her. Which is where one of you two is needed. Northstar, if you would.”

“Yes, ma’am. This is…” Northstar pulled a flat stone out of her saddlebag and held it in front of her. “A waystone. It allows the user to locate anything that they are well connected with. For example, if I think of finding Amber while holding the stone.” The stone in Northstar’s hoof began to glow, with the brightest section pointing straight to Amber. “As you can see, it points you in the direction of where to find the thing you seek. However, the distance in which it can guide you is based on how deep your connection is to it. For example, if I think of finding the blue pony who crossed my path on the way here…” The stone in Northstar’s hoof stayed dark. “Now you try.”

Northstar handed the stone to Emerald, as she was closest to her. Emerald held the stone for quite a while, while staring at it intensely. When a look of defeat washed over her face, the stone began to glow and point to something.

“It seems I can use it … to find my favorite book, but not Zeph…” Emerald said in a bitter tone as she held out the stone for Flare.

Taking the stone, Flare immediately thought of finding Zeph, which caused the stone to glow, which, in turn, caused Flare to smile. “Of course, I’m well connected to my practical sister.”

“That means you’re the one who’s coming with me.” Declared Amber as she walked over to Flare and patted her on the back. “I hope you like water, because we’re going to be on it for a long time based on that glow. Anyway, head home, pack light, get some rest, and Northstar will come get you when it’s time to depart. We’ll be leaving in the dead of the night.”

“W-why not now?” stuttered Flare.

“It’s too hard for me to get around the island in daylight. I’m oddly quite proud of it. Because I hoard so little treasure and have so few followers, my magic is quite weak. I can only pull off an invisibility spell at night or similar times when visibility is already low.”

“Why are you even going then?” Asked Emerald with a clear tone of distrust.

“I’m not going to put any ponies’ life in danger that I don’t have to. I’d go alone if I could, but I have no compass to track Zeph with, and I’m unable to use a waystone to track her myself.”

Flare watched as Emerald turned her head away from Amber with a look of guilt and disappointment.

“Don’t overly blame yourself. At the time, you did at least believe you had two working compasses, and I also believe you when you say you didn’t expect Zeph to leave so recklessly. Anyway, we all have things to prepare.”

With that, Amber walked away from the group and made her way to a door at the side of the room. Halfway through the door, she turned back around and looked at them again.

“By the way, Emerald. It was nice to finally meet you. Thank you for all your hard work.”

016 - A Moment to Think.

Landing back down on the deck of the trot glider, Cozy redid her levitation spell on Cedar before pulling out the two compasses Zeph had given her to check against whirlpools.

Putting the compasses down, Cozy pointed at the one Zeph said she got from Emerald. “This one I’m fairly sure points to the mainland, or at least something on it.” Cozy moved her hoof to point to the compass Zeph had gotten from Cedar. “This one seems to point to the one you got from Emerald.”

“Why would a compass point to another compass? Also, Cedar said it switched directions depending on what side of the island he was on.” Remarked Zeph in a thoughtful mutter.

“Actually, that’s just what my mother told me. I wasn’t allowed to touch the compass.”

“Still the same, unless you think your mother was wrong. Which means it could point to more than one compass.”

“Mother didn’t spin many lies. Those that she did were just to spare me harsh truths until I was old enough to handle them. I sure can’t think of a reason a compass switching directions would fit into that.”

“Either way, it’s a good thing I’m here. If you two had just set off in the direction Emerald’s compass was pointing, you’d be at the bottom of the ocean now.” Remarked Cozy in a grim tone. “Of course, you wouldn’t have made it off the island without me, either.” She said with a smug smile.

Cozy’s smile faded to a look of bewilderment as Argon hopped over to her and bowed his head to her.

“What does that mean?” Squeak Cozy.

“He’s saying thank you.” Translated Zeph.

Cozy stared at Argon intensely as she took the opportunity to study the magical particles emanating from him.

“Why are you staring at him like that?”

“There’s something strange about this bunny…”

“That’s a given… He’s lavender colored, acts like a pony, and probably eats too many glow berries.”

As Cozy watched the magic particles, she thought to herself that the reason he ate the glow berries was probably to convert them to a magical energy store. Shifting her gaze from Argon to Zeph, Cozy was taken aback as she realized that Zeph was also emitting a faint, magical aura.

“Okay, now you’re looking at me the same way.” Zeph said nervously.

Cozy briefly thought about simply sharing what she saw with Zeph, but discarded the thought soon after. No pony knew she could fly without needing a levitation artifact, let alone that she could read or manipulate magic, and she wasn’t ready to let that change. The less any pony knew about her true self, the better.

“You’re also strange. I can’t help myself. I’m trying to figure out what’s going through your head.” Cozy knew exactly why Zeph ran off on her own already. She knew Zeph as the type of pony who would stop at nothing to unravel a mystery she became fixed on, which was all the more reason she didn’t want to share the fact she could read magic with her.

“We were being chased. I had to get off the island in a hurry.”

Cozy stared at Zeph, unamused, as she took extra time to think of a retort as she studied Zeph further. “You had no choice, no friends you could have gone to, no group you could have sought help from?”

Zeph smiled sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her leg. “I mean, yeah, there are, but we were going to leave the island anyway, and why bring other ponies into something dangerous?”

Cozy certainly didn’t disagree with the concept of not needlessly bringing ponies into dangerous circumstances, but she also knew it was just Zeph trying to save face. Zeph did care, but she also frequently dragged Flare and Zain around on her mystery hunting. Besides that, Cozy knew the real reason she had taken the opportunity to leave in a hurry was to avoid the chance some pony would talk her out of it.

Cozy felt her face light up as she figured out the magic emanating from Zeph. It was something she had thought was just a myth.

“How many glow berries have you eaten lately?” Squeaked Cozy temporally disregarding her ploy conversation.

Zeph laughed awkwardly. “A lot. I kind of didn’t pack much else to eat for the first part of the trip. Why you ask?”

“Just trying to change the mood. I didn’t mean to sound too harsh. I just know that’s what Flare would have wanted me to relay to you.” Cozy gave Zeph a knowing smile.

“Flare isn’t going to let me off that easy. When… if I ever go back, I doubt she’ll let me out of her sights for a long time.”

“If you go back?” Cozy’s attention fully shifted from analyzing Zeph to the conversation.

“Yeah, I’m kind of thinking I’m just going to stay with Argon from here on out.”

Cozy raised an eyebrow and wrinkled her nose in disbelief. “Have you not seen the pony standing next to you? You want to live in a society of ponies who could squash you by accident?”

“That seems a bit harsh. I haven’t squashed too many things by accident… recently… I mean, okay, maybe a few things, but she’s bigger than a flower, vegetable, or coconut.”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine. After all, Argon lived there just fine.”

Cozy glared at Zeph in annoyance as her words to Emerald rang through her head. “I told Flare I’d bring you back safe, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“I appreciate your help, but I think this is my decision to make.”

Cozy rolled her eyes and dismissed Zeph with a wave. “You’ll change your mind. I’ll just have to keep you safe until you do.” Walking over to the edge of the trot glider, Cozy spread her wings. “I’m going to double-check our route.”

Flying off ahead of the trot glider, Cozy took deep breaths to calm her mind. She wasn’t used to so much stimulation. She had gotten used to her calm, quiet life on the Lost Isles. Picking up pace, she zipped through the sky as her mind continued to race, despite her best effort to calm it, she slowly lost focus of the world around her. What she really needed was to spend time in her thinking room. Flying reminded her too much of her past.

Having had enough, Cozy came to a sudden stop, only to realize that she had somehow flown into such dense fog she could no longer even see the water beneath her.

Author's Note

I need a better title for this. If anyone comes up with one please comment! For that matter if anyone comes up with better tiles for any chapter please share. 🥺

017 - Rocky Waters

“Cozy!?” Zeph yelled at the top of her lungs into the dense fog that had suddenly surrounded them not long after Cozy had left.

“You’ve been yellin for quite a while now.” Remarked Cedar.

“I have to keep calling out to her, how else is she going to be able to find us in this fog?” Zeph felt a tap on her leg, which caused her to look down at a lavender blur that she was fairly sure was Argon. A moment later she got the image of Cozy holding a compass in her hoof that was pointing to herself. “You’re right, she has the compass she used to track me in the first place.” Feeling another tap Zeph soon got another mental image of the compass Emerald had given her. “Also true, we should follow the compass Emerald gave us. Cozy said the path was clear now.”

“You must be an expert at charades. I can’t even see your little bunny friend anymore. The fog’s so dense.”

“I’m not bad at it, but with Argon, I don’t really need to be good at it, either. It’s probably going to sound crazy, but I can see what he’s thinking.”

“I don’t understand.”

“When he talks to me, I can see images in my mind about what he’s thinking about while he’s talking. Or rather, while he’s directing attention towards me. He doesn’t actually need to be talking at me, he just needs to be focusing on sharing information with me.”

“You’re right, that does sound a might bit crazy, but cool. Can he do that with me?”

“I don’t know. Argon, you want to try sending something to him?” Zeph felt an affirmative tap on her leg. “You getting any mental images?”

“Nope, not a thing.”

“We can experiment more later. For now, I’m going to grab the compass and start trotting that way. If you wouldn’t mind, could you call out for Cozy every so often? I know she has the compass, but still…”

“I’m on it.”

Zeph felt out the compass from her saddlebag, then began doing her best to follow the needle while Cedar shouted out into the fog. After a couple of hours, Cader stopped shouting.

“I have a really bad feeling.” Remarked Cedar in a low voice.

“Care to share?”

“I’m starting to feel kind of—”

Before Ceder could finish his sentence, in an instant Zeph found herself plunged into the water as the trot glider seemed to suddenly pull out from beneath her. Caught up in a frenzy, Zeph looked around for a Lavender blur and made her way over to it. Once she had Argon holding onto her tightly, she looked around and pulled herself onto a piece of lumber that was floating nearby.

“Cedar!? You okay? What happened?”

“I’m fine, just floatin… Sorry about that. I think I just returned to my normal weight all of a sudden and destroyed the boat.”

Following Cedar’s voice, Zeph made her way over to him. Along the way, she found the Compass Emerald had given her. “Can you swim?”

“I’d say I’m a pretty good swimmer.”

“Alright, then would you mind stepping off of what’s left of the trot glider so It’ll float back up?”

“On it, or I should say, getting off it now.”

A moment later, Zeph felt the deck of the trot glider collide with her legs as it shot back up out of the water. The fog was still so dense she could barely see anything, but she was fairly certain that what was once a trot glider was now, at best, a wing glider with a lock box on it.

Making her way to the lock box, Zeph pulled out some soggy rope, which she used to anchor Cedar to the glider. Once he was secure, Zeph used the sail along with her wings to stir the remains of their vassal forward, while Cedar did his best to push from behind.

After what felt like several hours, Zeph could see something glowing ahead of her. Pushing forward, the trio found themselves at the mouth of a mossy cave filled with glow berries.

“Well, boys, I think we made it. Still no Cozy though…”

“We could go back and look for her.” Remarked Cedar in a tone which seemed to indicate he was genuine in his words, despite the fact they could still barely see anything.

“I’ll go looking for her once the fog clears…” Zeph trailed off as her eyes caught motion in the water. Looking around her, she could see several shadows swimming around them. “Cedar, I think you need to make a run for the shore.”

“Lucky for me my hooves are actually on ground at the moment.” With that, Zeph watched as Cedar bit through the rope anchoring him to the gilder. As he made his way towards shore, Zeph noticed none of the shadows seemed to have interest in him and instead stayed circling around the glider.

Zeph’s eyes widened as one of the shadows rapidly grew in size until a large stone mouth opened out of the water and chomped down on the glider, taking a bite out of it as if it was nothing more than pizza.

Seeing the other shadows approaching, Zeph grabbed Argon and leaped off the glider and onto Cedar’s back.

“Keep running!” Zeph shouted as she flapped her wings, trying to speed Cedar up. Upon reaching land, Cedar turned around just in time for Zeph to see the last bit of the glider get eaten. “So much for going to look for Cozy… and also all our coconuts… At least we have all the glow berries we can eat.”

“I guess rocks with teeth like eating wood? Didn’t even realize there were sentient rocks. Do they exist back in the Lost Isles, too?”

“No. We have some strange plants, but all our rocks are pretty normal, and I'm pretty sure none of them are not alive. At least I hope not. I’ve kicked an awful lot of them over the years.”

018 - Special Somepony Plans

Rolling out of the kitchen, Flare sat a bowl of what she’d dubbed the cozy clover salad, a mixture of strange greens and odd flowers, topped with nuts and glow berries in front of Emerald, then set another in front of her own space before sitting down.

“Kind of weird to be providing everyone salads for dinner, but that’s what happens when you don’t pre-make dough. I’m surprised so many ponies came in just for salad. Thanks for helping with the prep work, by the way.”

“No worries. I make a lot of my own salads. Most days, that’s all I eat. Though I’ve never considered a glow berry to be a topping, or even food for that matter.”

“Oh, oops, sorry, didn’t even ask if you wanted any. I’ve just gotten into the habit of putting those on my food. After you eat them for a while, they start tasting pretty interesting.”

Emerald took a bite of salad and chewed it with a look of disgust before swallowing. “Would you like the ones off my salad, then? They kind of ruin the flavor… Entirely.”

“Sure!” Flare rolled the glow berries off Emerald’s salad and onto her own before taking a big bite and letting out an excited moan. “These things are—so good! Once you get used to them, that is.”

“That’s hard to imagine, but you do seem to—really enjoy them. Still, I don’t want to eat enough of them to try and get to that point.”

“Speaking of trying, you going to try and come along with me and Amber?”

“Why would I?” Asked Emerald in a perplexed tone.

“You’re worried about Zeph too, aren’t you?”

“I trust Zeph to take care of herself. She’s a big pony after all.”

Flare stared at Emerald in bemusement. As she began to wonder if she was truly the only pony who was actually worried about Zeph.

“I don’t get it. Even if people trust her, don’t you still want to check to make sure?”

“Flare, dear, you have to let ponies live their own lives. Checking in on them all the time only shows that you don’t trust them. In Zeph’s early years, I followed her around plenty to make sure she wasn’t going to get herself seriously hurt, but she has long proven herself to be a capable and trustworthy pony. The only reason I would go is if I thought there was some piece of critical information I knew she needed—and I was the best option for getting it to her.”

Flare chewed her food slowly as she tried to digest Emerald’s words. She supposed they made sense-ish, but if you care about some pony, it shouldn’t matter if they “need” you or not, you should just want to help them—especially if they're in any type of danger.

“Something on your mind?”

Flare looked towards Emerald without saying anything. Of course, there was something on her mind, but it wasn’t something she wanted to get into—again. Taking a moment to think about something else that she could say, Flare decided to comment on Amber.

“I was just thinking about Amber. It’s kind of sad she can’t just live around every pony.”

“Ah, I see, not something we should talk about in a place like this. Did you need any help getting ready for your trip?”

“I don’t know, do I? I spend a lot of time out on the water, but only on a wing glider surfing around the islands. Which I assume that’s not how we’re going to be traveling?”

“I’d imagine not. At the same point, I’m not sure how you’ll be traveling either… A sailboat, maybe? Given Amber’s uniqueness, a trot glider wouldn’t work.”

“I can trot… Not a lot though… I don’t actually get a lot of running exercise. I roll everywhere, which is quite a bit different.”

“Safe to assume a sailboat then. Either way, I’d say you want to pack like you’re going to be gone for a few days to be safe. If it were me, I’d pack a bunch of dried food and general supplies, and then when you’re picked up, see what they say. Worst-case scenario, you have a bunch of dried food to use up when you get back.”

“I should be able to handle that on my own. After dinner, I’ll head back into town and see what’s available.”

“Very well, just be sure not to say too much about where you’re going or what you’re doing.”

“Will do, or, I guess, won’t do.” Flare gave a cheeky smile to Emerald, who rolled her eyes subtly before taking another bite of her salad.

The rest of the meal went by without much talking, as Flare was busy going over places she’d wanted to go and in what order she wanted to go to them in her head. Once the pair was done, Flare started to pick up the bowls, but was stopped by Emerald.

“Why don’t I take care of cleaning up for you? That way, you have more time to pick out supplies.”

“That would be awesome! Thank you!” Flare declared excitedly, as she was more than ready to get going. Flare wasn’t one for dancing around anything. Once she knew what needed to be done, she’d rather get it done. The sooner the better.

Placing her bowl back down on the table for Emerald, Flare rolled over to her saddlebags, then gave Emerald another thank you as she rolled out of her pizzeria. As she made her way around town, she got into several long conversations that had stretched her time thin. Flare didn’t like putting anything off, but she also wasn’t one to skirt from a conversation without good reason, either.

Rolling back through the farm stands at last light, Flare saw Clover packing up her stand for the night.

“Hey Flare! Been seeing you a lot today. Your saddlebags are looking pretty heavy. Must be stocking up for something, I take it?”

“I’m going on a trip to another island for a bit.”

“Oo~ which one you going to?”

“Not sure yet. I’m trying to be spontaneous.” Flare smiled awkwardly as she tried her best to sell the lie she had been trying to get used to.

“Sounds like fun. I could use a break from the stand. Maybe I could tag along with you?” Clover gave Flare an enthusiastic smile.

“Oh, uhm, I’d love to take you along, but, well, I’m going with some… pony special, so I can’t bring any pony else along.” Flare laughed awkwardly while hoping Clover would be very un-Clover-like and not press her for details, as she hadn’t had to defend her lie with any other pony, as every pony else had just given her recommendations on places to visit.

Alas, Clover gave her an even more excited smile, then walked up next to her and nudged her. “Who’s the lucky pony?”

Clenching her teeth, Flare wanted to say Zain, as Clover knew she was trying to date him, but she couldn’t say his nor any pony else’s name who would be on the island, which left her with just Zeph or Cozy. Flare thought that out of the two Zeph would be the best option, as few ponies seemed to realize that Cozy was a full-grown mare and not some little filly. A lot of ponies knew she had been looking for Zeph, but few knew she was missing. Figuring it was low odds that Zain, Emerald, Northstar, Ironhoof, or Inkwell would go around broadcasting that Zeph had left the Lost Isles, Flare made up her mind.

Feeling rather embarrassed about the idea of dating her practical sister, Flare stumbled over herself a couple of times while declaring that it was Zeph she was going out with.

Clover stared at her critically for several long moments before replying. “You’re not just dating her to get closer to Zain, are you? Because I can’t support that.”

“O-of course not!”

Clover stared at her for a bit longer before giving her an accepting smile. “You’re not one to lie, so that’s good enough for me. Wouldn’t ever have thought you had something for her, though. Sure, thought you two were close, but not like that, you know?”

“Yeah.” Flare laughed awkwardly, knowing exactly what she meant, as she felt the same way. She had never once considered the idea of being more than best friends slash practical sisters with Zeph. “Anyway. I should be going. I still have a lot to do tonight.”

“I’m sure you do. I can see you as being the real romantic type. I bet you have all sorts of things to set up for your trip.” Clover said with a devious smile. “Alright, I won’t keep you. Have fun, and be sure to stop by my shop together when you get back. I’ll have a surprise of my own waiting for you two.”

“We’ll do, and I’ll see you around!” Flare said, trying to sound as enthusiastic as she could while she made a hasty escape.

019 - Camping by the Everfog

Having filled herself, Argon and her saddlebags with glow berries Zeph plopped down next to Cedar, who had been rummaging through his mother’s saddle bag to see if anything had been damaged.

“How’s it look?” Asked Zeph as she looked over the small stack of soggy books and bags laying out in front of Cedar.

“All the paper stuff is pretty damaged, but all the metal coins seem to be fine.”

“What are those things, anyway? I’ve seen them a few times in images Argon’s shared with me, but I just don’t get the context at all.”

“Mother told me on the mainland I’d need them to ‘buy’ things. She explained that they are proof of work, and only those who work can get things.”

“Oh, so they're like some kind of identification. So then each coin must indicate that you do a certain job? But there’s a lot of them with the same pictures on them…”

“No, that was what the paper stuff was… The coins are just so you can get things like food.”

“Why would you need proof of work to get food? Every pony needs to eat regardless of if they're working or not.”

“That’s what I said too, but mother said that isn’t how society works.”

“What are you going to do? Not give a pony food? That doesn’t seem like a valid option. Oh, I know! In earth pony society, you must need them to earn junk food! Yeah, that makes sense. A lot of pegasi do the same thing. They’ll only make junk food for ponies who do grueling things.”

“What’s junk food?”

“You know, food made out of junk that you shouldn’t be eating, but ponies love anyway. Like things made out of mostly sugar.”

“I don’t know what sugar is…”

“Super sweet stuff you get from sugar cane.”

“Don’t know what a sugar cane is, either.”

“Huh, wow, guess there’s probably quite a lot of stuff you don’t know, having grown up on an isolated island with just your parents. Anyway, sugar’s like if you take the sweetness out of fruit and get rid of everything else.”

“That sounds strange. I guess mother wanted me to try some though. Most of her saddle bags are just coins.”

“Weird. I mean, a few times I could understand, but every pony knows junk food is called junk for a reason.”

“Maybe coins are used to get something else too?”

“But what else is there?” Zeph felt a tap followed by mental images of ponies handing over coins for vegetables, fruits, bags, glowy things, jewelry, furniture and more. “You make it look like earth ponies require these things for everything.” Argon nodded. “Proof of work for vegetables—really?” Argon nodded. “How does that make any sense? What do ponies who don’t work eat?” Argon made his usual indicator of something being too complex to explain. “Guess we should make sure the coins stay safe if we need them to eat vegetables…” Argon nodded. “So, Cedar, what are you going to do now that we’re on the mainland? Like, do you have any plans?”

“Mother always said I should try and find a nice pony to spend my days with. You seem pretty nice, so I’ll just stick along with you two for as long as you’ll let me.” Cedar gave Zeph a pleading smile.

Zeph raised an eyebrow at the goofy earth pony, wondering if he realized what his mother had actually meant. “Yeah, that’s fine for now. I’m hoping once the fog clears Argon will be able to recognize where we’re at, otherwise I guess we’ll just keep following the compass since we know it points to something some pony had to calibrate it to, so it’s got to be a little important, maybe.”

Hearing a splash, Zeph looked over at the water to see a rock jump up and splash back down.

“Whatever they are, they sure don’t seem to care about us at all. Which is good, since I think we should try and get some sleep here. Why don’t you and Argon get some sleep first and I’ll stay on watch?”

“Much appreciated. I’m quite used to going to sleep right at sundown and after all that swimming I’m more than a might bit tired.”

Zeph watched as Cedar put things back into his mother’s saddlebag, then laid down and seemingly fell asleep instantly, then looked over to her right where she saw Argon staring off into the distance.

“You okay?” Argon looked at her with a weary smile, then looked back out into the distant darkness. The fog had cleared a little, allowing Zeph to make out the light from the brightest star. “You worried about Cozy?” Argon nodded. “I’m sure she’s fine. Cozy is a pretty strange pony. She spends most of her time wandering around dangerous places, usually alone. I asked her why once and she told me because she enjoyed the atmosphere, and other ponies were distracting. So, maybe she just needed a break from us?” Argon nodded as he stared off as if to say, “I’m sure you're right.”

A while later, Zeph nudged Argon to get some sleep, which prompted the bunny to cuddle up next to her and quickly drift off.

Zeph moved her head side to side slowly, watching and listening for anything out of the ordinary, which was practically everything. Strange clicking noises, odd crackling, bizarre whistling from the left, and out right unnerving shadows in the distant fog to her right. Zeph wasn’t a pony prone to giving into feeling scared easily, but she’d be hard pressed not to admit to being more than a little freaked out.

When Argon awoke, he insisted she get some sleep, but Zeph protested, saying it would be better for her just to stay awake in case something happened, but Argon stared her down until she relented and forced herself to lie down and close her eyes. Moments after closing her eyes she was whisked away into an oddly calming dream of her talking with Argon underneath a star filled sky. Waking up to the sound of Cedar getting up, Zeph looked towards Argon, who was wide awake and leaning up against her. For a few moments, she tried to remember what she had talked about with him in her dreams, but the only thing she seemed to be able to recall was the pleasant feelings. Which made her smile and filled her with a sense of excitement to continue on.

With the sky turning bright, the fog mostly gone, and a renewed sense of calm, Zeph was ready for another day of adventure.

After filling up on glow berries once more, the trio made their way away from the entrance of the cave and up a nearby hill were all they could see was dense foggy coastline to the left, an eerie dense forest straight ahead, and sheer cliffs with jagged mountains in the distance to the right.

Pulling out her compass, Zeph looked out over the forest in the direction it pointed. “I know what I said last night, but I don’t know. Should we follow the compass, or should we follow the coastline? Every island has part of the city on the coast. I know they call it the ‘mainland’, but it’s still just an island, right?”

“That’s not how mother explained it to me. The mainland is a vast land that only has coast on one side, and is otherwise wrapped in a forest known as the Everglow.”

“Okay, but on the other side of the forest would just be another coast, right?”

“Mother said the Everglow was the end of the world. She said if you wander too far in you’ll find yourself lost in the Everfog and if you survive while pushing through, you’ll come back out the forest to the mainland.”

“Everfog? That sounds like something you should have mentioned yesterday.”

“We weren’t in a forest, so I didn’t really figure it was relevant. But now that you mention it. The Everfog, as mother described it at least, is a fog so dense you can’t see your own hooves that never lets up and that is filled with shadows that stalk you.”

“Okay, well, last night I saw—a lot of shadows in the direction that still has dense fog. So let’s assume that’s the Everfog and not go any further that way. Which means we have no good coast to follow, unless we want to go over a jagged mountain range… So, guess we’re still following the compass.”

020 - Legends

Waking up to a cold splash of water, Flare looked around her. She had been sleeping so well that she had forgotten she was riding aboard a sailboat helmed by Amber.

“Sorry about that, we’ve been getting good wind. We’ve made great progress through the night and morning!” Declared Amber as she looked back towards Flare.

“When did you want to get some sleep?” Asked Flare as she stretched.

“Few days from now I’d say.”

“D-days!?”

“Indeed. I’ll take a couple hour nap at the halfway point, but dragons don’t need to sleep all that often. Which is a good thing, because when I do, I’ll be asleep for a day or two. Another fun fact about dragons, more power they have the more they need to sleep. Supposedly, there were dragons with so much treasure that they slept for centuries. Of course, that could just be a silly story Inkwell made up to discourage me from hoarding treasure. Which worked. It would be pretty awful to take a decade or century long nap and miss out on time with my family. Ponies have such brief lives. I want to miss as little as possible, you know?”

“I get it. Though, to be honest, I never really thought of ponies living—that short of lives. I’ve been told by many an elder to cherish life because of how short it is, but still if I live to the normal age, I have a lot of time left.”

“But all you really have is your moments. All the time in the world will pass by before you know it. Of course, that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You want your moments to be filled with your friend.”

Flare smiled at the thought of having Zeph back with her. “Yep, moments are meant to be shared with those you love. Speaking of, when did you need me to use the waystone?”

“Not until we reach halfway island. There’s no other path to take until then. Which won’t be long now. In fact, if you look straight ahead, you can even see it.”

Flare moved so she could see the barely visible blur in the distance she assumed was the island. “If this is the only way, did you fly here and check for Zeph already?”

“I would have if I had known she wasn’t on the Lost Isles sooner. I only knew she was gone when I saw the waystone results with you. She obviously left quite a while ago. Based on the results, I’d assume she’s already reached the mainland.”

“That sounds good. That means she made it there safely.”

“Which is true and means the compass Emerald gave her worked. I was real worried about that. Though if she used the compass and followed the instructions, she would have wound up in a place out in the middle of nowhere. A long time ago, there used to be a hidden town there for pegasi to stay hidden while waiting for transport to the Lost Isles, but that was reduced to virtually nothing a long time ago. When I was younger and wanted to see the world, I arrived there to find nothing but a big open desert near a rocky cliff shoreline. All signs that a town used to be there were long gone. Only reason I knew I was in the right place was the fact that I found one of my mother’s statues in a cave filled with hopeful messages for better lives.”

“Just how bad was life for pegasi when we lived amongst earth ponies? Wait first, what do you mean by ‘would have wound up at?‘”

“Another reason you’re here is because the waystone was pointing the wrong way. At the moment, I’m guessing she’s been on the mainland for quite some time. As for old pegasi life, that’s hard to say for sure, but what I was taught is that when pony kind lost it’s magic and pegasi could no longer fly their small size, weak build, and loosely knit nature gave them a steep disadvantage when the three major pony races turned against one another in the great division. Pegasi towards the end of the great division, I’m told, had been reduced to slaves. As unicorns abandoned their heritage lands in droves as they moved to the Everglow in hopes of harnessing its magic to regain some resemblance to the lives they had lost. Earth ponies seized the entirety of the original pony homelands and turned draconian. Pegasi had little ability to harness the magic within the Everglow nor defend themselves from what lives within it. They were left to the whims of the earth pony society who cared little for their frailty. Which is why my mother helped until every last one was gone from the mainland. There was simply no place for them.”

“That sounds like something from a horror novel more than reality.”

“When I was young, I didn’t really believe it until I saw the earth pony world and Everglow with my own eyes. After my time away from the Lost Isle, I returned, more determined than ever to keep the Lost Isles safe. I may be deeply ashamed of how my mother's story ends, but there is little denying that the society that came from her efforts is worth protecting, and the only way to protect it is to keep it hidden.”

“Which I’m guessing that’s why you said Zeph could be ‘in the process of putting the rest of us in serious danger.’”

“Aye. If earth ponies ever found a route to the Lost Isles, there’s little I could do against them… Yes, I have magic, they do not, but my magic is weak… If push came to shove, I could claim what remains of my mother’s hoard, but I have little practice with magic beyond slinking around the Lost Isles and parlor tricks, such as starting campfires, juggling glowing orbs, or conjuring a nice breeze in a stuffy room. Then there’s also the pesky part of losing my mind.” Amber said before laughing dismissively.

“We’d protect our own home!” Flare said with a firm hoof smack on the deck.

“Oh my, yes, a flock of angry birds fighting against a mountain they shall surely win.”

“We’re tougher than you think.”

“You’re weaker than you realize. Compared to an earth pony, you may as well be a flightless pigeon. At best, you could annoy them with obsessive squawking. At worst, you could actually hurt one and learn an important lesson about picking fights with things much larger than yourself.”

Flare puffed up her wings and cheeks in protest. Which just caused Amber to giggle before suggesting she have some breakfast.

Grabbing her food, Flare sat in silence while she ate and thought about what life could have been like for ancient pegasi. After quite a while of thinking, Flare turned back to Amber. “What kind of magic did pegasi have that allowed them to be equals to earth ponies in the past?”

“From what I’ve heard, they could fly, control the weather, and not just walk on, but live on clouds. According to the legends, pegasi built a grand city in the sky out of clouds and rainbows. Though, honestly, I think that’s pretty far-fetched. I mean, really? A city made of clouds and rainbows? That said, I do believe they could control the weather. Since that would make them a mighty force to reckon with. No matter how strong the mountain, life can not flourish on it if the weather disagrees. Perhaps that’s even why the earth ponies treated pegasi so poorly after the loss of magic? Some form of revenge. Of course, legends also say that before the divide ponykind lived in near perfect harmony. Though not many legends have survived from that time, if it ever did exist, and their not merely fables. When I stayed with the unicorns for a while, they spoke of the legends of harmony. An actual pony, or rather alicorn, named the princess of harmony, that is. Under her rule ponies lived in harmony, but for some reason she vanished and took all of pony magic with her.”

“Some reason?”

“Every unicorn I spoke to had their own version of why she took magic from the ponies. Some tribes of unicorns built temples and renamed her the goddess of harmony and worship her in hopes that she’ll see fit to return proper magic. Others treat her as an evil spirit who tricked ponykind into giving her control of their magic and, in return, took it from them.”

“I thought ponies worshiping things was just a weird fiction thing.”

“A lot of the books I’ve written are based on the stories I heard while amongst the unicorn and earth ponies.”

“What books have you written?”

Amber gave Flare a smug smile. “Just a few classics. Some pen names I’ve gone under are Rusty Quill, Jade Inkpot, and my personal favorite A.M Bur.”

Flare stared at Amber, slacked jawed for several moments as her mind tried to cope with the idea that she was talking to not just one, but three of her favorite authors.

“I’ve had other pen names too, those are just my favorite. I have a lot of time on my hooves, and it helps me feel connected with every pony.”

“You don’t have hooves…”

Amber laughed awkwardly. “True, but, technicalities, it would be weird to say claws. Every pony else says hooves.”

“Have you ever met another dragon?”

“As far as I know, I’m the only dragon left. Suppose, in theory, my mother could be out there somewhere. Perhaps hibernating atop some treasure hoard recovering and may someday return to reclaim the Lost Isles.”

Author's Note

For anyone reading on release day: Marry 🎁️🎄️🎁️!

021 - Pushing Ahead

Cozy paced slowly across the water with the help of her levitation bracelet as she analyzed the fog that had entrapped her. As she circled around the same space she had been circling for hours, Cozy worked on unraveling the complex magical patterns interwoven into the fog.

It was far from her first encounter with the Everfog, but it was the first time she had cared about leaving it in a specific way. The Everfog’s complex space displacement properties made it a magical marvel. However, at the moment it was the dense magical static caused by it that was the most annoying, as it rendered her compass useless. After spending her first couple of hours analyzing her compass, she deduced that if it had been calibrated to something more in tune with its target than an old feather, it would likely still be functioning, but since it was calibrated using such a weak tuning force, it was completely useless within the fog.

She deduced early on that the simplest answer would be to leave the fog. The complex issue with that approach is the fog’s ability to displace space. Cozy knew that wandering too far in the fog without a guiding force to a defined direction could lead her to who knows where. For all she knew, she could wind up on the opposite side of Equitoria, lost in the fog for years, or perhaps end up some place outside of Equitoria altogether.

Pacing around the edge of what she believed could be a displacement trigger for the umpteenth hundredth time, Cozy managed to crack the pattern and sighed in frustration. Not only was it not a displacement trigger, it was in no way helpful to her situation. It was an illusion spell that would cast shadows if triggered.

Testing her theory by crossing the trigger, Cozy was unsurprised to see shadowy figures appear in the distance. Clearly some kind of ploy or perhaps warning to convince ponies to turn back.

“As—fun as it is to unravel such complex magic, I don’t have time for this. At this rate, I would be better off trying to pass through the fog in some random direction. Sure, I’d end up in some random place, but at this rate, I could fly back to Zeph before I could figure this place out. Especially as even if Zeph got entangled in this fog too, she has Emmy’s compass, which was tuned to something powerful and as far as I could tell we had reached the end of the whirlpools, so by now she’s probably reached the mainland.”

Deciding to try her luck, Cozy pushed past the shadows and flew at top speed until she broke out of the fog. Flying high, Cozy looked into the distance, where she could see a couple of whirlpools leading to a deeply familiar cluster of islands.

“You have got to be kidding me! I’m back at the Lost Isles!?”

Looking back, Cozy noted that the fog was nowhere to be seen. All that was behind her was clear skies and blue oceans.

“I can’t see it, but it’s still here. If I could tune the compass better, I should be able to use the fog to get back to Zeph quicker. Of course, it could be a waste of time too… I’ll have plenty of time to think about it. For now, I’m almost out of food, so I’ll have to stop back home, regardless. Which, of course, I had to get here in the early morning, rather than dead of night. An invisibility artifact would be awfully useful right now.”

Flying low Cozy approached the island until she felt uncomfortable, at which point she trotted along the surface of the water until she felt ponies might be able to see her, at which point she reluctantly dove into the water and began swimming the rest of the way to the most deserted section of the North Isle.

Upon reaching a shore side cave entrance, Cozy shook herself off and made her way back home, where she emptied her saddle bag and groaned as she recalled that she was fresh out of spare bags. “No spares, and bags take days to dry down here… I’m getting real tired of setbacks. Even if I go—all the way out and hang it up it’s not going to get dry until mid-day tomorrow. Although…”

Cozy smiled mischievously as she picked up the royal earth pony artifact, removed the seal, and took it over to the large jewel encrusted cylinder she had found quite a great long time ago.

“This thing is filled with incredible magic, but lacks any power source capable of fueling it long enough to cast any. Even my most refined glow berry extract can’t power this thing, but this cube might just do it.”

Looking at the top of the artifact, Cozy noted that there was even an indention that matched the shape of the cube. Placing the cube atop the artifact, it sprang to life and sucked the cube inside.

“That was unexpected… and unfortunate… I liked having free moderately powerful levitation magic. Now if I need to boost levitation, I’m going to have to sacrifice glow berry extract. On the bright side, it now seems to be humming along at … I’m going to say one third power. Which means there’s probably at least two more of those cubes out in Equitoria somewhere. Now the real question is how did earth ponies of all things manage to make a magical artifact this complex? For that matter, how did it end up in the lost caverns of all places? I’ve never seen any signs of earth ponies being on the Lost Isles. Suppose that’s all mysterious I think about another time.”

Cozy, having already studied the cylinder in the past, knew which spells she wanted to combine and in no time had her bag clean and dry.

“I’m fairly sure that officially makes this thing the world’s most overcomplicated laundry washer. That said, it’s going to be really nice for laundry. When I get back, I’m washing and drying everything with this thing. No more messing with water wheels and drying lines for this pony.” Cozy smiled excitedly as she took a whiff of her saddlebag to find that it had lost every iota of ocean and cave stink.

022 - Stop, Drop, and Roll

As the trio made their way into the Everglow, Zeph took point as she felt more comfortable with Cedar watching her back, then having to follow behind a pony she could barely see around. Not that she trusted Cedar to watch her back either, but she didn’t have to. She had Argon with her, and she trusted him with her life.

Not too far into the forest, the trail Zeph was following suddenly turned into a veil of vines, which when she approached, she felt Argon kick her. “Something in the vines?” Argon shook his head, and Zeph got a mental image of her being stuck in the vines. “I’m not going to get myself tangled up in vines. You don’t have to worry about that. Just keep watching for—”

As Zeph pushed her way through the vines, she suddenly found herself literally stuck to the vines, and within moments was tangled in them. Looking at Argon, who had hopped off her back and was looking at her disappointedly from the ground, she laughed awkwardly. “In my defense, your mental image didn’t relay the fact the vines were sticky.”

Argon thoughtfully stared at Zeph, which caused her mind to fill with images of powders being applied to the vines and her falling free.

“Don’t worry, I got this!” Called out Cedar, which caused Zeph to look towards him right as he tossed up a stone and kicked it at her. A moment later, the stone cut through a section of the vines and she half fell free. As she swung in the vines, she heard another stone smack moments before tumbling the rest of the way to the ground.

After a couple of moments of being dazed from the fall, Zeph picked herself up and began trying to rub the vines off herself, but they’re too sticky. Reaching down, she bit into one to pull, but gagged.

“Ugh, these vines taste awful. Times like this, I wished I could grip things with my hooves.”

A moment later she received a mental image from Argon of her rolling around in beach sand. “The beach is a two-hour trip backwards. That’s not really an option.”

Argon stared at her seriously, which caused her mind to fill with images of her covered in sticky sap, then a moment later, being attacked by an enormous spider.

“The sap attracts spiders?” Hearing a loud clicking sound, Zeph looked above her to see three gigantic spiders seemingly made out of tree branches. “Should we run? I feel like we should run.” Looking back to Argon, she saw him nodding. Picking him up, she tossed him on her back and ran, but soon found herself stuck to the ground by a web of vines.

Looking around her she saw Argon biting through the vines as quickly as he could while Cedar kicked stones at the spiders, hitting one of them, causing it to shatter apart into a rain of twigs.

The moment Argon had her free, Zeph once more started running. This time, the trio was able to make it far enough away that they felt safe taking a break, as they could no longer hear the clicking sounds of the spiders.

Panting heavily, Zeph looked over to Cedar, who looked as if he had barely gone on a light trot through the market.

“How are you so calm? Didn’t you say you grew up on the deserted island we found you on?”

“Yes, ma’am. Only place I’ve known before now. That said, those might be bigger than your average spider, but they are still just little spiders.”

“They were as big as I am!”

“Uhm, well, you're kind of small…”

“Not for a spider!”

“Anyway, what’s the plan now?”

“We go around.”

Zeph felt a tap on her like, followed by a sharp pull on her fur. Looking down, she saw Argon struggling to pull himself free, as he was now covered in sap too. Once free, he looked at Zeph seriously, which caused her to get mental images of herself and Argon getting chased by spiders that had no interest in Cedar. The chase scene ended when they made it to the beach, rolled in sand, and jumped into the water. At which point, the spiders returned to the forest, uninterested in them.

“I’m getting the feeling you’re trying to say we don’t have a choice. We need to get back to the beach if we want to make it further into the forest?”

Argon nodded enthusiastically.

“I think we should settle on some kind of mental image that means I need to just stop moving until I understand what you’re saying. What do you think?”

Argon thought carefully for a few moments, which filled Zeph’s mind with all sorts of flashy images until it landed on a large ornately colored black metal framed red light, that she recognized from some of the images she’d seen of the earth pony roads.

“I like it, bright, hard to miss. Now, how about something for when you want me to be cautious?” A moment later, the light in her mind turned yellow. “That makes sense. Alright, I guess, let’s get going back to whence we began.”

“Just a suggestion, but if you hopped on my back, I could get us back to the beach pretty fast.” Cedar laid on the ground as he made the suggestion.

Zeph looked at him and blushed at the thought of riding on top of them. “I don’t know. That seems a little… weird.”

“Cozy jumped on my back.”

“She’s also small enough that she could just stand on your back. I’d have to hold on… Which means… uhm…” As Zeph stared at the perplexed earth pony, she realized that he had no concept as to why it could be uncomfortable for her. Sighing heavy Zeph jumped on Cedar’s back and held tight as he stood up and began galloping through the forest at speeds that would shame a wing glider going down wave.

Within a fraction of the time it had taken them to get into the forest, they were back at the beach. Peeling herself off Cedar Zeph rolled around in the sand and water until she was fairly certain all the sap was off her. Then she turned her attention to scrubbing her saddlebag, hat, and tie. When she was done, she hung them up to dry next to a fire that Cedar had started, and a small pile of coconuts he had collected near the entrance to the cave they had slept at that night.

Plopping down next to the fire, Zeph began nibbling glow berries along with Argon.

“We still have a few hours of daylight, but I guess we may as well stay another night. That way we know it’s safe, and have a good food supply to start with tomorrow.”

“Sounds good to me. Camping on the beach is one of my favorite things. Especially on the far side of the island. Since then, it feels like I’m visiting a new place.”

“You are visiting a new place.”

“I know, but it kind of feels like a dream. I keep wondering if I’m going to wake up from this and find myself back home.”

“Well, if all this is just your dream. Do me a favor and don’t wake up anytime soon.”

023 - Mystery on Halfway Island

Flare stood on guard for a while before she decided to take Amber’s advice and get some exercise while she napped.

Wanting to feel solid ground beneath her hooves, Flare made her way up to the jungle, where she was surprised at first to find what appeared to be a well-maintained trail, but quickly decided that it was probably something Amber and her pony family maintained.

As Flare came into a large garden area, she saw a dragon statue that looked nearly identical to Amber, which solidified her theory about it being something they had set up, which put her mind at ease as she wandered around looking at things.

Strolling around the garden, Flare admired the rigorously methodical layout, a far cry from the usual messy gardens she was used to seeing in the Lost Isles. If it was one thing few, if any pegasi were known for, it was clean and orderly layouts. She also marveled at the detailed stone patterns and colorfully painted décor. The stone patterns and décor were all quite a bit different from anything she’d seen in the Lost Isles. Especially as few things were even made from stone.

Once she had gone through the gardens several times, Flare made her way to the building and knocked before trying to push the door open. After a few moments of struggling to budge the massive door, she decided it didn’t really matter, since she had spent so much time in the garden area that she should return to see if Amber had woken up.

Approaching the beach, Flare saw Amber stretching. Making her way over to her, she called out. “I love your garden! It must have taken you forever to make all that stonework.”

Amber stared at Flare perplexed for several long moments. “What garden?”

“You know, the big one in the jungle, next to the stone building and dragon statue?”

“My mother does have a statue in the center of the island, but there shouldn’t be anything else there.”

“Uhm, well, there is. Quite a lot, actually.”

Amber got an intensely serious look on her face moments before telling Flare to stay by the boat and flying off towards the center of the island.

“I’m starting to think I had the entirely wrong idea about that place…” Flare said in a low whisper to herself as she watched Amber zip through the sky. “Flying sure looks fun. I wished pegasi wings could be used to fly.”

After quite some time, Amber returned and had Flare follow her back to the jungle.

“There doesn’t seem to be any pony here now, but I have no doubts that this place has been inhabited by earth ponies for quite some time.”

“I thought you came here regularly?”

“I don’t know where you got that idea. The last time I was here was probably close to three hundred years ago.”

“T-Three hundred!?”

“You don’t have to say it that dramatically. I’m still pretty young for a dragon. At least from what I’m told. Anyway, I think we should take some time to look through the house and see what we can figure out about the earth ponies who live here.”

“What about Zeph?”

“We won’t spend—that much time here—but I need to know what’s going on here. Especially since it could tell us something about Zeph. This place was clearly inhabited by earth ponies very recently, as in, it looks like one was here just a couple of days ago.”

“Y-you’re saying Zeph could have been taken by them!?”

“Precisely. Therefore, we need to try and figure out what kind of circumstance Zeph is in now. That way, we know what we need to do when we find her.”

Flare gulped. “Y-you don’t think she’s been taken prisoner, do you?”

“Well… I can’t say no. As far as I am aware, earth ponies and unicorns think pegasi are extinct. So, I’m not entirely sure what they would do with her, beyond questioning her. Which is, of course, not the best scenario.”

“Then we should go after her—right now—and get her back before they can question her.”

“I can’t carry you, and we are still at least a day away, likely more. Even if we rushed after her, it’ll be too late for that. The moment she came into contact with an earth pony, it was too late for that…”

“Couldn’t we do something to keep the earth pony from talking? You’re a dragon. You could scare him into not talking, like you did Emmy and me.”

Amber raised an eyebrow at Flare. “Scare you into not talking? That wasn’t my intention at all. I was trying to instill a sense of seriousness. I wanted you to understand how important it was to me that you didn’t let my secret slip, as it would do little more than ruin my life. Which, even if you did, it’s not as if I’d seek revenge. I’m not that kind of dragon.”

“Oh—So, I guess even if we did rush to them, the only thing we could do beyond asking nicely is try and work around the situation the best we can…”

“Pretty much. That’s the pegasus way of doing things. And despite my appearance, I’m just another pegasus at heart. I’ll do my best to reason with the earth ponies, and if that fails… I don’t know… I don’t really want to think about it. I’m a fiction writer, not a ruler or anything like it. Especially as the pegasi haven’t had a ruler since my mother. For that matter, we barely even have anything that resembles a government.”

“We have a lot of guilds.”

“Yeah, if earth ponies ever came to the Lost Isles, in the end, it would be the guilds who would most likely negotiate with them. Which, unless the earth ponies have changed an awful lot since the last time I was around them, I don’t think that would go well. They—really like their noble-driven culture. Our guilds don’t even have defined leaders to talk to. Everything in the guilds is decided at general meetings and public votes; in the rare case, a guild member consensus can’t be reached.”

“I think you might be to blame for that. Your books are always showing the dangers of consolidated power.”

“Pegasi were already like that before I started writing. Of course, I’m told it wasn’t always that way. After my mother was driven from the Lost Isles, it supposedly took quite a long time for our society to settle into the state I’ve always known it. The main reason I wrote those stories was to make sure the lessons of the past weren’t forgotten.”

Reaching the main building, Flare noticed the door was open.

“You got the door open?”

“Why so surprised?”

“I tried to go in, but couldn’t get the door to budge.”

“You remember what I said about realizing just how weak you are? Doors like this are nothing for earth ponies. They’re kind of obsessed with making everything out of stone or extra-thick hardwood. Because of their weight, they need to make everything sturdy so it’ll last. Though in the case of doors, they make them like this for security. Few things can push stone around like earth ponies, so they consider it good security.”

“What about their kids? Surely a young earth pony isn’t—that strong?”

“If a child is too young to open a door, it shouldn’t be opening them without their parents. As you’ll soon see, earth ponies don’t commonly have doors inside their homes.”

Making her way into the building, the first thing that caught Flare’s attention was the sprawling mural painted across the walls.

“Wow, is this what the mainland looks like?” asked Flare as she twirled around the room.

“Parts of it. The central mainland is made up of a lot of rolling hillsides like this, that just seem to stretch on forever.”

As Flare spun around the room, her eyes eventually landed on the painted coconuts on the table. Each one painted in what appeared to be the same scene, but in different seasons. Which Flare knew from several of the books she had read written by Amber.

“Does the mainland really get… uhm, what was the white rain called again?”

“Snow, and yes. Though not all of it. Anyway, let’s split up and start looking around.”

Flare looked around wondering where to start, then looked back at Amber. “I don’t know, feels kind of weird rummaging through other pony’s things without permission.”

“Can’t let that bother you. Finding the right clue now could be the difference between life and death in the near future.”

Feeling the weight of Amber’s words sink into her heart, Flare took a deep breath and began searching every space she could reach. As she combed through the bottom section of the building, she found general supplies, such as dried food, seeds, tools, paints, brushes, rope, and more often made in fashions that seemed far different from what she was used to, along with what she felt was an exorbitant amount of art and craft projects. It was as if some pony, or ponies, had little else to do with most of their time.

As Flare dug through a particularly dusty cabinet she found filled with especially ornate fabric, unlike anything else she had come across, she found an equally ornate book covered in shiny gold and silver details. After marveling at the cover for a few moments, she opened the book and began trying to read, but found that the writing was done in a script she couldn’t make out.

Calling out to Amber, Flare made her way back out to the main room, where Amber flew down the stairs and landed. Taking the book in her claw, Amber flipped through the pages while her expression grew ever more serious until she suddenly snapped the book shut and looked at Flare.

“This is an interesting development…”

“Uhm, what?”

“The royal prince of the earth ponies and his wife set out to find the Lost Isles sixty-seven years ago after uncovering the true history of their family, which isn't mentioned. In an effort to right the wrongs of their lineage after, they found one of my mother’s old route maps and learned that pegasi still existed, but wound up shipwrecked on this island. This book ends twenty-five years ago when the prince left the island to continue his search.”

“Didn’t you say earth ponies had been here days ago?”

“Indeed… The book says only the prince himself left the island. He left his son and wife behind, fearing that his odds of making it to the Lost Isles were slim to none. Given the fact an earth pony, at least to my knowledge, has never set hoof on the Lost Isles, let alone in the past twenty-five years, we can only assume his fears were correct.”

“Which means Zeph is helping the earth ponies get back to the mainland!”

“It would seem so. Though it makes me wonder. Why help them to the mainland when they were trying to get to the Lost Isles?”

024 - Fairytale Friends

Cozy poked her head through the tapestry leading into the underground library. Remembering that Emerald had wanted her to stay quiet the last time she was there, Cozy did her best not to make a sound as she began looking around for Emerald, in hopes that she could help her get something to tune the compass with, as Cozy didn’t want to go to Zeph’s directly in fear of running into Flare and having to explain herself.

As Cozy entered the dragon statue hallway once more, she carefully studied the magic coming from each artifact. Coming to the center of the hallway, Cozy saw a few particles of pure magic. Such a tiny amount that had she not been on high alert she would have never noticed them in the dense magical atmosphere of the hallway. Following the minuscule trail of pure magic, she found them emitting from a crack in the side of the wall behind a statue holding a shield that seemed to nullify magic around it. Which prevented most of the pure magic particles from leaking further.

Studying the crack in the wall, Cozy deduced that it was actually part of a trapdoor system. Using the stream of pure magic coming from the crack to amplify her levitation magic, Cozy fiddled with the trapdoor, which, in turn, caused more pure magic to leak out, which she funneled into her levitation magic until she was able to open the door enough for her to slip through.

On the other side of the door, Cozy found herself in a room even more densely packed with pure magic than the cellar she had found the royal earth pony artifact in. Likely due to the fact that the room she was in now was actually sealed in an attempt to keep the magic from leaking out.

The room was lit with a pale blue light, coming from the hoof of a pegasus statue in the middle of the room that was holding a cube that looked identical to the royal pony one, except it was blue, and instead of having the symbols of the royal earth pony family, had symbols relating to the sky and weather.

Approaching the statue, Cozy noticed that it was standing around a circular hole in the ground along with three other statues: an earth pony, a unicorn, and a type of pony Cozy hadn’t seen in quite some time, known as kitsony, a race of ponies that were born with gemstones known as spirit gems embedded in their foreheads. They also had bushy tails and fluffy ears, but otherwise looked like any other pony. Each of the other three statues had one hoof stretched out like they should be holding something like the Pegasus.

Taking out a cluster of glow berries to see better, Cozy looked around the room and quickly noticed that the walls were covered in claw marks, which made what appeared to be engraved writing nearly impossible to read. Studying the walls, Cozy was able to pick out a few words: “Return…ponykind…harmony…break…beware…return. Whatever made these claw marks really ruined that message… It was even repeated on every single wall, even the ceiling, and yet it’s ruined beyond any recognition. It’s clearly a warning, but a warning for what?” Cozy muttered to herself as she continued to look around the room for anything else that could fill in the gaps.

After finding nothing more, Cozy took the seal she had made for the royal earth pony cube and reshaped it around the pegasus cube. “I’m not a fan of taking things that don’t belong to me, but no pony’s been in this room for a very long time. The stuff in the hallway I can say Emmy found first. Furthermore, it could be more than a little helpful, and it’s not like pegasi can manipulate magic anyway.”

With the cube sealed and tucked away, Cozy used the surrounding magic to easily slip back out of the room and back into the hallway. Coming out from behind the statue, Cozy heard Emerald’s voice calling out from the room above. “Is any pony down there? Ironhoof, is that you?” Still not wanting to talk in the hallway, Cozy didn’t reply, but instead made her way swiftly towards the upper room. When Emerald saw Cozy, she looked shocked, but then quickly made a motion for Cozy to follow her. Just as before, Emerald left her pendant behind and led Cozy back out into the greater cave system before turning to Cozy and glaring at her.

“You haven’t left yet? If I knew you were still on the Lost Isles, I could have given your compass to Amber!”

Cozy, feeling more than a little annoyed at being accused of something she didn’t do, glared back at Emerald. “I don’t appreciate your accusations.” Cozy waved her hoof dismissively before changing her expression to a smug smile. “I’ll have you know I not only found but also helped Zeph once already.”

“Zeph’s back?”

“You sure do assume things a lot. If I were back with Zeph, I wouldn’t be sneaking around here to get your help.”

“My help?”

“I need a stronger tuning force for the compass. I got separated from Zeph in the Everfog, and an old feather isn’t a good enough signal to make it through to her.”

“What’s the Everfog, and what do you mean, stronger tuning force?”

“The Everfog is a dense magical fog, which overpowers the compass when entered. Which is why I need a stronger tuning force. The compass needs to be tuned to something that’s a stronger match for Zeph than some old feather. That way, it has a strong enough resonance with her to guide me back to her.”

“You suddenly know an awful lot about how the compass works, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given that you’re a kitsony.”

Cozy was taken aback by the sudden accusation. Biting her tongue, Cozy prevented herself from correcting Emerald. “What would make you believe I’m a kitsony?”

“No need to play as if you’re not. I know kitsony can only copy the form of a pony they can see. Which is why you’ve chosen the image of a pony from the historical archive. That way, you’re not a copy of anypony who’ll be easily recognized as.”

Cozy had heard that before the majority of ponykind lost its magic that the kitsony, like unicorns, were a naturally magic-inclined race, but she didn’t know, or at least couldn’t remember any specifics. Just that they were said to once be amongst the stronger magical races.

“Where did you learn about kitsony?” asked Cozy, trying to sound suspicious so that Emerald would continue believing she was one.

Emerald blushed as she rubbed the back of her leg. “Fairytales, but you look just like Cozy Candles. Though I’m surprised you took her name too. It made it really easy to figure it out.”

Cozy blushed and looked away. “Pegasus names are weird.”

“Anyway, what do you need for the compass?”

“Ideally Zeph herself, but in lieu of that, we could use several things tied together, such as a newer feather, some hair, hoof filings, and so on. Anything you can find, the more recent, the better.”

“Assuming Flare didn’t clean Zeph’s house before she left, we shouldn’t have too hard of a time with that.”

“Flare left? To where?”

“To go after Zeph, of course.”

Cozy’s eyes went wide. “Flare’s on the ocean!?”

“Before you panic, she’s with Amber, so I don’t think she’s in any danger.”

“That’s the second time you’ve used that name. Am I supposed to know who she is?”

“Since you’re both mythical creatures, I figured there was a good chance you already knew her.”

“She’s a kitsony?”

“No, a dragon, actually.”

“Interesting… I certainly knew dragons inhabited these islands at some point, but I had no idea any were still around.”

“How’d you know?”

“I run into dragon artifacts quite a bit in the caves.”

“Is that what your bracelet is? It looks a lot like the artifacts here, but I haven’t ever seen it before, so I was going to ask about it.”

Cozy looked down to realize she had gotten so used to wearing her band already that she hadn’t even thought to hide it.

“Yeah, I found this quite a long time ago in the caverns.”

“Do you know what kind of magic it’s enchanted with?”

Cozy was starting to feel more than a little uneasy around Emerald, as it felt like she was a minor slip from potentially ruining her quiet life on Lost Isles. That is, assuming it already hadn’t been ruined, as ponies were seeing far too much of her true self for comfort.

“It’s weak levitation. I’m wearing it, since it allows me to fly, given that I’m already light enough to glide.”

“Ah, that explains how you’re getting around so quickly. So once we get the compass tuned properly, you’ll be able to get back to Zeph in a jiffy, perhaps even before Flare and Amber catch up to her.”

“That’s oddly specific.”

“I trust you. I know you, you don’t keep yourself hidden away, and you’ve helped a lot of ponies who get trapped in these caves. You also might have a crush on Flare, given how dead set you are on helping her.”

Cozy blushed. “I-It’s not like that!”

“Crush on Zeph that you’re trying to hide by helping Flare?”

Cozy stomped her hoof, causing a light tink sound. “It’s not like that either. I don’t need romantic feelings to help any pony. I do it because it’s—the right thing to do.”

Emerald smiled at Cozy. “And I know you well enough to trust you when you say that. Whereas Amber… I know nothing of substance about her. I have no reason to trust her. For all I know, she’s not even the daughter of the Amber who founded the Lost Isles, but the very same dragon. She looks identical to the statues.”

“At least I have a pretty good idea of what she looks like then. Is she also stone colored like them?”

“Well, no. I didn’t mean—that identical. Just imagine the statues as having yellow eyes and green scales.”

“Wait, what was that about her founding the Lost Isles?”

“I’ll tell you the whole story on the way back.”

025 - Zeph's New Rule

Waking up once again to the sound of Cedar getting up, Zeph looked to her side and smiled at Argon before getting up herself and gathering breakfast. When she got back with the glow berries, she saw that Cedar had drawn an impressively detailed scene of a spider in the sand.

“You’re a great artist, but I’m not sure about your taste in subjects.”

“Thank you, I’ve had a—lot of practice. They were really interesting critters, though. I wished I knew their name.”

A moment later, Zeph got a mental image of a book page in her mind. None of the text was legible except for a clear section that read, “timber web spiders.”

“I get the feeling they're named timber web spiders.”

“I like it. Not quite accurate given that their webs are vines, but it’s a catchier name, then vine-webbed twig spiders, which is what I was calling them in my head.”

“Now that I know not to touch any strange vines—hopefully we can make it somewhere today.”

“Having you ride on my back the other day worked so well I was thinking you could just ride today, too. Even together, you two barely weigh anything.”

“I mean, it was fast, but it was pretty awkward…” Zeph laughed awkwardly as she replayed the whole thing in her head.

“Wasn’t for me, but if you mean it was awkward for you to hold on, I can take corners slower.”

Staring at Cedar, Zeph really wasn’t sure how to deal with his seemingly complete lack of social awareness. Though as an image of a green light entered her head, she realized that Argon was telling her she should just go with it. “Easy for you to say you’re used to riding on ponies’ backs.” Muttered Zeph in a low whisper directed at Argon.

Argon stared back at her unamused as if to say, “and so? Get used to it yourself.”

Turning back to Cedar, Zeph sighed. “Okay, yeah, if you’re okay with it, we’ll do it. But only until we get to a safer place.”

After finishing their food, Zeph reluctantly got back atop Cedar, and the trio made their way through the forest. Though awkward for sure, Zeph had a hard time arguing with the results. Not only were they—much faster, but with both Zeph and Argon able to dedicate their full attention to watching out for danger, it made the trip through the forest feel much safer.

Coming to a large, strangely barren spot in the forest that had few trees but was rather a large field of oddly shaped viney mounds that had a rather unnatural look to it,

As the trio approached one of the viney mounds, Zeph turned to Argon.

“These aren’t spider nests, are they?” A moment later, she saw an image from a book seemingly showing that timber web spiders reproduced by building new spiders rather than laying eggs. “Okay, that’s just weird.”

“What’s weird?” asked Cedar.

“That timber web spiders assemble their kids.”

“That does sound weird.”

Reaching the mound, Zeph could see weathered stone peeking through some places of the vines.

“Huh. I think these are actually ruins! Still, I’m not risking touching any vines I don’t have to around here.”

Not wanting to disturb the vines, the trio made their way carefully through what they imagined were the long, overgrown ruins of some ancient civilization as they continued following the compass.

As the trio circled around a rather large vine mound, Zeph gulped.

“I guess this is our spot… So much for leading us to earth pony civilization.” Remarked Zeph as she carefully studied the vine mound, looking for a way in.

“Maybe this used to be an earth pony civilization?”

“Perhaps. Anyway, we may as well find a way in and see what the compass is actually pointing to.”

A moment later, Zeph heard a thunderous smack, followed by crashing sounds, which caused her to look back to see that Cedar had simply kicked a hole through the vines and wall behind it.

“Found one!” Announced Cedar as he made his way into the hole.

“Next time, talk to me before destroying something.”

“Okie-dokie.”

Making her way into the building, Zeph was unsurprised to see that plants had grown through the building as well. Using the compass, she navigated through the large building, having Cedar make paths where necessary until they reached a room that had been so well sealed that no plants had gotten inside.

In the room filled with little more than piles of dust, the trio followed the compass over to a lightly glowing pile of dust. After a moment of hesitation, Zeph used her wings to brush away the dust and reveal a glowing purple cube with swirly shapes and symbols engraved into its sides, along with a rather normal-looking purple gemstone laying next to it.

“I’ve never seen symbols like these before… I guess we came all the way out here for this…” Zeph said, as she picked up the cube.

A moment later, Zeph saw a bright flash out of the corner of her eye. Looking towards the light, she saw the purple gemstone that had been next to the cube glowing brightly in Argon’s paw along with Argon himself, who was now neon purple.

Frozen in a state of awe, Zeph could only watch as the neon purple drained from Argon into the crystal. When it was done, Argon fell to the ground, and the gemstone bounced away.

In a state of shock, Zeph dropped the cube and rushed over to Argon. Finding him unresponsive, she quickly took out a cluster of glow berries from her bag and held them in front of his nose. A moment later, he sprang up and began nibbling the glow berries.

As Argon nibbled the berries, tears began to swell in Zeph’s eyes. Picking up Argon, she held him tightly as she whispered. “New rule, no more touching strange gemstones—ever.”

Even with her eyes closed tightly as she hugged Argon, Zeph’s vision turned white. When the light faded, she opened her eyes to find a younger-looking dark purple mare, who was about the same height as Zeph, wearing ornately scrolled black clothing with a foxtail. Looking towards the pony’s face, Zeph noticed, under her hood embedded in the pony’s forehead, appeared to be the purple gemstone that had done something to Argon.

Putting Argon down, Zeph glared angrily at the new pony, who appeared to be looking around confused.

“What did you do to Argon!?” Demanded Zeph as she stared into the deep purple eyes that soon transfixed on her.

“What did I do to who?”

“The bunny.” Zeph said while pointing her hoof at Argon.

The purple pony looked at Argon, confused for a few moments, before smiling and walking over to him.

“Awe~ he’s so~ cute!”

Zeph cut off the purple pony and glared at her. “Stay away.”

“W-why?”

“Because you just did something to him, and you’re not doing it again.”

“I did?”

“Yeah, that gemstone on your forehead just drained something out of him.”

The purple pony stared at Zeph blankly for a few moments. “I don’t seem to be able to remember anything… but if I did something wrong, I’m really sorry about it.”

“Who are, and what are you?”

The purple pony stared at Zeph as she scrunched up her face as if she was trying really hard to remember something. “I want to say my name is Hakumei Kirameki… and I am… uhm… a pony?”

“That is a really long and weird name. Anything else I can call you?”
The purple pony shrugged.

“How about Kira?”

“Okay.” The purple pony smiled at Zeph.

Zeph, not wanting to take her eyes off Kira, stared at her while directing a question towards Argon. “Argon, do you know anything about what’s going on?”

Zeph stayed staring into Kira’s eyes as she waited for a mental image from Argon, but seeing a blur from the corner of her vision, she looked down to see Argon hopping up to Kira, who in turn crouched down to meet his gaze.

Rushing over to get between the two, Zeph looked at Argon. “You shouldn’t get close to her until we know what happened.”

Argon stared at Zeph unamused and shook his head, as if to say, “You’re being too paranoid.”

“I am not! You were unconscious!”

Argon hopped around Zeph and held out a glow berry for Kira, who accepted it and nibbled it as instructed by Argon.

“Those are good! Thank you, Mr. Argon.”

“I don’t like this.”

“It is a might bit strange.” Said Cedar as he walked over. “My name’s Cedar, and the defensive pony is Zeph. Do you really not remember anything?”

Kira finished eating another berry that she got from Argon, then looked over at Cedar. “I remember something… something about that cube on the ground over there… uhm… It was sitting by a book… and uhm…. That’s all I can remember.”

“That’s the—only thing you can remember about anything?” Zeph declared, clearly unconvinced.

“I remember some other random things. Like the sky is blue, the meaning of some words—oh-oh! And that the most important thing in life is to stay positive and protect your friends! Uhm, are you three my friends?”

Zeph looked down to Argon, who nodded as he offered Kira another berry. “Seems so, but is that really all you can remember?”

Kira nodded as she ate the berry, taking tiny nibbles out of it in the same way Argon was eating the berries.

027 - Left Behind

Zeph continued to watch Kira diligently, despite the fact that she had done little more than scratch her nose once in her sleep. Zeph had taken first watch on account of not particularly trusting Cedar nor Argon to watch Kira close enough. Despite Zeph’s reservations, Argon had seemingly accepted her as a trustworthy friend from the get-go. When Zeph expressed her concerns to Argon in private, he had simply shaken his head and motioned that it was too complicated to explain, but that he trusted her. Zeph felt guilty for not trusting Argon, but at the same point, he hadn’t been the one watching what happened.

Feeling Argon wake next to her, she moved her gaze away from Kira to him.

Argon held out his paw towards Kira as if to ask, “Are you satisfied yet?”

“No. It’s too convenient that she doesn’t remember anything. I’m pretty sure selective amnesia is a story trope, not a real thing. If she really couldn’t remember anything, she shouldn’t remember how to talk.”

Argon stared at her unamused as if to say, “We already went over this.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but your explanation didn’t make much sense.”

Argon hopped in front of Zeph and put his paw on her leg and looked at her with a pleading smile as if to say, “Okay, but can’t you just trust me?”

“Fine, but kick me the moment she moves an inch.”

Argon patted Zeph on the leg as he nodded his head as if to say, “Okay, as long as you’ll get some sleep.”

Moving back over to Zeph’s side, Argon went into what she dubbed guard bunny mode, which made Zeph smile. He might be overly trusting of strange ponies, but when it came to keeping track of things while on high alert, it didn’t seem like anything could get past him.

Laying her head down, Zeph did her best to forget the events of the day, but found herself holding Argon tightly in her dreams. No matter what happened in her dreams, she refused to let him go. Upon waking, she found that she had, in fact, at some point grabbed Argon in her sleep and was holding him tightly.

Hearing movement from her side, Zeph looked over to see Cedar waking up and starting his usual stretch routine. A moment later, she heard a sound in front of her, causing her attention to refocus on Kira, who had sprung up and started copying Cedar.

The one thing Zeph had to give Kira and her amnesia story was that she did seem genuinely enthusiastic about copycatting, as if everything she experienced was the first time she was experiencing it and didn’t know any other way to do things. Even sleeping had been a foreign concept to her. She admitted to knowing what the words meant, but felt the whole idea was quite strange.

Once every pony and bunny had properly woken up and had a snack, the group carefully made their way out of the building they had found Kira in. Originally, the group had set up camp outside, but early on in the evening had moved back to the safety of the inner room of what they dubbed the central ruin after some rather unnervingly enormous creatures began circling overhead.

As the group neared the outside, Cedar made a loud clap with his hooves. “Leaving the ruins, round two!”

“Hopefully we get to a place with less night. I don’t really like the night.” Commented Kira as she followed behind Cedar.

“I don’t think that’s possible, but hopefully we get someplace else today, regardless. We have enough glow berries to survive for a couple more days at the most.” Remarked Zeph as she looked around the corner of the outside wall.

Not long after making their way outside, Kira ran over to a nearby bush filled with eerily purple glittering berries. “Why don’t we just eat these? They seem to be everywhere.”

“Because Argon doesn’t know if they're safe, and unless we get really desperate, none of us should be volunteering to find out if they are.”

“Something tells me they are. Maybe some kind of inkling of a memory?”

“No offense, but we shouldn’t be risking our lives on an ‘inkling,’ unless we have no other choice. So unless you can remember anything more concrete—no nibbling strange berries.” Zeph tried to sound firm, as she had come to realize she was the authority of the group. Cedar, despite being older than her by a large margin, was mature in many ways, but still mostly acted like a school-aged colt. Kira may as well be a little filly with a big vocabulary, and Argon was… Well, a bunny. A bunny that, as far as she was concerned, needed to be protected at all costs.

Feeling a kick, Zeph looked back at Argon, who was pointing up at the sky.

Gulping hard, Zeph muttered. “Looks like we’re still not alone…”

“I say we make a run for it. I’m pretty certain I can carry all three of you, at least for a while,” said Cedar as he lowered to the ground.

Not wanting to get a closer look at what was circling above, Zeph hopped on Cedar, followed shortly by Kira.

“Hold on!” Exclaimed Cedar as he began rushing through the maze of vine-covered mounds. As he went, the creatures flew low enough to allow Zeph to get a clear look at them. They were a mass of leaves, with eyes made of flowers, and beaks and claws made of branches covered in razor-sharp barbs. From a distance, they had looked like giant birds, but up close, they looked like some kind of horrifying frightmare night parade float that had come to life.

Seeing that there was no way Cedar was going to outrun the birds, she instructed him to stop at a mound and kick the smallest hole inside he could. Rushing into the building, they were followed shortly by beaks trying to come in after them. After a few moments of frantically struggling to get in, the beaks pulled away and were replaced by an eerie flower that seemed to watch them for quite some time before pulling away.

Peeking outside, Zeph could see the birds circling high above them again.

“We made it a good distance, but even if we could do that again once we got to the forest, we’d be out of buildings to duck into.” Declared Zeph as she made her way back into the building. “They didn’t bother us when we first got here.” Zeph muttered as she looked suspiciously at Kira.

“You think they want that shiny cube we found? Birds do love shiny things.” Remarked Cedar as he looked out the hole in the wall.

“Not exactly what I was thinking, but you do have a point. It is a glowing cube, so it has to be magical. Of course, if they were chasing us over magic, why didn’t they chase us when we first got here? After all, we have a magical pendant and two compasses.”

“Maybe they only like square-shaped shiny things?”

Zeph rolled her eyes as she looked away from Cedar and to Argon, hoping he’d have a better theory. When she got a mental image of him running out on his own to see if the birds would chase him, she glared at him in disapproval. Which was met by a raised eyebrow from Argon, who made a motion that seemed to indicate that he would be fine.

“You’re not going out there on your own.”

Argon stared back at her unamused as if to say, “I can if I want to.”

“I know, but we’re a team.” Zeph said as she took the cube out of her saddlebag and placed it on the ground next to Cedar. “We go together, and that’s that.” Zeph gave Argon a determined smile.

Zeph approached the door and took a deep breath as she watched one of the birds fly overhead. “You ready?” Zeph asked as she looked back at Argon.

With a nod from Argon, Zeph nervously walked outside and around the area several times before making her way to a larger clearing, all without the birds seeming to care.

“Well, I guess this proves either the cube or Kira is what they want.”

Zeph got a mental image of the gemstone on Kira’s forehead.

“Yeah, I don’t trust that stone. Anyway, let’s get back.”

Getting back, Zeph reported the results, and this time upon leaving the building, the group left only the cube behind, and as before, the birds showed no interest in them. Seemingly proving that Kira was, in fact, not what they were after. Which made Zeph feel guilty for having been so biased towards believing it had been her.

Reaching the same clearing as before, Zeph looked back at the building they had left the cube in. “It seems like a shame to leave it here after coming all the way to get it, but do we have any choice?”

“Since we know it’s just the cube they want, I could run ahead with it and find good hiding spots for it as we go.”

Zeph rolled her eyes at Cedar’s idea. “Not having ponies on your back isn’t going to speed you up enough to outrun them.”

“Maybe if we put it inside something—really thick, they wouldn’t notice it?” Remarked Kira.

“They seem to be able to sense it through buildings, and I’m pretty sure not even Cedar could haul around a building.”

Looking towards Argon, Zeph was hopeful he had an idea, but was met with a dismissive shrug.

Sighing in defeat, Zeph looked back towards the building one last time. “At least we know where we left it if we ever need it.”

028 - Helping Old Friends

Reaching land after having successfully navigated through the Everfog, Cozy landed at a beach to rest her wings for a while, well, she contemplated the strangest things she had noted in the fog.

Having the compass to guide her, she was able to see how space was warped, and that within the Everfog what she had assumed was spatial displacement magic was actually warped space. Which is why she hadn’t been able to analyze it before. There simply wasn’t any spell or enchantment to analyze. The magic of the fog itself was entirely illusionary.

As Cozy trotted along the beach, thinking, she came to a glow berry cave that had quite obviously had an earth pony, a pegasus, and a bunny camping at it recently. Studying the tracks on the ground, she could deduce that either they had spent quite a lot of time camping in the cave or they had been exceedingly rambunctious.

Making her way into the glow berry cave, she noted that they had also harvested a rather substantial amount of glow berries.

Taking a nibble of one of the glow berries, Cozy made a disgusted face. “This magic is too wild, but it’s safe to eat, and if I snack on these, I’ll keep mine for longer.”

Once done filling up on what she considered to be subpar glow berries, Cozy followed the trail of prints rather than her compass, as the deep prints Cedar left were hard to miss.

Trotting and gliding through the forest, Cozy was reminded of the last time she was in the Everglow. She had been trying to live amongst the unicorns, but their insufferable pursuit of magic had made it immensely annoying, especially their tenancy to dust almost everything with magic identification powder.A substance that she found not only annoying but also saw it as a useless crutch that prevented its users from actually learning the fundamental skills of identifying magic themselves.

When Cozy had first learned of unicorns, she thought their interest in magic could make them exciting to live around as she had always enjoyed studying magic herself. However, it didn’t take long for her to realize that unicorns were too obsessed with easy answers and more brawn than intellect. Some of their janky shortcuts had proven amusing at first, but their lack of true understanding ultimately made them quite boring.

By the time she had left the unicorns to live amongst earth ponies, she had decided that calling unicorns students of magic would be an insult to her own scholastic pursuits in the field. Though even worse than the brutish sub-species of unicorns which had completely engulfed the zebras that had been the dominant Everglow type of pony before merging with the unicorns, was the pure-blood unicorns, who were nothing more than zealots.

They had lost all understanding of true magic and devoted themselves to their so-called Goddess of harmony. Which laughably promised to give only its faithful followers grand magic upon its return. Cozy wasn’t one to believe in deities of any sort, good or evil, but if she had to pick a side, she would go with the common unicorns’ belief that the so-called Goddess was actually a demonic spirit of disharmony.

Coming to a large clearing filled with viney mounds, Cozy’s attention was caught by a plume of pure magical energy being circled by Everglow guardians.

“That’s an interesting amount of pure magic. Almost like there’s another one of these weird cubes over there. The compass shows Zeph’s in the opposite direction of the plume, but a small detour should be fine.”

Making her way to the source of the magic, Cozy was intrigued to find hoof prints that matched Zeph and Cedar along with some type of pony she didn’t recognize the tracks for, leading into a building that had recently been damaged.

Finding a purple cube with symbols she recognized as being related to kitsony, Cozy took another part of her hair and sealed it.

“My guess is they figured out that the guardians are only attracted to pure magic and abandoned this thing here. I wonder if it was what Zeph’s compass was tuned to? If that’s the case, then they’re probably lost, unless the kitsony they’re with is guiding them.”

Seeing a faint glimmer of strange magic, Cozy made her way over to the corner of the room where she found a yellow gemstone buried under several layers of dust and vines.

“This is… incredibly complex magic. But it’s so weak. Yet has great storage potential. If I had enough pure magic, I could probably get it charged, but I’d need—a lot. Wherever the kitsony cube was originally being stored probably has enough stagnant pure energy, assuming the guardians haven’t cleaned it up already. But, is there truly any point… Casting some complex spell that I don’t even know what does?” Cozy laughed dismissively. “I have better things to do, but I must admit, I’m undeniably curious as to what this magic does. It would take a lot of glow berry extract, but I could probably use that too. So it’s not critical to do now—and ensuring Zeph’s safety is my priority. Even coming here to collect this cube is pushing things more than I’d like. Though it was hard to pass up another one of these cubes. Especially as if anything dangerous happens. They could be the difference between being able to save some pony or only being able to save myself.”

Making her way out of the building, Cozy glanced up at the guardians and smiled before using her abilities to funnel all the pure magic in the area into the gemstone she had found. Cozy had always appreciated the guardians. They were quite friendly as long as you didn’t disturb the balance of magic within the forest, so as far as she was concerned, helping them out a little was just repaying some past kindness.

With the pure magic gone, the guardians landed next to Cozy and bowed their heads before tugging on her and pointing off into the distance.

“Let me guess, you want me to clean up the stagnant energy wherever this cube was being stored?”

The guardians looked at her with a pleading stare until she sighed and took off in the direction they were pointing. As they flew, it wasn’t exactly hard for Cozy to figure out where they wanted her to go.

Making her way into the building, Cozy funneled the pure magical energy into the gemstone until the area was clean. Taking a close look at the stone, Cozy was disappointed to see that it still needed quite a bit more energy. “So much for seeing what this does, but on the bright side, this stone doesn’t leak much of any magic. So I shouldn’t have to seal it. Of course, that also means I can’t use any of the magic stored inside either. On the double bright side though, I can use the cubes to slowly charge it when I’m not using them. So perhaps, at some point in the future, I’ll know what these stones do.”

Coming back out of the building, Cozy was once more met by the guardians, who placed a blue flower in her mane. A symbol Cozy knew meant she had been granted the forest’s protection. Before bowing and flying off.

Not wanting to explain the flower, Cozy ate enough glow berries to make room for it in her saddlebags before setting off after Zeph once more.

029 - Runs in the Family, Or Not...

Flare finished loading the food she had gathered from the gardens onto the sailboat, then turned to Amber, who was studying a map she had found hidden in the wall after following clues from another journal she had found.

“I think we’re ready to cast off.” Announced Flare.

Amber groaned in annoyance.

“Unless you’d like to stay longer… again.”

“No, we need to get going. It just annoys me that after all that I’ve come up empty-hoofed. The artifact was taken, my mother’s lockbox was looted, none of these journals say anything meaningful about what these earth ponies actually wanted to do with the pegasi. I feel like all I did was waste our time. We should have just left as soon as we found the first journal.”

“Isn’t it useful that we figured out that the artifact was recently taken? We wouldn’t have found that out if we had left at that point.”

“Maybe, but what does it really tell us? It just adds more mystery to this whole thing. Maybe the princess didn’t agree with the prince and saw Zeph as an opportunity to return home? Her journal did seem pretty critical of him towards the end of it.”

Rolling up the map, Amber got up and started to walk away. As she did, the wind caught the map and blew it into the water. Rushing over to save the map, Flare snatched it out from the water and placed it on the deck where she could see new markings start to appear.

“Amber, I think you need to see this!” Exclaimed Flare as she studied the new markings on the map.

Coming back over, Amber studied the map for quite some time before folding it up and looking back to Flare. “Okay, maybe just a little longer. The destination on this one is nearby. You want to come along?”

“May as well.”

With that, Flare followed Amber down the beach until the pair came to a pile of mossy boulders. Pushing through the boulders, Amber cleared a path just wide enough for Flare to squeeze through. Flare waded through the water for a few moments before the floor seemed to vanish from beneath her hooves, causing her to have to swim after Amber until they reached a staircase that went up a short distance to a small room with a wax-sealed stone box in it.

“Now, here’s a fun dragon trick.” Amber said as she lowered her face down until her lips were just barely in front of the wax. A moment later, as she breathed slowly, the wax began melting. After she circled around the box, the wax had melted to the bottom, allowing Amber to easily pick up the lid. Inside the box, a gold crown covered in blue jewels, along with a wax-sealed letter.

Picking up the letter, Amber broke the seal and began reading. “Good work! You have proven to me that you are as relentless in the search for truth as I am. I promised your mother I wouldn’t tell you the truth about our family unless I came back from my voyage to find the pegasi. Unfortunately, since you’re reading this, it means I never returned. Either that or we’re reading this together because an old fool left a priceless family heirloom in a seaside cave. Hopefully, the latter.”

“I feel kind of weird hearing this,” Remarked Flare.

“I can read it silently if you’d prefer.”

“I would prefer that.”

“Alright, I’ll give you a summary in a minute.”

Flare watched as Amber’s expressions changed as she read through the letter. Reaching the halfway point of the letter, Amber’s eyes went wide for a moment before narrowing as she grit her teeth. Reading further, she huffed, causing a puff of smoke to rise out of her nostrils. “The scum!” Amber barked as she lowered the letter and took a deep breath.

“Uhm, are you alright? You didn’t even finish the letter.”

“I need to calm my mind a bit, so I don’t accidentally burn the darn letter.”

“What did you read that got you so fired up?”

“The royal family was tasked with bringing magic back to ponykind, but they chose not to because they wanted to keep their status as the most powerful race with the goal of eventually ruling over the entirety of Equitoria.”

“How could they return magic?” Flare said calmly, as she wasn’t entirely convinced that ponies ever even had magic to begin with, and even if they did, pegasi were happy without it, so she was unsure if it really mattered.

“The prince didn’t know. However, he knew the symbol of the royal family, the artifact we were looking for earlier, was a piece of the puzzle. The only thing he knew for certain was that it needed to be combined with another artifact like it that was stolen by a dragon. A dragon that he believes is the same one that helped the pegasi vanish from Equitoria.”

“So they weren’t really looking for the pegasi, they were actually looking for your mother?”

“Seems so.”

“You think maybe the son and mother gave the royal artifact to Zeph so she could bring it back to the Lost Isles when she returned, but just wanted to go home themselves?”

“That would be dumb. If that would have been the case, they would have left it here and had her pick it up on the way home. I mean, I suppose, you can never rule out poor decision-making, but I doubt that’s the case. I still find it strange that there were no hoof prints in that cellar, and the dust and webs had been disturbed in the strangest ways… My guess is one of the earth ponies has another magical artifact they used. Which means we’ll need to be extra careful when approaching Zeph. We should assume any earth pony with her has fairly powerful magic.”

“As I know nothing about magic, I’m just going to let you deal with that.”

“Right. Anyway, let me try and read more.”

Watching Amber finish reading the letter, Flare was relieved to see that her expression stayed relatively emotionless.

“I hate royals. Normal earth ponies are often overly serious, but at the end of the day, they seem like good ponies, but their leaders… I never liked them from a distance, and getting a glimpse into their inner workings makes me despise them even more than I thought I did.”

“I’ve been wondering. When you talk about earth ponies and unicorns, it’s like you literally lived amongst them, but with pegasi, you don’t? What’s up with that?”

“Let’s head back to the boat. I’ll answer that there.”

“Uhm, okay.”

Once back at the boat, Flare watched as Amber dug through a lockbox for a moment until she pulled out a pitch-black cloak.

“As you know, I try not to use much magic, as it could have unwanted side effects. So I don’t enjoy using this much anymore, especially as I got rather addicted to it in my youth.”

A moment after Amber donned the cloak, she appeared to morph into a green earth pony with a yellow mane.

“It lets you change your shape!?”

“No. It’s an illusion. So I have to be careful how I interact with things, but once you get used to that, it’s pretty easy to blend in.”

“Can I try?”

“Sure.”

Flare stood still as Amber worked the cloak around her.

“So, when’s it going to start working?”

“It’s already working. Again, it’s an illusion. You can look at yourself in the water, but that’s about it.”

Flare walked over to the side of the boat and played with her reflection for a bit.

“It’s just like a funhouse mirror.”

“Pretty much. That said, for safety’s sake, I’m going to start wearing it from here on out.”

Flare stood still while Amber took the cloak off her.

“Do you think your mother knew how to return magic too, given that she supposedly stole one of the pieces?”

“Wouldn’t put it past her. Maybe she took it to keep the royals from ever changing their minds and restoring magic. Which would ruin her own rule.”

031 - Now Playing

Zeph trotted awkwardly beside Cedar as they followed Cozy and Clef.

After saving every pony, Cozy had nudged them all to get moving towards Clef’s clan, which was quite possibly the last place in the world Zeph wanted to go, and she got the feeling Cedar felt the same way given that he kept looking at her as if he was waiting for a signal to run.

“Why do you two keep looking at each other so weirdly?” Asked Kira, who was riding Cedar.

Zeph made a sign for Cedar to slow down and got up close to Kira and whispered. “Because we’ve heard unicorns eat other ponies.”

“WHAT!?” Exclaimed Kira so loudly that her voice seemed to echo several times through the forest causing even Clef to stop talking to Cozy and look back at them.

“You shouldn’t scream like that. It can attract a lot of unwanted attention.”

At Clef’s words, Kira ducked down as if she was trying to hide atop Cedar somehow.

Cozy took a few steps towards them and squeaked, “What in Equitoria is up with you three? You’ve been acting weird ever since I saved you.”

Zeph looked nervously at Cozy, then motioned for her to come closer. Cozy rolled her eyes and made her way over to the group. When Clef began to follow, Zeph held out her hoof. “Sorry, just something between us.”

“Ah, team meeting. Understood.” Clef said as he turned around and took a few steps in the opposite direction.

When Cozy got to Zeph, she lowered her head and whispered the same thing she had told Kira as she watched Clef. When Zeph pulled her head back, she saw Cozy staring at her as if she was crazy.

“Detective, how did you come to this conclusion?”

“Cedar said—” Cozy held up her hoof for Zeph to stop, then looked over to Cedar and motioned for him to talk.

“It’s what my mother told me.”

“And what is her experience with the matter?”

“She said that’s how my grandfather went, and why we left the mainland.”

“How old were you when your mother told you that?”

“Not sure. I’d reckon I was about Zeph’s size, though. Mother seemed pretty big back then.”

“Did you ever ask her about it later in life?”

“Not really something I wanted to talk about, so no.”

Turning back to Zeph, Cozy looked at her with a raised eyebrow and turned hoof. “This is what you are accepting as ‘reliable’ information?”

“Argon didn’t disagree… per se… He said it wasn’t entirely wrong. So that means there has to be something accurate about it, right?”

Cozy walked around Zeph and looked at Argon. “If completely false is at Zeph’s back, and completely true is as high as you can reach, how true is it?”

Argon placed his paw just barely above Zeph’s back.

“If it helps, the mental image I’m getting from him is a big lifelike image on a wall of a unicorn with glowing eyes and sharp teeth. It has the words ‘attack of the killer unicorn.’ Now it’s changed to another one that looks similar but has the words ‘return of the killer unicorn.’”

“Detective, I do believe he’s referring to theater productions. As in, it’s not true, but there's popular entertainment about it.”

Zeph felt as though she were glowing red. “Oh…”

“I love theaters!” Cedar exclaimed with an eager smile. “I’ve made a lot of my own sets and puppets. But how does that explain my grandfather?”

“You did say your mother only told you lies when they were to protect you from harsh truths, and if you were my size, you must have been pretty young. So…” Zeph trailed off, hoping Cedar would pick up the rest.

“Oh~ I see… That makes a whole lot of sense now that you mention it.”

“It’s amazing what you can figure out with a little bit of detective work, now isn’t it, detective?” Cozy said with a smug smile.

Zeph, feeling even redder than before, nodded awkwardly to Cozy.

“Can some pony explain things to me, because I don’t get it?” Declared Kira, who was still gripping Cedar tightly.

“I’ll let the three of you fill her in while we keep moving. Clef’s legs don’t seem to work if I’m not nudging him forward.” Cozy remarked as she started to step away.

“What have you two been talking about this whole time, anyway?” inquired Zeph, causing Cozy to spin back around with an annoyed sigh.

“Mostly how amazing I am. Which is annoying to say the least—but he has a map at his clan headquarters, so hopefully we can figure out where we are soon.”

“Couldn’t you just fly up and figure that out?”

“I could. Though that would mean leaving you alone for a while again, and given how I found you last time I left you alone… Due keep in mind I have a promise to Flare to keep. Speaking of, she’s out looking for you, too.”

“Was out looking for me, right? When you were back at the Lost Isle, you told her what happened—right?”

“I told Emmy what happened.”

“And she’s going to tell Flare—right!?”

“Flare had already left the Lost Isles before I got there.”

Zeph’s eyes widened as her heart nearly stopped. “S-she’s on the ocean!? With the whirlpool, the fog, THE BOAT EATING ROCKS!?”

“I’m told she’s traveling with a dragon, if that makes you feel any better.”

“Not really…”

“Wait, boat eating rocks?”

“Yeah, when we got to the mainland, a bunch of rocks ate the trot glider, or, well, what remained of it. It kind of broke in half-ish after your spell ran out.”

“Oh — I kind of forgot about that…”

“Yeah, the last part of the voyage was a bit intense. But back to Flare. Can we use the compass you’re tracking me with to track her?”

“If we had something to tune it with. I don’t know about you—but I don’t carry around any of her feathers or any other piece of her.”

“What about the bow she gave you?”

“The bow isn’t a piece of her. Tuning the compass to the bow would lead us to the plant the fiber or dye came from. If it could lead us to anything at all.”

“You could have picked up a stray feather when you were back on the Lost Isles.”

“That would have been a good idea… I could go back and get one, but that would also mean leaving you alone for a couple of days.”

“We’ll be fine. We need to find Flare, or, well, you need to find Flare.”

“It’s not that I disagree, but Flare is one pony being led around by a dragon. Whereas you’re a girl and her little bunny lost in the land of glow with your straw-stallion and cowardly fox.”

“That story has a happy ending.”

“Yes, because a story that starts out with a house being blown away in a storm and staying in one piece is clearly trying to be a realistic think piece on the dangers of being in a land of magic, while being oblivious to it.”

“You do seem to be a magic expert… Which I do have some questions about. Like how did you know how those vines worked, and how to do what you did? I know your bracelet lets you use levitation magic, but what let you nullify out the other magic?”

“Detective, when some pony tells you ponies eat ponies, that is something to question. When some pony saves your life, maybe just tip your hat and leave it at that.”

032 - Real Magic

Cozy sighed. “Your mouth can run along with your feet.”

“Sorry about that. I just get—really excited when talking about magic.”

“Yes—magic… How about a change of topic? How did your clan come to be?”

“Funny story actually. When my sister and I were orphaned, we needed to prove our worth as Echochasers, so we set out to find a new family relic. That was… a rather spectacular failure. We almost got eaten twice, and when we fell into that pit of spike weed, I really thought we were done for. When we were limping back home, we happened upon a Sporekin who not only healed us but spent a lot of time teaching us how to use spores in order to get our family relic. After we were officially recognized by the Echochasers, we realized that we didn’t really care and instead wanted to spend more time with our Sporekin friend. Wondering if there was anyone else in the same situation, the three of us went around to all the clans and found our founding members. Of course, back then, we called ourselves the outcast clan because that’s all we saw ourselves as. Just the rejects. However, as we started combining our knowledge, we realized that we could be more. We could be the spark that could change everything. Thus, we renamed ourselves the Sparkmasters.”

“Since you’ve decided to try and be more than outcasts, have you gotten any new members?”

“Uhm, well, no…” Clef laughed awkwardly.

“So then what makes you think your new clan is going to be anything more than a temporary club for outcasts?”

“Because there’s something truly magical about ponies of all types working together! Coming together for the common good, caring about more than the rigors of tradition, and truly pursuing the study of magic.”

“You mean—unicorns of all types coming together, don’t you?”

“Yes, but not anymore.” Clef said with a big pleading smile.

“Still no.”

“I’m sure you’ll change your mind when you meet the others! Speaking of, you can see the clan headquarters from here.”

Cozy’s eyes wandered across the landscape in front of her until they landed on a network of makeshift tree houses nestled amongst the trees.

As they neared the cluster of houses, a spiral staircase leading up to the central treehouse came into view, and for the first time since Zeph had called a private meeting, Clef turned his attention away from Cozy.

“Welcome to the village of the Sparkmasters!”

“Impressive, for a playhouse,” remarked Cozy, feeling more than a little unimpressed.

Seemingly ignoring her comment, Clef led the group up the stairs and into a large, sparsely decorated open room with an enormous map painted on the far wall.

“This is the Sparkmasters headquarters! It’s where we hold all our important meetings.”

“How many members are there in your little club?” asked Cozy, as she made her way over to the map.

“Six, counting myself. We have a member from every clan, except the Everlost.”

“Wouldn’t that be five, then?”

“There are two of us from the Echochasers. My sister, Midnight Melody, and I.”

Just as Clef finished talking, a door burst open, revealing a dark blue unicorn mare who rushed in and over to Clef.

“Clef! Where have you been? You were supposed to be back hours ago!”

“I got a little wrapped up in my quest to get shade blossom pollen.”

“He was nearly eaten by timber web spiders,” snipped Cozy.

The mare stopped at Cozy’s voice and stared wearily over to her. “W-who are all these ponies?”

“I’m glad you asked! This is the single most amazing pony ever!” Clef exclaimed as he pointed towards Cozy. “She used Sapweaving, Echochasing—and Everlost magic to send a pack of timber web spiders tumbling to their doom!”

The dark blue mare scrunched up her face as she stared at Cozy. “She doesn’t even have a horn. That doesn’t make any sense. Actually… What are you…?” the mare’s gaze wandered beyond Cozy. “What are any of you? Minus the earth pony.”

Cozy looked to her right as Kira came prancing up and offered her hoof to the mare. “I’m Hakumei Kirameki and I’m a pony! But you can just call me Kira.”

Cozy slammed her hoof against her face as she watched the awkward display.

The dark blue mare held up her hoof awkwardly and tapped Kira’s hoof. “Uhm, I’m Midnight Melody, but every pony calls me Midnight. I’m an Echochaser… Or, I mean, I’m a Sparkmaster.”

“I’m sorry for my—friend. She’s suffering from memory loss.” Interjected Zeph as she came up to Midnight. “I’m Zeph, Zeph, Cloudchaser of the Lost Isles.”

“I’ve never heard of the Lost Isles clan before.”

“It’s not a clan, it’s a—” Cozy kicked Zeph in the leg.

“It’s a place you don’t need to know about. We’re pegasi on a mission to return a lost bunny to his home.”

“Pegasi… that sounds familiar-ish…”

“They’re a race of ponies that went extinct after the Great Divide.” Said a strong female voice from the side of the room. Turning her gaze to face the voice, Cozy saw a white mare with a bright red mane entering the room from the side. “My name is Spore Blossom, by the way, but please just call me Blossom. I’m a former member of the Sporekin clan.”

Cozy glanced over to the new mare. Given that they only had a single member from each tribe, it was safe to assume that Blossom was the friend that had inspired the Sparkmaster clan with her act of kindness towards Clef and his sister.

“I’m sorry, but what’s a Sporekin?” asked Zeph.

“It makes sense you wouldn’t know, since if you did, your race wouldn’t be a mere myth. The Sporekin are a clan of unicorns who utilize mushroom magic. We use the spores from many of the unique mushrooms around the forest to cast a variety of spells.”

Cozy bit her tongue as she resisted the urge to correct the mistaken mare. The Sporekin didn’t cast magic of any type; all they did was refine spores and sprinkle them around. Powerful effects indeed, but magic? Not at all.

“What about the other clans?” inquired Zeph.

“Echochasers use magical relics. Sapweavers use magic derived from flora besides mushrooms, of course. Shardseekers use gemstones. Pollenplunders use Everbloom pollen. Everlost become one with the Everglow.”

“And Sparkmasters have no such limitations; we welcome magic of all kinds!” interjected Clef.

“It’s worth noting that the correct clan name for the ‘Pollenplunders’ is Purebloods, and if you call them Pollenplunders to their face, you’re going to get in trouble.” Snipped Midnight as she glared at Blossom.

“I don’t care; their snobby know-nothings who just plunder pollen, and that’s that.” Blossom looked away, annoyed.

Cozy certainly didn’t disagree with Blossom, but she wasn’t about ready to admit it.

“To say I’m lost would be an understatement. Could you assume I know nothing about unicorns, which is true, and explain it to me a bit more?” Zeph said, as she looked towards Blossom.

“We~ll, if you know nothing about unicorns, then I suppose you would first have to know that ’Purebloods’ are unicorns that are not related to zebras. When the unicorns lost their magic, they moved to the Everglow, and the—smart ones integrated into the various zebra tribes. Whereas the power-hungry ones, now known as the Purebloods, laid false claim to the Everbloom and built a society around it.”

“Keeping in mind, I know nothing. What’s a zebra, and what is an ‘Everbloom?’”

“Those are certainly elementary questions, and I’m not the best elementary teacher, but I’ll do my best to explain. Zebras were the dominant species of pony in the Everglow before unicorns moved in. The different Zebra tribes all knew different ways of harnessing the forest’s magic, and the unicorns willing to learn became one with those tries. Whereas the unicorns who were unwilling stole the Everbloom. Which is a magical flower field in the heart of the Everglow that produces pollen that can be used to harness the power of the elements. As its name suggests, the Everbloom is always in bloom, and thus the flowers there can be harvested any day of the year, which gives them unrivaled power. Especially as the rest of us have to manage our resources carefully as we can often only harvest elements of the forest at very limited intervals.”

“Oh—I see, so you ‘farm’ magic from the forest. Just like any pony would farm vegetables from the land.”

“A crude but accurate way of putting it, I suppose.”

Cozy smirked as even Zeph, a pony who had little to no true concept of magic, understood that what the unicorns were doing was little different than what any other farm pony did.

“Okay, now if the pollen from the Everbloom is so plentiful, why do the Purebloods not just share it?”

“For the same reason earth ponies hoard coins.”

“So… they… can… hoard vegetables?”

Blossom stared at Zeph dumbfounded. “W-what?”

“I’m just kind of guessing that’s why earth ponies have coins…” Zeph rubbed her leg and smiled awkwardly.

“That’s not why earth ponies use coins… Or, well, I guess, kind of, now that I think about it. It does have the effect of allowing those with coins to hoard vegetables. Though not just vegetables, everything. It makes those who have coins powerful, and those who don’t workers. Which is what the pollen does for the purebloods. Just as there are many things that can only be accomplished with a great deal of coin, there are many things that can only be accomplished with a great deal of Everbloom pollen. Which means all they have to do is manage the pollen and they get everything else given to them.”

“That makes sense to how society works. All ponies take care of different things, and you distribute supplies and resources as needed. Some tasks are just easier than others, but it’s unreasonable to think any pony can do everything on their own, so every pony will need quite a bit given to them. Which I guess is to say, I don’t understand why they are bad yet.”

Blossom stared at Zeph thoughtfully for quite some time before Cozy decided she’d better nudge things along so they could get going.

“Detective, I believe you’re a fan of Rusty Quill’s writing?”

Zeph nodded enthusiastically. “His books are probably the reason I’m a detective.”

“So apply that here. In the first book, Prancy unraveled the society of elite islanders plot to hoard the entire island’s supply of a rare spice in order to always have it, even when there wasn’t enough to go to every pony who wanted it.”

“That was a good one.”

“Yes, but back to the point. Think of the Purebloods as the society of elite islanders, but instead of being a secret society, they openly hoard all the spice because they controlled the only supply.”

“This is a real-world group of villains!?”

“Pretty much. They are actual ponies doing iffy things because it benefits them to do so, and they are okay with that.”

“Okay, so now we just have to figure out how to stop them!” Zeph said with an enthusiastic smile.

Cozy slammed her hoof against her face. “This is not a book! We don’t.”

“But you could! If you join our clan and teach us how to use magic like you do. We could show every pony that things are better when we work together!” Interjected Clef with a brimming smile.

“We are here to get a bunny home, and that’s that.” Cozy said in a sharp tone as she made her way closer to the map. “Urgh, we could barely be much further away from where we needed to be if we tried.” Cozy squeaked in annoyance.

“And where is it you need to be going?” Asked Blossom as she made her way over to Cozy’s side.

“An earth pony town. Any should do as a starting point, unless there’s a specific one Argon has in mind?” Cozy turned to look back at Zeph.

“Apple Valley is where he wants to go.”

Blossom looked curiously over to Zeph, “The bunny tells you where he wants to go?”

“Not exactly. I just see what he’s thinking in my head. So I see a big sign that says Apple Valley. Big red sign, white letters, gold and green trim. Lots of trees around it.”

“Can you do that with all animals?”

“No. Just him.”

“So, he’s magic?”

“Not that he’s aware of. It only seems to work with me.” Zeph laughed awkwardly.

“Interesting. Does your group have any other strange magic?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Let’s get going.” Cozy said as she began walking towards the exit.

“But I haven’t gotten any supplies yet.” said Clef in a confused daze.

“And you don’t need them, because you’re not coming with us. All we needed was a peek at your map to orient ourselves. Thank you for your assistance, and goodbye.”

“Maybe we could ask them about supplies?” said Zeph as she began to follow Cozy. “We’re getting low on food, and don’t really know what we can eat.”

“We can manage on our own, detective.”

“B-but you haven’t even met every pony!” Shouted Clef as he began to follow Cozy.

“Three out of six is close enough. We have places to go, things to do, and barely enough daylight to do them in.”

“In that case, you should stay for the night, and get a fresh start in the morning.”

“Don’t need to, just need to get going.”

“At least meet with Stardust, please.” Clef ran in front of Cozy and stared into her eyes with desperation. “I-I can pay you for your time.”

Cozy rolled her eyes. “Why?”

“He’s trying to create combined magic, and he’s been having quite a lot of trouble with it.”

“No.” Cozy said as she walked around Clef. As Cozy approached the door, a dark burgundy unicorn entered. Doing her best to ignore the new mare, Cozy walked past her.

“That’s a nice levitation bracelet. Are you an Echochaser?”

Spinning around, Cozy scrunched up her nose as she stared into the violet eyes of the new pony. “How did you know?”

“That’s what horns are for.” The mare gave Cozy a smug smile.

“Y-you read its magic with your—horn?”

“I get that a lot. Most ponies think you need to dust every little thing in identification powder, but I think it’s just wasteful and lazy. We have horns; we should learn to use them. Of course,” the mare began laughing awkwardly as she rubbed her leg. “You don’t have one… Uhm, what are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Cozy felt her expression soften. She hadn’t ever met a unicorn who shared her views on identification powder before. “I’m a pegasus. The name’s Cozy, and you are?”

“I go by Runa. I know, kind of a weird-sounding old dragon word from what I’m told. It’s not my given name. I gave that up when I became a Sparkmaster, since I wanted to firmly let go of my past and embrace the pursuit of real magic.”

“Real magic?”

“Real spells, like those found in relics. As a former Shardkeeper, all I was allowed to do was blend rock dust together. Relics, though, use the same stones but actually manipulate their power through patterns of pathways etched inside of them. I’ve learned to read quite a few of the patterns, but I still don’t know how to make them actually work. I also wished I knew how the ancients were able to engrave directly inside stones, as I think that could be an issue, too. I’ve tried etching the simpler patterns on the outside, but that didn’t seem to work. Sorry, I’m probably boring you. I do that.” Runa laughed awkwardly for a short moment. “You seem to be in a hurry, so I’ll let you go.”

“Actually, I believe my friend wanted to get supplies before we left.” Cozy turned to face Zeph.

“Yes, I think it would be a good idea.”

“Which means I have some time if you’d like to show me your work?”

033 - A Kindred Connection

Runa stared into the golden, inquisitive eyes of the pale yellow pegasus pony. Who, as far as her horn was concerned, could be a Shardseeker packing several pounds of highly refined dust.

“S-sure, I can show you some of my work, but don’t expect it to be too interesting. Just some pretty stones with engravings on them.”

“Visual impressions aside, I’m most interested to see your patterns and hear your theories on the patterns themselves.”

“Oh — R-really?”

Cozy nodded.

“Alright, though I should check with the clan leader to make sure it—”

“Yes! All the yeses!” exclaimed Clef with a burst of enthusiasm. “While you’re with Runa, I’ll make sure your friends get all the supplies they need. Please, enjoy yourself.”

Clef walked away from the pair while motioning for Zeph to follow him.

“That was strange. You must have made quite the impression on Clef. Are you a new clan member or?”

“No. Just a pegasus and her friends passing through on their way to get a bunny back home, who happened to help a pony who was stuck in some vines.”

“That sounds like an interesting story.”

“Perhaps, to some.”

“Ah — I get it. Clef already wore you out on chit-chat. No worries, I get’cha. I’m the same way. I need conversation with depth too. Can only handle so much flutter talk before I need some good work talk to recharge.”

Runa began guiding Cozy to her workshop. “You already get the tour?”

“I saw the map. That’s the reason we came here.”

“Hopefully, it was useful. Took Dusty and I an entire moon to paint that thing.”

“It was, assuming it’s accurate.”

“Should be-ish. I copied most of it from the Shardseekers atlas, most of the places that were missing from that were filled in by the Echochaser’s ruin maps. Of course, there are still a lot of places missing or vague. Where you going? That way, I can tell you how accurate that part of the map is.”

“Apple Valley.”

“Oh, well, uhm, not super accurate. General locations should be about right, but I wouldn’t put much salt in the rest. I’ve never even been to the border of the Everglow myself. Clef and Midnight have. One of these days I want to though. It’s a pretty long trip, though.”

“Indeed…”

“Oops, we’re here… and I forgot to explain anything on the way by.” Runa laughed awkwardly. “Well, on the way back, I guess.”

Leading Cozy into her workshop, Runa made her way over to her shelves and pulled out a tray of gemstones. Sitting the gemstones down on her work table, she picked up a flat red stone.

“This one has the pattern for fire engraved on it. I got this pattern when I got a brief chance to study a fire starting relic used during a visit to the Echochasers with Clef. It’s the simplest of all the patterns I’ve found so far.”

“May I?”

“Sure.” Runa handed the stone over to Cozy, who studied it for a short while in silence.

“Put a pathway between these two points, and then make a circle pit here.”

“Uhm, sure.” Runa grabbed her tools and followed Cozy’s instructions. When the request was done, Runa lowered her head and examined the stone with her horn. “The energy’s moving now?”

“You had most of the pattern correct, but you forgot to close the loop, so it couldn’t flow. Now the pit on the other hoof is there to allow you to add a power source to ignite the spell.”

“Ignite the spell… Now that you mention it, the relic did require pollen to function. Though I had thought that was for it to create a useful amount of fire.”

“This is an old type of pony magic. It requires a spark to start the spell. From my understanding, unicorns provided this spark themselves. However, now any source of pure, pyro, light, or electro source should do. Basically, any element not contrary to the spell or the gemstone it was engraved in. You can, of course, use the gemstone itself, too. However, that method will erode the stone rather quickly.”

“Plenty of dust around here to try with…” Runa turned to her dust rack and grabbed the closest one that matched Cozy’s recommendation. “How about a dab of electro dust?”

“It’ll work, but it’s a waste. Stones are precious and not particularly renewable. They shouldn’t be turned into dust. You should use a plant extract instead.”

“We can go down to Willow’s greenhouse and pick up something.”

“It’s fine for the moment to use the dust, but in the future. Something to keep in mind.”

Runa sprinkled a tiny amount of dust into the pit and, in an instant, a burst of flames appeared.

“Now, of course, if you’d like to make something more useful than a stone that could light your mane on fire. You’d need to add in some delays or distance modifiers.”

“How do you know so much about this?”

“I’ve simply studied a lot of relics myself.”

Pulling out a green stone from the tray, Runa set it in front of her. “This one is more complex. It came from a music-making relic. Now, if I understand what you did to fix the fire one, I’d connect these paths, right?” Runa drew a path between several nodes with her hoof.

“Yes, however, you won’t need a pit for this one. This is dragon-style magic. Once the circuit is complete, it’ll begin generating a resonance bubble. Whenever that bubble is filled, you can use it to cast the spell.”

As soon as the work was done, Runa could feel a bubble of magic start to form around the stone. When it seemed to stop growing, she tapped the stone, which caused the most awful screeching sound she had ever heard to fill the room for several long moments. When the stone stopped, Runa’s ears were ringing loudly. “Sorry about that.”

Cozy shrugged. “Let me guess, you don’t usually use the relics you copy spells from, do you?”

“Not often. I’m usually lucky to get a chance to study them at all. I tend to get just enough time to sketch down a pattern before the owner gets weirded out. Except for the couple we have around here, but they’re also really complex, so I’ve never been able to engrave a copy of any of them. It’s pretty rare to come across two-dimensional spells.”

“When dealing with dragon-style magic, you generally either need to control the spell yourself or add in control circuits. Control circuits can be difficult to analyze, however, as they are dormant when the spells are not being used. So I have little doubt you copied all you could sense but simply didn’t know the control circuit even existed.”

When the bubble was full once more, Runa cringed as Cozy tapped the stone. But this time, instead of an ear-piercing screech, a haunting melody played. While it played, Runa did her best to follow the flow of magic from the stone and through Cozy, but found that it moved in too complicated of a pattern for her to feel it out.

“How did you get the magic to flow through you like that?”

“You followed the wrong flow. If it was complex, then you went through the back feed. Don’t try to find the magic within me. Focus on the tip of my hoof this time.”

Cozy tapped the stone again. This time Runa kept her focus on the end of Cozy’s hoof, which seemed to bend and guide the spell, much like it would flow through a pathway system.

“I used my hoof, but you should be able to use your horn to do the same thing.”

“I-I can?”

“I’ve seen Echochasers do it. Though they are oblivious to what they are actually doing. What they’re doing accounts to learning a traditional dance’s steps without learning any of the meaning behind them.”

“Speaking of steps.” Runa went over to her bookcase and pulled out the notebook she had been recording engraving steps and their potential meanings. “Since you seem to know an awful lot about this, would you look over my notes and see what you think?”

Taking the book from Runa, Cozy began flipping through its pages. “You’ve done well… I’ll need a pencil to correct a couple of things, though.”

After fetching Cozy a pencil, Runa diligently watched as Cozy made a few dozen corrections and wrote several long notes.

Upon closing the book, Cozy looked over to Runa. “This should help you on your journey to understand magic. There’s still a lot you don’t know, and don’t understand correctly, but keep at it.” Cozy smiled warmly.

“Thank you. Though, did you really learn everything you know just by studying relics?”

“Mostly. At least on this topic.” Cozy gave a smug smile before gazing out the window. “Dusk, already? I guess we’ll be taking Clef up on his offer to stay the night after all.” Cozy sighed heavily. “He’ll be thrilled, I’m sure.”

“I know I am. I’d love to hear about some of the relics you’ve studied… or anything else you want to talk about, doesn’t even have to be about magic.” Runa blushed as she felt a warm wave of excitement wash over her at the thought of getting to spend more time with Cozy.

034 - Considerations

Zeph followed behind Clef as he led her away from Cozy and Runa. As Zeph passed Cedar and Kira, she motioned for them to follow her. Once they were out of the main building and walking through the treeways, Zeph trotted up closer to Clef.

“Sorry about Cozy. She can be a little intense sometimes… Most of the time.”

“I was probably being too pushy. She’s just so amazing. Anyway, I promised supplies, and supplies you shall have. What kind of magic are you used to using?”

“Uhm, none.”

“None?”

“Yep, none.”

“You at least use water dust, pollen, spores, or water weed seeds for water, don’t you?”

“No. Though, water would be nice. We really haven’t been drinking nearly as much as we should.”

“O~kay, detour. We’re going to get you ponies some water before we get supplies. Hydration is no joke.”

Zeph followed Clef as he took a sudden turn down another path.

“We’re going to go to Willow’s ground-level garden and get you water from there. It’s the best-tasting water we have. Unlike pure magical water, it has a more rejuvenating quality. For some reason, fresh magic water always tastes kind of dry.”

“Can’t say as I’ve ever had ‘magic’ water before.”

“So your clan drinks water directly from the forest like the Everlost?”

“We don’t actually come from the forest.”

“I suppose since you have an earth pony in your party, I shouldn’t be as shocked as I am, but given how well Cozy controls magic, I’m still finding myself quite shocked. I was under the impression that earth ponies didn’t like magic.”

“We’re not from the earth pony area either.”

“Oh, uhm, you come from the Everfog?”

“Not there either… Cozy didn’t seem to want me to say, so, any chance we could change the topic?”

“Very well, I’m not usually one to pry where it’s not wanted. We all have our secrets after all. You haven’t met Willow yet, but he’s our Sapweaving expert. He’s not much of an adventurer, though, so he tends to stay around the base and manage things. He’s also the one responsible for having built most of the base itself. I’m fairly certain we’d still be living in tents if it weren’t for him.”

As the group turned around a tree, Zeph could see a large garden beneath her. Following the down-sloping pathway, the group arrived at the center of the garden where a tall, light-gray, older male unicorn with white hair was waiting for them.

“You’ve got quite the horde of—interestingly looking visitors with you today.”

Clef walked beside Willow and turned to face the rest of the group. “From left to right, we have Zeph, Cedar, Argon, the bunny, and Kira.”

Kira walked forward and held out her hoof. “I’m a pony, and it’s nice to meet you.”

Willow smiled at her, “You certainly are an interesting-looking pony to boot.” Reaching out his hoof, Willow tapped Kira’s before turning his attention to Cedar. “You look a might thirsty, young fella.”

“A might bit, actually.”

“Then you’ve certainly come to the right place. Follow me, and I’ll get you a nice tonic mixed up.”

Zeph followed Willow along with everypony else as he made his way over to a nearby building with an outdoor bar. Walking behind the bar, he began mixing things together as he talked.

“So, what brings an earth pony all the way here?”

“A pegasus and her bunny. Before that, I was stuck out on an island in the middle of the ocean.”

“The ocean, you say? Here I thought islands were just in the middle of lakes.”

Willow poured a yellowish liquid into several bowls and placed them in front of everypony.

“I’ve never seen a lake. Wonder if the islands are different?” remarked Cedar before taking a sip of the liquid.

Following suit, Zeph took a small sip of hers, then downed the rest of the bowl.

“Y’all weren’t kidden about being a might bit thirsty. I’ll get another round made, but you should sip it this time.”

“This water is amazing! What’s in it?” asked Zeph.

“Family secret sap blend. Since it sounds like you’re the leader, what brings you and your bunny all the way out here?”

“Trying to get Argon back home. He’s from Apple Valley.”

“That’s a—long way from here. Either you’re more than a might bit lost, or you come from an interesting place.”

“Little of both, but I think we know where we’re going from here. At least Cozy does.”

“Which one of y’all is Cozy? Didn’t reckon Clef introduced a Cozy. My memory must finally be going if I can’t even remember a few minutes ago.”

“She’s hanging out with Runa while I help the rest of her party get supplies for their trip.” explained Clef.

“Runa? Our resident hermit pony is ‘hanging out’ with a new pony?”

“Not just any pony, the most amazing pony ever!”

“Why’s it so shocking she’s hanging out with a new pony?” inquired Zeph.

“Runa spends most of her time in her workshops. She’s usually not the most talkative pony. When she does hang out, she tends to stay in the background and not say a lot,” replied Clef.

“Maybe that’s why Cozy seemed to like her. She could sense her fellow antisocialness.” Zeph turned her attention back to Willow. “So, why’d you become a Sparkmaster?”

“I wanted to be around youthful energy that wanted to do something different! Which the Sparkmasters have both in spades. In my younger days, I dreamed about doing something exciting and meaningful, but as I went through life, I just did the same old things everypony else did. So when Clef came to Sapwood looking for people to join the Sparkmasters, I figured it was high time I did something with my life that—I wanted. Especially since I probably don’t have a whole lot of it left.”

“I know that feelin’.” interjected Cedar. “Having spent my entire life hanging around one mighty small island compared to the mainland, I’m grateful to be able to experience more, even if it is late in life.”

Willow laughed bombastically, “You’re still just a youngin. Unless you go doing overly reckless things, you still have a lot of life left. Judging by the gray in your mane, I’d say you’re about the same age as Dusty. Over the hill, sure, but that still means you have a long way to the bottom of it. Now, given you just let yourself slide down, and it’s going to feel like a shot trip. Which is why it’s important to be doing something meaningful with your life.”

At Willow’s words to Cedar, Zeph felt empowered. As it was exactly why she had left the Lost Isles. She wanted to do something that felt truly meaningful in life.

“Hey, so, a little off topic, but… Could you tell me more about the Purebloods?”

“If you want to know about them, you should talk to Dusty. He’ll know a lot more than the rest of us, given that he is one,” replied Willow.

“If you’re interested, we can go visit him next,” interjected Clef.

“I’d like to, but I also know Cozy could be ready to go any moment, and supplies would be—really nice.”

“Unless my ability to count is going too, there are three of you. So, why don’t you go with Clef, and I’ll take your friends to gather supplies?” offered Willow.

Looking over to Cedar, Zeph was met with a “you can leave it to me,” along with an affirmative smile. Not wanting to lose the opportunity to get good information on her first real-world villains, Zeph parted ways with Cedar and Kira and made her way back up into the treehouse pathways with Clef.

A few quick turns and they reached the second-largest building. Upon entering, Zeph saw a bright flash, followed by a large puff of smoke. As the smoke cleared, she saw an older pure white unicorn staring thoughtfully into a smoldering pile on a workbench.

As Clef led Zeph closer to Stardust, she noticed that unlike the rest of the Sparkmasters, his fur was pure white, with no strange striped undertones.

“Hay, Dusty! We have a guest who’s interested in talking to you.” Called out Clef, which caused Stardust to look away from his workbench. Nudging up his glasses, he sighed heavily and made his way over to meet them.

“I believe you are a pegasus. Is that correct?”

“Yep, and you’re a Pureblood, I hear.”

“Indeed, what can I do for a pony who’s supposed to not exist?”

“I’ve heard some villainous things are afoot in the Everbloom, and I was wondering if you could fill me in on the details.”

The stallion looked at her baffled for a long moment. “That, my dear, may very well be the strangest thing anypony has ever said to me. Clef, can I have some context?”

“Zeph here is from somewhere… Not entirely sure where, but it seems unicorns are as unknown to her as pegasi are to us, and she seems to have taken an interest in the fact that the Purebloods are also known as Pollenplunders.”

“Ah—I see. I’m guessing you’ve been talking to Blossom? She has some rather radical ideas. Not entirely unfounded, mind you, but concerningly radical at times. There is little doubt that the Purebloods hoard pollen and distribute it in ways that benefit them the most. However, it is little different than what any other clan does. They just don’t have the ability to do it as well as the Purebloods.”

“So you’re saying they’re not really villains?”

“Not quite. Anypony willing to put profit above lives may as well be considered a villain. I’m just saying the other clans are not any more honorable in intention. They’re just lacking the means to show it.”

“Is that why you became a Sparkmaster?”

“Afraid not. I am pure of blood alone, certainly not intention. I am here to satisfy my own greed for knowledge. Getting back on topic, instead of Pollenplunders, Purebloods would be better called worker bees. They mindlessly follow their queen, while buzzing about making little more than noise and honey. The true crime happening there is the populous losing their ability to think for themselves.”

“Wow, that’s pretty harsh…”

“Thus is often the case with reality, my dear. Do you have any further questions?”

“I guess not if there’s not actually any villainous plot to foil… Here I was hoping to start solving my first real conspiracy.”

“Well, if it’s a conspiracy you want. There are some odd things going about the forest that are being brushed under the bushes. For example, the last time I was getting supplies from Sapwood, I noticed that the shimmer willow groves were looking a bit thinner than my memory recollects from my youth. When I inquired about it, I was met with quite the amount of hostility. Now, given, I am a Pureblood. In thus, some level of hostility is expected. However, it felt as though it was more of a defensive hostility. Especially as I got the feeling that even clan natives were not in the know.”

“Not sure what I think about that.”

“Another one involves the Shardseekers. Over the past few moons, it has become more common for their mines to run dry with little warning. In thus, they have become increasingly reliant on the Purebloods. Of equal interest, the Purebloods have been prioritizing trade with the Shardseekers. Perhaps it is simply a turn for generosity and a sign of goodwill on the part of the Purebloods. However, it seems strange that nothing else seems to indicate this, at least that I’m aware of. In thus, it seems more likely that they are colluding in some way. Though, perhaps, I’m simply spending too much time around Blossom. After all, ponies can change, and minerals are not a renewable resource.”

“Really don’t know what to think about that one either…”

“I have one more for you. This time involving a particularly interesting clan. The Everlost have become more hostile. Their once peaceful nomadic nature seems to be shifting to fierce territorialism. At the moment, it seems to be limited to places of strange magic deep within the Everbloom, but whispers of more mundane resources being claimed by them seem to be spreading.”

“I’m starting to think I just don’t know enough about unicorns and their world in general.”

“If I may, why the interest in conspiracies in a culture you are not invested in?”

“My main reason for coming to the… unicorn and earth pony world is to return Argon to his home in Apple Valley. However, I was also hoping to get to work on some real detective cases. Back home, I’m known as one of the best detectives… okay—only detective.” Zeph laughed awkwardly. “But the Lo— my home is so peaceful that the most intense cases are missing ponies who got themselves lost. Thankfully, those are rare, as the outcome to those are sometimes unpleasant, to say the least.”

“I see. So the paradise nature of your home is why you’re trying so hard not to talk about it, I assume? Probably a wise idea. Though you give away its existence by your mere existence. You say you’re going to Apple Valley, too. Thus, you will be announcing your existence directly to the royal family. If you want to protect your home, you should end your journey here.”

“W—why?”

“Unless, of course, you are prepared to become the representative of your kind, and shoulder the responsibilities of exposing them to the greater world. As of right now, I believe you are supposed to be extinct. Since you don’t appear to know much about unicorns, I’m guessing you haven’t actually met many until this point and are still relatively unknown. Is that correct?”

“Yeah. The Sparkmasters are the first unicorns we’ve met thus far.”

“And have you come into contact with earth ponies yet?”

“Kind of, but not really. We have an earth pony in our party, but he’s never been around other earth ponies before.”

“Huh, that sounds like an interesting story, but digressing. That means you still must properly weigh the weight of proceeding forward, that is if you haven’t already.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have little doubt that the royal family will not tolerate the existence of a race of ponies who are unknown to them. To say it another way, you are a threat until proven otherwise. You are also an opportunity to conquer. The royal family isn’t exactly shy of wanting to rule all of Equitoria. The Everglow is resistant to their influence by its nature. Though I do wonder for how long?”

Zeph stared at Stardust blankly, feeling more than a little lost and wishing she had Cozy with her.

Stardust smiled knowingly at Zeph. “I sense you are feeling overwhelmed.”

“Yeah, I—I think I need to think about some stuff.”

“I too believe that would be wise.”

035 - The Map Quest

Hearing Amber’s voice call out to her, Flare opened her eyes and sprang awake. Looking around, it was still dark, but there was a strange whitish glow in the distance.

“What do you think?” asked Amber.

“What am I looking at?”

“I don’t really know. It’s a whole lot of light, but it’s not natural. This isn’t near the Everglow, so I’m guessing earth ponies have magic now?”

“Which means?”

“Not sure yet. Just wanted you to be awake, aware, and in costume as we pulled in. We should hit land about first light.”

“Understood.”

Flare made her way over to the storage area and donned the outfit Inkwell had apparently made for her to be able to pass for a young earth pony. After struggling to get the bulky outfit on for quite some time, she made her way back over to Amber.

“How do I look?”

“Like a scrawny little earth pony. Just remember not to act too mature. Stay near me and act shy, and I think we should be fine.”

“As heavy as this outfit is, I don’t think I’m going to be carrying much with me.”

“We shouldn’t need much. I still have quite a few coins from when I was here last. So we should be able to buy whatever we need as we make our way through. Can I see the waystone again?”

Flare pulled the waystone out of her pocket, thought of finding Zeph, and held it out for Amber to see.

Amber sighed heavily. “She’s even further inland now than she was. I’m amazed inland even goes that far back. I’d swear that crazy pony is in the Everglow on the opposite side of the mainland.”

“Which means?”

“It’s going to be — a long walk. Unless she starts moving back towards us, we’ll be on the road for days. Especially since, unlike the ocean, we can’t travel in a straight-ish line towards her. Our first objective is going to be to make our way into town and acquire a map. After that, we’ll plot a route and make things up as we go.”

“Can I take my skates?”

“I guess? I don’t really remember earth ponies skating, but I also wasn’t paying that much attention to young earth ponies when I was here. I’m sure they have skates; they’re pretty simple technology, and something young pegasi love a lot, so yeah. Just don’t get heartbroken if they get lost, or we have to leave them somewhere.”

“I won’t. I brought my backup pair.”

Feeling nervous, Flare paced around the boat until Amber needed her help to pull it ashore and hide it.

Not too long after the pair started making their way towards where the light had been coming from when it was dark, they came across a large flat black roadway.

Flare walked up on the road and smiled. “This is perfect for skating!”

“Seems wasteful to have such a large concrete… ? Kind of the wrong color, not quite the right texture, but it certainly looks poured… anyway, roadway out here. I also can’t figure out these wooden poles with cables hanging from them. I’d swear I hear a humming sound coming from them, too.”

As Flare skated slowly beside Amber, they started hearing a rumbling noise coming from behind them. Looking back, Flare could see a large metal and glass box with a big flat wagon attached to the back coming towards them at incredible speeds. Getting off the roadway, the pair watched as the contraption neared.

As it got closer, the whole device slowed down until it came to a stop and an earth pony riding inside of it pushed up his dark-colored glasses and looked at them with a big smile. “Need a ride, ma’am?”

“We’re going into town.” Replied Amber with a notable amount of hesitance in her voice.

“You’re in luck. That’s the only place this road goes. My name’s Ed by the way, and you are?”

“Amber, and this is my daughter, Flare.”

Flare waved awkwardly to the massive pony, who motioned for them to get in. Once the pair was on the platform, Flare braced herself, not really sure what to expect. At first, it started moving slowly, but soon she was watching the landscape go by faster than even when she skated downhill at full speed.

“So what’s a pair of lovely ladies like yourselves doing walking around all the way out here?”

“My daughter and I are traveling around seeing the sights.”

“Ain’t much to see around here, especially walking-wise. If you’re new to the area, I’d suggest going out of town the opposite way down the six. Lot of interesting tourist things over there. There’s the Emerald City Wharf, Daisy Bloom’s garden park, and a whole lot of good hiking a little further out. Of course, I’m probably just rambling on about things you already know since all that stuff’s in the map app.”

“We are looking for a map. Where can we find it?”

“That’s a question… Usually, it’s on the home screen, unless you deleted it by accident. What model of mobile you using, TriStar or RG?”

“Neither?”

“Oh — I see, you’re one of those what you call em Libre ponies. In that case, I can’t really help you. I’m a TriStar guy myself. Libre sounds cool. I like the concept, but just don’t have time. I want something that just works. Plus, I’m a big fan of Starshine. I think she’s the most brilliant pony of our era.” Ed laughed awkwardly.

As massive buildings started coming into view, Flare couldn’t help but stare in awe as she suddenly found herself in what looked like the image she had briefly seen with Zeph and Argon. Soon after the road merged with several others, Flare found herself mesmerized as she watched other ponies zooming by on three-wheeled metal carts.

“How is everything moving? No pony seems to be pedaling?” Asked Flare, unable to contain her curiosity any longer.

“Kids have the darndest questions, don’t they? Mind if I take this one, ma’am? I always enjoy explaining autos to kids. Especially when they’re this young.”

“Be my guest.”

“Autos run on electricity stored in a big battery, which are kind of like a giant lunchbox filled with food for the auto. When you press the back pedal, the battery sends electricity to the motor, which is like the auto’s legs. The motor spins, turning the wheels and making the auto move. An electronic ‘brain’ called the controller decides how much electricity the motor needs, making the auto go faster or slower depending on how much you press the pedal. And when the battery gets empty, you just plug it in to recharge, like you would your mobile.”

Flare feeling no less confused than she started, looked over to Amber, who seemed just as lost as she was. Not wanting to seem too out of place, Flare forced herself to pretend like she understood. “That explains so much, thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.”

Not long after, Flare noticed they were slowing down and in no time were stopped beside a large park area.

“This is Transfer Park. You can get to about anywhere in the city from here. Hope you two enjoy your time visiting!”

Getting out of the auto, Flare noticed several ponies with glowing things like she had found and shown Zeph. “I wonder if those glowing flat things aren’t what he was calling a mobile? I remember the one I found a while back, having a picture of a map on it before it went dark.”

“If so, how do we get one? We need a map, and if that’s what they look like now… He said there were three options: TriStar, RG, and Libre. I like the sound of the TriStar ones ‘just working’ which means we need to find a market stand or shop for them.”

Flare looked around her. Noticing a building with three stars on it, she pointed it out to Amber.

“Now, if that’s the place we need to go, that would be convenient.”

Making their way closer to the building, they could see the glowing things on display inside. Entering the building, they were met by a mare wearing a clean, well-fitted black attire.

“Welcome to TriStar. How may I assist you today?”

“We want to buy one of your… mobiles.”

“What model are you interested in?”

“How much gold does each one cost?”

“Gold?”

“Silver? I’ll need change then.”

Flare watched as Amber appeared to pull a bag out of her saddlebags and hold out a hoof-full of gold coins.

“Uhm, I’m sorry, ma’am, but we don’t accept collectible coins here.”

“Where can I exchange them for something you do accept?”

“The pawn shop on Main Street is the only place that comes to mind, but I’m sure there are others.”

“How do we get there?”

“You can just search for it in the map app.”

“Do you have instructions that don’t require a mobile, given that we don’t have one yet?

“Oh — Uhm, S-sure… let me just look it up real quick and I’ll write the route down for you.”

The mare walked over to a nearby counter, made some strange facial gestures in front of her mobile before writing something down and handing it to Amber.

“Why did you make all those weird faces at your mobile?” inquired Flare.

The mare smiled at Flare. “TriStar mobiles, unlike others, use facial gesture tracking to navigate through the device. It’s much faster and more precise. You feel a little weird at first, but once you’re used to it, it’s a great system.”

After Amber thanked the mare, the pair made their way back outside.

“I want to know things, but I feel like every time a pony explains something to me, I understand it even less than before I asked.” commented Flare softly, trying to ensure no pony besides Amber could hear her.

“I’m right there with you, but I can’t ask anything without potentially causing issues. At least since you look young, ponies seem to think it’s cute when you ask.”

As Flare followed Amber through the city, the pair did their best to mimic the other ponies around them as they followed the route. Upon reaching the Easy Come, Easy Go, Pawn Shop, they made their way in and up to a counter where Amber placed down a large amount of gold coins and asked the stallion how much he would exchange them for.

“That’s — a lot of old world gold coins… Let me check it to make sure it’s real.”

After touching each coin with a series of devices, the stallion counted out several stacks of paper in front of Amber.

“They’re all real, so store policy is twenty percent below spot value.”

“Is this enough to get a TriStar Mobile?” inquired Amber, causing the Stallion to laugh bombastically before walking over to a nearby counter to pull out a mobile and place it on the counter by the slips of paper.

“Store policy is twenty below spot, but tell you what, I’ll include the latest TriStar mobile on the house.”

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure, ma’am. All I need from you is to sign this form, stating that you understand that this exchange is nonrefundable, and you’re good to go.”

After signing the paper, Amber picked up the paper slips and put them in her bag, then picked up the mobile and led Flare back to a secluded spot before handing the device over to her.

“What do you want me to do with it?”

“You sounded like you knew what to do with it.”

“Uhm… Not really, I just found a glowing one… Argon’s the one who knew how to use it.”

“Well, that’s a problem…”

036 - A Magical Interrogation

Waking up from her first full night of rest in a while, Zeph looked around the brightly lit room.

“How long was I asleep?” Zeph asked as her eyes landed on Argon, who shrugged.

“I guess adventuring and being freaked out about your decisions really takes it out of you. Anyway, let’s see if we can’t find Cozy.”

Making her way out of her guest room, Zeph made her way into the headquarters’ lounge area, where she found Clef and Blossom sitting together drinking tea.

Clef waved her over. “We have plenty of tea if you want some!”

“Uhm, maybe later. Do you know where Cozy’s at?”

“I haven’t seen her since I ended my watch last night,” replied Clef.

“Midnight said she saw her in the ground-level garden while she was on watch. So, I’d imagine she might be sleeping?” interjected Blossom.

Zeph thought for a long moment. She had never actually seen Cozy sleep, even when she went on camping trips with her and Flare. Cozy was always the last one to sleep, and the first one to rise.

“I’ll go check the garden.”

Making her way down to the ground-level garden, Zeph found Willow watering plants.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where Cozy is, would you?”

“She was around when I first started working, but she left not long after first light. Said she was goin to stretch her wings. Which, I gotta admit, being able to fly sounds mighty fun.”

“Oh—okay, I guess I’ll just wait for her to get back then. You know where Cedar and Kira are?”

“Just look around a bit and you should find them. They’re helping with the waterin. Though they should take a water break themselves. So when you see em, have em come up to the bar and grab a drink.”

After thanking Willow, Zeph started walking around the garden as her mind wandered. Looking back at Argon, she sighed. “I know, I know, we’ve already talked about it, but are you really sure? Like, really—really sure?”

Argon nodded.

Sighing in disappointment that Argon’s answer was still the same as last night, Zeph continued looking around the garden until she found Kira humming a song and dancing while she watered.

“You’re pretty good!” exclaimed Zeph as she approached Kira from behind, causing her to spin around and smile at her.

“When I woke up this morning, I couldn’t get this song out of my head. It was in my dreams last night, and I just can’t seem to stop thinking about it.”

“What were you dreaming about?”

“The music was playing; I was dancing with a yellow blur… I can’t remember any real details other than the song, and the way I felt. I felt really happy. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Sounds like a pretty good dream. Still wish there was less night?”

“Maybe nights are alright, but only when the dreams are good.”

Zeph giggled. “Have you seen Cozy yet today?”

“I saw her fly by not too long ago. I’m pretty sure she landed on… that building.” Kira pointed to the treehouse that Zeph knew was Runa’s workshop from the tour Clef had given her.

“It’s kind of strange that Cozy seems to really like spending time with Runa. Usually, the only pony Cozy spends any real amount of time with is Flare.”

“Who?”

“My best friend back on the Lost Isles. Cozy’s, too. She’s a pegasus about the same age as me, but she’s got golden yellow fur, and her mane has these really cool orange streaks. She—loves surfing, spending—way too much time on roller skates, and her lifelong dream is to make the best pizza in the Lost Isles.”

“I have no idea what any of those things are, but they have exciting names! Especially ‘pizza.’ For some reason, I’m picturing a buzzing yellow pea.”

“Actually, its spelling is more like pie than pea. Which I assume is because it’s basically a flat pie.”

“Pie… I seem to be able to remember pie. Now that I think about it, I think those glittery berries were used in pie.”

“We saw a lot of them around the ruins we found you in, but after that, not so much. I wonder if they were some food crop that whatever society that used to live there grew?”

Kira shrugged.

Sometimes Kira reminded Zeph of Argon. She could speak, unlike him, but often shrugged or ended conversations with a smile or some other gesture.

“Oh—Willow wants you and Cedar to go get a drink at the bar.”

“Okay.”

With that, Kira started skipping off in the opposite direction of the bar.

“You’re going the wrong way!”

“Didn’t you want me to tell Cedar?”

“Y-yeah, sure. Thank you.”

Kira smiled at Zeph, then continued to skip away, leaving her alone with Argon. Looking back to Argon, she saw that he was deep in thought with a sorrowful expression on his face.

“What you thinking?”

His eyes met hers, and for a moment, he seemed like he wanted to say something, but then made his usual gesture that she has come to know as, “nothing important.” Though she got the feeling he really meant, “nothing I want to talk about.”

Things had been awkward with him since last night. At dinner, it had been pseudo-decided that Argon should be returned home by the Sparkmasters. Cozy wasn’t present for the meal, so it’s not considered a final decision, but it didn’t really seem like it mattered. Zeph hoped Cozy would have some way to allow her to accompany Argon without putting all pegasi kind in danger, but also knew that she would probably be thrilled to learn that she no longer had to be on a mission to return a bunny home.

Zeph lethargically made her way to Runa’s workshop and stood at the door for a moment. Her heart sank as she felt her hope flicker. This was it. Either Cozy would know something, or—

The door of the workshop swung open, revealing Runa, who smiled at her, then turned around and yelled, “Found her!”

“That was quick,” remarked Cozy, who was in the far back of the workshop working on something.

“You were looking for me?”

“Yeah. Cozy figured by the time I found you, she’d be done.”

Zeph followed Runa over to Cozy, who appeared to be carefully etching an intricate pattern into a purple crystal. When she was done, she inspected it for a few moments before muttering, “We really need a purer crystal, but maybe…”

“Purer crystal for what?” inquired Zeph.

“I recently spent quite a lot of time disassembling illusion magic while I was in the Everfog. This is a crude attempt at a dragon-style adaptation of some… copied parts of it and reworking—a lot. The purity of the crystal is going to determine how long the spell lasts,” Cozy said before holding out the stone. “Tap it with your hoof.”

Doing as Cozy asked, Zeph felt a tingly surge pulse through her. “That felt weird.”

“Direct enchantment magic can feel a little strange, depending on what it does. In this case… you might want to look behind you.”

Looking behind her, Zeph was quick to realize her wings were gone. Freaking out for a moment, Zeph tried to lift a wing, but found that it felt normal. Reaching up with her hoof, she could feel her wing but couldn’t see it. Looking a little further back, she also noticed that her tail feathers had turned into a short bob of hair.

“You still look pretty funny for an earth pony, but at least you don’t look like a pegasus anymore.” Cozy looked knowingly over to Runa. “How long do you think the spell’s going to last?”

Runa lowered her head and put her horn disturbingly close to Zeph’s face for a moment before pulling away. “About an hour.”

“That’s what I was afraid of… It uses a lot of power to have the warning circuit, but without it, there wouldn’t be any warning as to when the spell was going to run out. I think we’re just going to have to go gemstone hunting. An hour is too risky, especially for a pony as reckless as our dear detective—especially given that the spell recharge time is going to be almost double its length.”

“So, not to interrupt, but can you explain what’s going on?” interjected Zeph.

“Clef told me about the ‘decision’ that was made last night while I wasn’t around. And because I know you, I figured I should prepare a counter plan so you don’t decide it’s a good idea to run off in the middle of the night again.”

“I assume that means you agree with them on it being too dangerous to let earth ponies know pegasi exist?”

“I don’t have enough information to ‘agree.’ That said, I’m fine with being cautious. That includes being cautious about our little fuzzy friend, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“We can’t trust the Sparkmasters. While certainly an interesting group of ponies—especially one of them.” Cozy smiled apologetically towards Runa. “It doesn’t change the fact we’ve only known them for a day…ish. We have little reason to trust them. Especially not with such a labor-intensive task that they get no direct benefit from.”

“Which is understandable. Unicorns aren’t exactly known for our generosity,” interjected Runa.

“So you think the other Sparkmasters have ulterior motives?” asked Zeph.

“I certainly don’t trust Stardust nor Blossom. Willow is the only one I’d trust at his word alone.”

“What about Clef and Midnight?”

“Clef I trust, mostly… Midnight, though… She’s a bit greedy. I wouldn’t trust her unless I knew she’s getting a good deal out of something, or it’s to the benefit of her brother.”

“How about yourself?”

“I can’t say I’m much better… Like Stardust, I’m here to pursue my own selfish desires.”

“Which are?”

“To study real magic, which is why I’ve decided I’m coming along with you. I’ve learned everything I can here, but I’ve only just begun scratching the surface of what I can learn with a teacher like Cozy.”

Zeph turned to Cozy with a raised eyebrow. “Just how much do you know about magic?”

“More than most ponies, it would seem.”

“Still not going to tell me anything, eh?”

“I like unraveling magic; you like unraveling mysteries. Why would I take the fun out of your hobby? Based on our time together thus far, what have you deduced?”

“That you probably spend all your time in the caves doing more than harvesting glow berries? I’m also thinking you can sense magic, too. How else could you have known what kind of magic the vines were using, despite never being to the mainland before? Which makes me wonder, the way you stare at Argon and Kira, what do you sense about them?”

“Suppose, since my secret’s out of the bag, I may as well share it with you, along with what I sense in you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. I didn’t sense it before because it was too weak, but now it’s clear as day. Can you sense it, Runa?”

Runa lowered her head again and once more put her horn too close for comfort for Zeph.

“You mind not putting the point so close to my face?”

“Sorry.” Runa pulled away from Zeph. “There does seem to be some type of magic present beyond the illusion spell, but I don’t know. I’ve never come across anything like it before.”

“There’s a fairytale that some ponies have the ability to ‘talk’ to animals. Though, analyzing Zeph, it’s less of the ability to talk to them and more that she can connect with them. It’s a complex magic that seems to be woven into her very being, which makes me believe it’s hereditary. Because of the way it’s integrated into her, I don’t believe there’s any way to copy it.”

“So you’re saying—I’m the reason I see images from Argon?”

“Yes and no. Watching you two interact, I’d say it’s only because he’s with you that you can use it, as he’s the one powering it. He seems to have the natural ability to convert magic. One fact of the world is that ponies have no magic, at least, not anymore. However, he seems to be able to bring life back to the pathways that reside inside ponies. At least, that’s my current theory.”

“And how does that work into Kira?”

Cozy pulled a yellow gemstone out of her bag and held it out for Zeph to see.

“This is a gemstone I found while following your trail. It’s just like the one in Kira’s forehead, except its core magical signature is different… The best way I can put it is that it’s a complex magic system that relies on a base type of magic which simply doesn’t seem to exist, and because of that, no matter how much magic is stored inside of it, it simply can’t function. However, Kira’s gem has been modified. It uses a base magic with a similar signature as Argon, which I’m going to refer to as bunny magic, as it’s certainly not natural magic like the Everglow, nor dragon magic like dragon artifacts.”

“So you’re saying if Argon touched that gemstone, we’d get another Kira?”

“I’d wager against it. I’d also offer a warning against him touching any other gems like this one, as well. Argon lost a lot of energy from the time we parted ways to when we reunited.”

“Can we do anything for him?”

Cozy walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a glowing sack. That she then sat down in front of Zeph, which prompted Argon to hop off her back and stare at the bag longingly.

“Yes. Eat as much as you want. That’s why I was collecting them last night.”

Before Cozy even finished her sentence, Argon had pulled out a cluster of glow berries and was nibbling. Zeph couldn’t help but smile.

“So all we have to do is feed him glow berries?”

“That does seem to be his primary power source, at least, from my observations thus far.”

After watching Argon for a few moments, Zeph turned her gaze back to Cozy and smiled at her, too.

“Thank you. For everything, not just the glow berries. I’m really not sure what I’d do without you.”

“A lot of swimming, I’d imagine. Jokes aside, if you’re done with the interrogation, we should start planning our trip to Shadow Falls.”

“That sounds creepy.”

“According to Runa, it’s the best nearby place to find the type of gemstones we need. Hopefully, we can find two at the level of purity and size we need.”

“Wouldn’t we need three—one for you, Kira, and then me? Unless I’m missing something.”

“Two will do. I can manage with this prototype for myself. I’ll modify it to disable the warning circuit, which, along with my smaller size, will save enough power that the spell recharge should be shorter than the duration.”

“Alright. What do we need to plan?”

Author's Note

🎊🌑🎊Happy lunar new year!🎊🌕🎊

037 - Customer Assistance

Arriving back at the TriStar store, Flare took a deep breath as Amber led her back in.

“Welcome back, ma’am. Did you manage to exchange your coins?”

“Indeed, even got a mobile there, but I was hoping you could teach my daughter how to use it since I’m not a TriStar pony.”

“Do you also have service already?”

“No?”

“Do you want prepay or post-pay?”

“Simplest one.”

“Alright, how long do you want it to last?”

“As long as possible.”

“Alright, we have a three-year unlimited prepay for three hundred. Which is our most popular offering. Will that work?”

Amber took three of the slips of paper out of her bag that had hundreds on them and held them out for the mare.

“I’ll take that as a yes. In that case, please follow me, and I’ll help you get started.”

Flare nervously followed the mare over to a counter and placed her mobile on it. The mare showed her how to turn it on by holding her hoof against the screen for five seconds. Once the device was active, she asked Flare a few questions and then held the mobile up to a much larger glowing device on the counter.

“We’re just activating your service now. Once that’s done, I’ll start going over how to use it with you.”

A moment later, the mare sat the mobile back down on the counter.

“Let’s go over what each app does since you’re pretty young. Let me know if you already know something, and I’ll skip over that, okay?”

Flare nodded, trying her best to act shy.

“And if you don’t understand something, tell me what you don’t understand, and I’ll do my best to help you.”

Flare nodded again.

“Do you know your mother’s number?”

“No.”

The mare looked over to Amber. “I assume you want me to enter your number in her mobile?”

“Not now.”

“Are you sure? I can’t teach her about calling and messaging without it.”

“That’s fine. I mostly want her to know how to use the map.”

“Alright.” The mare turned her attention back to Flare. “In that case, let’s go to the map.”

After what felt like an hour, and the mare laughing at most of her questions, Flare felt like she was starting to understand mobiles. She could take a photo, which was some kind of art capture magic, search for a business and navigate to it in the map app, ask the assistant for information, which, as far as she understood, was some kind of automated magic book search, use a calculator to do math that she could do in her head faster than she could enter it into the device, use her mobile to produce light, and use an app store to get more apps, which cost credits, which the mare had talked Amber into prepaying for, given that she didn’t want to link a credit card, whatever that was. To practice buying an app, Flare chose to get a cooking app that promised to teach her everything she needed to know about making any food.

“Now for the most important part. You’ll need to watch your battery level and place it on a charging station or pad.”

“I don’t think I have any of those.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to your mother about that once we’re done. In the meantime, we’ll use the store charging station. A lot of places have free charging stations. Simply hold your mobile to them so the symbol on the back is facing the same symbol on the station, and they’ll pull together. You can pull it off the station at any time or wait until it says it’s done.”

After practicing a couple of times, Flare felt like she understood the process, which prompted the mare to go over and start talking to Amber. Breathing a sigh of relief, Flare decided to try out the news app while she waited for Amber, as when the mare had shown it to her briefly, she had thought she saw a picture of Argon.

After some fiddling around, Flare landed on a page that showed a picture of Argon riding atop the magenta-colored earth pony from the poster she had briefly seen with him. Under the photo read, “Starshine triples reward for any information on the whereabouts of her beloved missing pet.”

With her gaze fixed to her mobile, Flare heard Amber’s voice calling out to her. Looking over to Amber, Flare saw her holding out a necklace that looked a lot like the one Starshine was wearing.

“Apparently, these are sunlight and kinetic energy collectors… Which I still don’t really understand what is… Anyway, apparently, you wear it around your neck, and when it glows, it means it’s collected enough light to charge your mobile. It cost a lot of the paper we got, but since we saw quite a few ponies with them, I thought it would help you blend in.”

Amber put the necklace around Flare’s neck and then motioned for her to follow.

“You might want to take a look at this,” Flare said as she held out her mobile for Amber to see.

“Just summarize it for me.”

Flare nudged up close to Amber and whispered, “Argon, the bunny Zeph’s trying to get back home, is Starshine’s pet. As in, the pony’s whose picture is plastered around this building.”

“We’ll talk later.”

Amber led Flare out of the building and back to a secluded part of the nearby park.

“Is something bothering you? You look pretty worried all of a sudden?” asked Flare, noticing Amber was breathing rougher than normal.

“I had a terrible realization when you told me what you did. What if she’s on the run? Can you find anything about her on your mobile? From what I gathered from your learning session, it sounded like the mobile could also be used to find out about current events?”

“Yeah, that’s where I found the thing about Argon being Starshine’s pet. Let me just look around a bit more…”

Scrolling through the news, Flare felt overwhelmed but focused on finding things about Starshine, Argon, or Zeph.

“Lots of stuff about Starshine, a couple more things about rewards for Argon, but nothing about Zeph or pegasi of any sort.”

“How about the princess and her son returning?”

“Nope.”

“I wonder how up-to-date the information in that thing is? Maybe it only has old information?”

“If I’m reading the calendar right, the most recent reward notice was from this morning.”

“I’m both impressed and horrified by how things have changed. There’s so much magic here now that I’m having a hard time with it all. Digressing, we need to figure out our next move. Do we keep following the waystone, or do we try and investigate?”

“I’d—really like to find Zeph, but I’m guessing you’d—really like to investigate?”

“Zeph’s been here for a long time. You have to admit it’s strange that she isn’t doing what she came here to do. Does your device tell you where Starshine lives? Maybe if we get near that location, we’ll find out more. After all, when Zeph got here, she would have done the same.”

Flare asked the assistant where Starshine lived, and the resulting message read, “If you are referring to the founder of TriStar, she lives in Apple Valley.” Going to the map app, she entered Apple Valley and hit navigate.

“We’re a—long walk from there, but a much shorter train or auto ride.”

“Trains, now that’s something I haven’t done in a long time. Last time I was here, I rode one from Apple Valley to Oakton. I thought about writing about them once, but since there isn’t anything like them on the Lost Isles, I thought it would be too weird.”

“So you want me to select the train route?”

“Yes? At this point, your guess is better than mine. You seem to be taking to all this stuff a lot faster than I am. Honestly, all this change is making me feel old. In a lot of ways, I’d like everything to just go back to the way I remember it. All the noise, lights, and magic is just… a lot. Probably doesn’t help that I’m starting to feel tired, too.”

“Tired!?” Flare exclaimed in a panic as she recollected Amber saying when she slept she’d be out for days.

“Yeah, I know. Not ideal timing. I’m doing my best to fight it, but I’m definitely feeling the effects.”

038 - Where's Your Sense of Curiosity?

Runa sprinkled dust as she walked, causing the ground to transform from tar-like mud to a firm walking surface. Reaching the other side of the area, she called The Pony Trap and met back up with Cozy, who had simply flown over. The pair waited for Zeph, Cedar, and Kira to follow the trail she had made for them. With everypony on the other side, Runa continued to lead them through the now thick forest of black-needled trees.

“These trees are cre—epy,” remarked Zeph.

“It is more than a might be strange. It’s almost like it’s nighttime, but with blue stars twinkling overhead,” replied Cedar.

“Just wait until we reach the falls. That’s where things really start looking weird, at least to me,” remarked Runa as she continued to diligently lead the group, keeping close watch for the many dangers she knew of and guiding the group away from them.

Seeing blue sky in the distance, Runa galloped ahead and stared out over the inky black lake and waterfall in the far distance, both of which seemed to absorb all light that went below the surface of the water, leaving what looked like a glazed portal to an endless void of nothingness.

Cozy flew around for a moment before landing next to Runa.

“What do you think?” asked Runa.

“I’m hoping the crystals we need aren’t underwater.”

“Kind of. We have to go into a cave that has underground streams we have to cross.”

“Perhaps I’ll just fly around and try and find crystals from above while the rest of you go spelunking.”

“I thought you liked caves?”

“I also like not being dyed black.”

“It doesn’t stain. Your fur even feels super soft once you get it washed out.”

Kira ran past the pair and stared off in awe. “So—pretty!”

A moment later, Zeph and Cedar passed the pair too and stood by Kira.

“Pretty weird,” remarked Cedar.

“Why weird?”

“Water just shouldn’t be this color. If you can even call this a color…”

“I think it’s pretty.”

Runa cleared her throat. “Listen up. There are poisonous animals that live around here. Touch—nothing that moves. If you get in the water, try to get out slowly, don’t splash around.”

“I just had a thought,” said Cozy, as she walked over to Kira. “Do you know how to swim?”

Kira looked at Cozy for a moment, then shook her head.

Cozy turned back to look at Runa. “How deep are the streams in the cave?”

“Not too deep, only about halfway up my sides.”

“I’m thinking Zeph, Argon, and Kira stay out of the cave. I fly around and keep an eye on them. You and Cedar go into the cave and collect crystals.”

Runa couldn’t help but feel disappointed as she was enjoying her time with Cozy, but understood Cozy’s concerns, given that Zeph and Kira would need to swim rather than walk through the underground streams.

The group walked together until they reached the cave entrance, a rather unassuming hole in the ground just big enough for Cedar to enter. After wishing Cozy luck and giving a set of warnings to Zeph and Kira, Runa took a beaded glow stone necklace out of her bag and hung it around Cedar’s neck, before pulling out another for herself.

After several tight squeezes, the pair made it to the first underground stream.

“Water’s flowing pretty hard this time. Probably a good thing the others didn’t come with us. They could have gotten swept away.”

“Are you—really sure this is water?”

“Mostly. When you let it evaporate, you get water off it, so it’s certainly not oil or tar, but as for what makes it black? Not sure, but supposedly it’s commonly distilled out and used as fur and mane softener. No pony comes all the way to Shadow Falls to get it, though. You can collect it from—much safer and easier to get to places downstream. Same with these crystals, too. If we traveled a half-week out of our way, we could get them in a quarry.”

“Why didn’t we do that then?”

“Cozy’s in a hurry. She says she’s worried about her friend Flare. To be honest, it sounds like the best option would be for her to just leave you all at the Sparkmaster’s and go look for her, but she’s worried that Zeph wouldn’t stay put, and is unsure she can trust us.”

“Why shouldn’t we trust you?”

“I find it strange you have to ask, but Zeph also seemed shocked at first. The real question is, why would you trust us? We’re ponies you barely know. Cozy doesn’t trust me, and she shouldn’t. I need to prove myself to her and earn her trust. Trust simply isn’t something to be given, it’s something to be earned.”

“Interesting. I guess I just assumed everypony learned to be trustworthy in their youth.”

“Certainly not.”

“Doubly interesting.”

Reaching the other side of the stream, the pair continued making their way through the cave.

“Have any of us earned your trust, or how would we go about earning trust?” asked Cedar.

“You earn trust by being trustworthy. It’s a slow process… At least that’s how it should be. Cozy though, it’s hard not to trust her. She’s so knowledgeable, and her views on things are so candid and raw. She clearly has things she doesn’t want to share, but that makes her feel even more trustworthy since she knows when not to share things. She’s very aware.” Runa felt her heart flutter, causing her to sigh. “She’s just so amazing.”

“I feel that way about Zeph and Kira, too.”

“Let me ask you this. Do you—not feel that way about anypony?”

“I suppose Clef isn’t very impressive. Don’t know much about Blossom, Midnight, Dusty, or yourself. I wouldn’t say I don’t trust you. I just don’t feel like I know you.”

“I noticed Willow was missing from your list.”

“He’s pretty amazing.”

“Suppose one thing I’ll give you, like Cozy you’re certainly candid. I like that. You just earned some trust with me.”

Reaching another stream, the pair began walking upstream a short distance before Runa took an off-path into a small alcove.

“According to my horn, a pocket of the crystals we’re looking for should be about here.” Runa walked towards the wall and used her horn to mark the section with an X. “The ‘normal’ way of doing this for Shardseekers is to combine a couple of stones and basically blow a section of the wall up. However, given that you’re an earth pony—you want to take a kick at it before we resort to that?”

“I can give it a swift kick and see what happens.”

Getting clear of the area, Runa braced her ears a moment before hearing a loud swack followed by the sound of rubble bouncing as dim green light came flooding into the cave. Getting back over to where she had left Cedar, Runa looked through the hole he had kicked into what appeared to be some kind of old ruin with tiny glowing green stones lining the walls.

“This explains the other magic I was sensing… I just figured it was different crystals mixed into the ore.”

“We’re looking for purple crystals like these, right?”

Runa looked over to Cedar, who was pointing to a chunk of the rubble that had several large pieces of the crystals they were looking for.

“That’s what we came here for.”

“Perfect.”

Runa watched as Cedar broke the crystals away from the matrix, then put them into his saddlebag and started to head back the way they came.

“Wait! Don’t you want to check out the ruins?”

“Should we?”

“Aren’t you curious about what’s inside?”

“Not really. I’m more of a wide-open-spaces kind of pony. Looking forward to being out of here.”

“I see… would you mind if I took a quick look, at least?”

“I suppose not too much.”

Runa cautiously made her way into the ruin with Cedar following close behind her. They had seemingly knocked a hole into a hallway. Picking a direction at random, Runa made her way down the hallway until she came to a moderately sized unlit room with symbols carved into the walls, ceiling, and floor. Not feeling any magic, she took a step into the room to allow her glow stone necklace to better illuminate the area. Not wanting to go too far into the room, she stayed towards the doorway and looked around until she heard a sudden slam. Looking back towards the door, she saw Cedar standing in front of their former exit. Embedded in the door that had closed behind him was a large crystal that began filling the symbols along the room with magic.

“C-Can you kick that door down—the one that closed behind you?”

Runa watched as Cedar bucked the door, only to have his hind legs slam against it without so much as a sound. Looking around the room, she saw another door on the opposite side of the room that hadn’t been there before. Just like the one that had closed behind Cedar, it had a large crystal embedded into it.

Running her horn along the walls, Runa frantically tried to figure out what the magic was doing, but found that it was simply too complex for her to follow, let alone understand.

“Not to be a bother, but… I’m feeling a might bit uncomfortable.”

Runa looked back towards Cedar. “So am I. So am I… get away from the door, would ya?”

Once Cedar was far enough away, Runa tossed a mixture of her most corrosive dust at the door along with a pinch of pollen to ignite it. Like Cedar’s kick, it had no visible effect.

“This is officially—really bad…”

“What are we going to do?”

Runa gulped nervously and bit her lip as she thought for several long moments before letting out a raspy sigh. "I don't know…" Runa admitted as a sense of despair greater than she had ever known crept into her mind.

Runa’s ears perked up as a faint haunting melody began to echo through the room. As the melody grew louder, the symbols began to flicker, and in an instant a shimmering swirl of light formed and began to grow in the center of the floor.

"What in the hay is that?" Cedar asked with a crackle in his voice.

Runa shook her head, eyes wide. "I don't know, and I don't want to find out."

Runa tried to step back as she began feeling herself being pulled toward the swirling light. "But I have a feeling we're going to find out…"

039 - Public Service Announcement

Flare scrolled through news on her mobile while waiting for the train to arrive until she heard Amber yawn for the umpteenth time.

“You’re not looking so good,” remarked Flare as she turned her attention from her mobile to Amber.

“I’m fine. I just—” Amber took a deep breath“—Okay, I’m not fine.”

“You look like you could fall asleep at any moment.”

“I have to make it. We don’t have time for a multi-day delay. If we make it to Apple Valley you can at least start looking for clues while I sleep.”

“I want to find Zeph just as much, if not—more than you do, but if you fall asleep in public…”

Amber made a low, frustrated growl that drew looks from all around them. “Fine. We’ll go to the nearest hotel.”

Pulling out her mobile, Flare located the nearest hotel and began leading the way to it. However, not long after the pair had left the train station, Flare felt a claw clasp her shoulder. Looking over to Amber, she saw her illusion glitch out as she desperately held onto her.

“A-Amber?”

“We’re not going to make it.”

“We’ll be fine. It’s not even a mile from here.”

Amber shook her head and made her way over to a nearby bench.

“Take my cloak, find Zeph, return to the Lost Isles.”

Flare stared at Amber in shock. “W-What!?”

“I’m going to fall asleep literally any second. I thought I could hold on, but I can’t. I was careless. I thought naps would be enough. Take my cloak, skate away as fast as you can, find a secluded place, put the cloak on, and continue forward.”

“I can’t leave you alone exposed on the street like that. What would happen to you?”

“I’ll find out when I wake up.”

“But…”

Flare watched in a daze as Amber’s illusion twisted in unnatural ways as she transferred money from her bag to Flare’s, then took off her cloak and held it out for Flare to take.

As ponies began screaming and rushing around, Flare stared at the cloak, then looked Amber in the eyes.

“Get going,” Amber growled intensely, causing a chill to run down Flare’s back.

Grabbing the cloak, Flare wrapped it around her neck as she began skating away. Zooming through the city, Flare didn’t stop until she was a long ways away and in a secluded alleyway where she took off her heavy disguise and donned Amber’s cloak.

Coming out of the alleyway, she gawked at her reflection in the mirror of a parked auto. Unlike the last time she had worn the cloak instead of just transforming her appearance to an earth pony, it also changed her hair color to bright red, and her body fur color to deep orange.

Snapping back to the moment, Flare reached for her mobile and began scrolling through the news, which had exploded with reports of a dragon being found unconscious at the Emerald City Train Station, along with requests for information about a small yellow filly with an orange mane wearing a puffy dress that was seen with the dragon.

Looking back at her reflection, Flare nodded. Amber must have predicted that ponies would be looking for her and tweaked the enchantment. It wasn’t a huge change, but it was certainly dramatic enough that it seemed unlikely anypony would recognize her. Especially as, unlike her disguise even with all its bulk still made her look scrawny, the cloak changed the fundamental build of her body, too. The only thing she truly had in common with her old appearance was her height.

Reaching into her saddlebags, Flare pulled out the tickets for the train she had bought with Amber. “Train doesn’t come for another hour. I wonder if I could go back and use these, or if I should find another way… Should I even go to Apple Valley now, or just follow the waystone?”

Hearing a strange sound from her mobile, Flare looked at it to see a window appear containing a bright pink earth pony that she recognized from her news scrolling.

“Hi everypony! It’s your Princess, Harmony Evershine, but all you wonderful ponies know to just call me Ari. Official message though, so I have to be all formal and all that. As many—if not all of you know, a dragon was found unconscious at the Emerald City Train Station today. There is—nothing to worry about. The dragon is already under the custody of the royal guard, and a team of our best investigators are on scene. However—the station will be closed for the rest of the day. If you’ve bought a ticket already you can exchange it—for free—plus an extra special bonus tomorrow, as a thank you for being patient. If you absolutely must travel today, the royal guard will be running a special shuttle service three times today. You can find more details on the Emerald City Transfer Park home page, and if you have a ticket, you are guaranteed a seat. That said, I—promise the bonus for waiting until tomorrow will be well worth it. As always, keep calm, pony on, and Ari-vederci!”

“Suppose that tells me my options if I want to keep going to Apple Valley… What would Zeph do… She would have never left Amber… Oh my pony… I’m a—terrible pony… But she growled, and she’s so scary when she growls… I’m sure she’ll be fine. Earth ponies are ponies too. Ponies who want to keep magic away from ponykind and rule over everything, but still ponies.”

Flare sighed heavily.

“Okay Flare, focus. What do I need to do—right now?”

Flare felt her stomach growl.

“Food. That’s what I need right now. I’ve been skating my tail feathers off.”

Looking at the map app on her mobile, Flare picked a nearby tea shop and skated over to it. Arriving at a quaint little building with fancy metal benches and tables with ornate umbrellas sitting in front of it, Flare made her way up to the counter and began looking through the menu.

A moment later, a light blue stallion not much taller than herself came over to the window. “Welcome to Hay and Herb. My name’s River, and our special of the day is Berry Breeze. A personal favorite of mine. Mixed berry tea steeped in a thick creamy mixed nut milk.”

“Alright, I’ll take one of those, and uhm, what do you recommend to eat?”

“Can’t go wrong with a double swirl cookie, but if you want something more filling, Every salad we sell is pretty good. Which makes it hard to recommend any one in particular.”

“Then pick any of them and I’ll take that.”

“Can’t say I’ve ever had anypony order like that before. Alright, one Berry Breeze and a mystery salad coming up. That’ll be twenty-six.”

After paying River, Flare watched him work from a distance, finding herself mesmerized by all the strange and noisy machines River used. Flare bit her lip as she held herself back from asking questions. She wanted to know everything about the machines, but didn’t want to risk appearing strange and having to abandon her food.

When River brought her food over to the counter, he smiled. “Here you go! Also, I was kind of curious,” River chuckled awkwardly. “It’s the slow time of day, and, well, would you mind if I ate with you?”

Flare stared into the stallion's pleading eyes for a moment before gulping. “No, guess not.”

“Awesome~ I’ll grab a drink, a snack and meet you at a table.”

Grabbing her food, Flare nervously made her way over to one of the tables and began sipping her drink, which may have been quite possibly the most amazing thing she had ever tasted, besides glow berries.

“You okay?” asked River as he sat down his drink along with a plate of brightly colored cookies on the table.

“This, is—Amazing!”

River chuckled, “I know, right? It’s the mixed nut milk that really gives it that ultra-rich flavor. It’s kind of pricey, but way worth it. So~ you from around here or visiting?”

“Visiting.”

“Cool, cool. Where from? I’m just local born and raised here myself.”

Realizing that she only knew two earth pony town names, neither of which she could use, she took an extra-long drink as she thought. “I’m just a farm pony, not really close to any place per se.”

“I’ve heard of ponies like that, but you’re the first I’ve ever met. Do you come to the city often?”

“No, in fact, this is my first time here.” Flare chuckled awkwardly before taking a big bite of her salad. Which, while not bad, wasn’t nearly as good as Clover’s mix, and tasted outright bland compared to the drink.

“Ooo—do You need a tour guide!? The shop closes in half an hour then I’m free for the whole weekend!” River blushed heavily and waved a hoof in front of his face. “Sorry, sorry, that was too forward, wasn’t it? Sorry, I just haven’t ever met another pony my size before, and I kind of really want to be friends.”

Flare had a hard time not laughing as River gave her the most awkward pleading smile she had ever seen. “I, uhm. I was actually going to go to Apple Valley. I even already have a train ticket, but, well…”

“I know, right? A dragon? I thought those were only in fairy tales.”

“Me too,” Flare nodded along as she thought about how shocked she had been when she first met Amber.

“Oh, my, pony! Does that mean you have a train ticket you can exchange tomorrow!?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“You are—so lucky. I bet you’re going to get an autographed album when you turn that in tomorrow, or something equally as cool.” River got a sudden look of horror on his face and covered her mouth. “Oh, oops, I’m sorry…”

“For what?”

River cringed. “For bringing up Ari since you’re a big Starshine supporter. I-It’s not that I agree with Ari on politics i-it’s just that her music is good. You know? I-I’m just not much of a political pony.”

Flare stared bewildered at River, not sure what he was talking about. “I’m a little lost to be honest.”

“You know, unless you somehow don’t know? Maybe it’s not a big deal to some farm ponies?”

“It’s not?” Flare smiled awkwardly, hoping River had given her some kind of out and not trapped her in some sort of conversational faux pas.

River smiled excitedly, then looked around cautiously before leaning close to Flare and whispering, “just between us I don’t have a side either. I love Ari’s music, but not a big fan of her rulership per se. I really like what Starshine stands for, but since I’m small, I don’t really want to risk being on the wrong side of an argument.”

River pulled away from Flare and gave her a brimming smile. “If you’re not interested in the gift, I’d pay you for it.”

“You can just have it.”

“Neigh-way, I’m paying you something for it.”

Flare cringed as she realized she had done something Amber had even warned her about. For pegasi giving things away was second nature. Don’t—need something yourself? Some pony wants it? Give it to ’em. Simple as that. However, according to Amber, earth ponies don’t work that way. Money is an essential part of their society. Everything comes at a cost. The only things that are “free” are things added onto an existing transaction to ‘sweeten a deal,’ as she said. With the only exceptions being a hoof-full of special occasions. “It’s just that I have two tickets, anyway. A friend was going to go with me, but something came up.”

“Oh—Perfect, I can pay you the price of the ticket, and hey, since I’ll have a ticket I could join you too. It’s been ages since I’ve been to Apple Valley and I was just thinking I should catch the train there for a weekend. Have you ever been to Apple Valley?”

“No…”

“Extra-perfect! I can be your tour guide there, too. That’ll make me feel better about the ticket. Cause I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. You could easily get a thousand for that extra ticket. Especially right now, when no pony even knows what the gift is going to be.”

Feeling a mix of emotions, Flare chewed her food slowly, giving her time to think. It could be risky getting too close to an earth pony, but she also had no idea what she was going to do in Apple Valley on her own, besides walk around aimlessly hoping to run into a clue. “That sounds like fun. I’d love the company.”

“Awesome—Though I should probably ask. Why you going to Apple Valley, anyway? Just making sure I’m not going to get in your way or anything.”

“No particular reason. I just wanted to get out and see the sights since I’ve never left home before.” Flare said, trying her best to sell her lie with an excited smile.

“That explains—a lot.”

040 - Tracking a Mystery

After Runa and Cedar disappeared into the cave, Cozy turned to Zeph and Kira.

“You two understand you’re just hanging out in front of the cave, correct?” Cozy stared intensely at Zeph.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Correct?”

“I’ll stay here. Don’t worry.”

Cozy flapped her wings and hovered above the ground. “Kira, you’re in charge. Make sure she doesn’t go anywhere unless absolutely necessary.”

With that, Cozy flew off and started surveying the area. The Everglow was always a tricky place to find magic from above. It was, to put it simply, like trying to find a needle in a field of grass. If the shimmer happens to catch your eye just right, you’re in luck; otherwise…

Seeing an unusual cluster of magic particles, Cozy flew low and followed its trail until she landed near a section of mountain that, without the ability to see magic, would have appeared completely black. But in Cozy’s case, she could see thin green lines of magic leaking from the cracks.

“Strange, there seems to be dragon-style magic behind here… Now if only I had an earth pony.” Cozy shrugged. “Suppose two pure magic sources, a levitation charm, and a small boulder, should work in lieu.”

While concentrating magic, Cozy picked out a boulder that met her needed size requirements. Once she believed she had enough magic, she chained two bursts together to send the boulder crashing into the side of the mountain, which formed a crack just large enough for her to see inside.

Peering into the crack, Cozy could see a hallway etched with a complex matrix of dragon magic on its walls.

“One more boulder should get me a hole inside. Though I wonder if I shouldn’t try to look for another way in first. Nah, I doubt I have—that much time.”

As before, Cozy concentrated power until she had located a suitable boulder. Aiming carefully, Cozy hit the previous crack dead-on, causing a modestly sized hole to form.

Squeezing inside the hallway, Cozy was careful to stay hovering and avoid touching any surface as she studied the faint magic flowing through the walls.

“It doesn’t look like there are any traps here. Still, best not to touch anything. Whoever made this had a deep understanding of dragon magic. It’s more refined and intricate than anything I’ve ever come across before.”

Flying through the hallway, Cozy came to a large room filled with bare shelves and dust.

“Something tells me a lot of this dust used to be books. You’d think someone, or ones, capable of carving hairline magical webs in walls would use something that stored longer than paper.”

As Cozy finished her sentence, she noticed magic coming from the shelves. Brushing off the dust from a section of it, she studied the engraved magic for quite some time.

“Maybe they did… What if… The bookshelves themselves act as storage? They’re clearly not engraved with tiny text of any sort, but is it possible that these minuscule magical patterns are actually being used to store information somehow? When you think about magic that plays a song, for example, that song is stored in the artifact as a series of interconnected circuits. Each one containing a note and duration. There’s really no reason that the same system couldn’t be used to store text. Though even if that were the case, without a known starting point there would be no way to translate the circuits into text. With sound, you can activate the circuit and hear the results. With text, activating the circuit would likely do nothing at all… Unless there’s something made to display the results…”

Cozy looked around the room for anything that might be used in the way she imagined, but found nothing. Feeling pressed for time, Cozy continued deeper into the ruins until she found a room covered in symbols unlike anything else in the ruins, along with a mess of fresh black hoof prints.

“These look an awful lot like Cedar and Runa’s prints…”

After studying the prints for several moments, Cozy followed the trail down the hallway and out a hole in the wall that also seemed fresh and covered in fragments of the type of crystals they were looking for.

“Strange… They clearly came in, but never came back out… There must be a trapdoor in that room.”

Cozy flew back to the strange symbol room and hovered in the center as she studied the remnants of magic particles in the room along with the hoofprints.

“They came into the room, stayed close to the door they entered from, walked around a little, and then slid or were dragged to… where I’m hovering…”

Cozy flew to the side of the room and looked towards the center.

“I disturbed it—a lot—but it looks like there was a focal point of spatial displacement magic there. The symbols on the walls themselves are magically inert , but there does seem to be magical residue on them. Which means they are probably a control circuit.” Cozy sighed. “I’ll continue this later. I’m not going to be figuring this out anytime soon, which means I need to let Zeph and Kira know what’s going on. Which would be made easier if I knew what was going on… I’ll fly back through the caves and make sure these tracks actually belong to Cedar and Runa. Maybe it’s just a strange coincidence.”

Once outside of the ruin, Cozy landed on the ground and followed the trail of inky hoof prints through the cave, flying over the streams.

“Suppose I should have just come with them and flown over the streams. I thought about it… I should have… I just wanted a little time alone. Is that so much to ask? Runa had been here before; she knew what she was doing, and yet, here I am.” Cozy muttered to herself as she came around the corner that revealed daylight.

Making her way out of the cave, she found Zeph, Argon and Kira sitting nearby nibbling glow berries.

Zeph looked to Cozy bewildered. “Didn’t you fly that way?” Zeph pointed off to her left.

“We have more pressing matters at hoof, Detective.”

“Huh?”

“It seems in Runa, we have found you a rival in mischief-making.”

041 - An Evening in the City

Flare smirked as she zoomed past River, reaching the park bench that was serving as their finish line. Spinning around, she came to a stop and waited for River to catch up.

“I don’t know how you take corners like you do, but it’s amazing!”

“Years of practice,” and cheating by being—way lighter, Flare thought to herself.

“It’s nice to have a pony my own age to skate with. Or, for that matter, another pony to skate with, at all. I just can’t bring myself to skate with kids. It makes me feel super self-conscious. Adults might mistake me for a kid often, but kids? Not so much. They can tell I’m just an old guy instantly. But I’m sure you know what I mean.”

“Yep,” Flare said, despite not really being able to relate. Sure, earth ponies treated her like she was a young filly, but back home she was a well-respected adult that no pony would ever mistake for a child.

“Getting close to dark. You want to grab a pizza at the arcade?” River blushed while smiling awkwardly as he tapped his skates together. “U-unless that’s too kidsy for you. To be honest, I don’t really do—a lot of adult things…” River laughed awkwardly.

“Pizza sounds amazing! It’s my favorite food back home. It’ll be fun to see what earth— the city version is like.”

River smiled brightly as she clapped her skates together in excitement. “Follow me. We can talk toppings on our way.”

Flare skated alongside River as they discussed toppings, most of which she hadn’t heard of before. But River had gotten so used to brushing off Flare’s ignorance as just being a byproduct of her isolated country life that Flare had started to feel as though she could admit to not knowing anything, and River would be happy to help her understand it. In the few short hours Flare had spent with River, she had learned a ton about the city, her mobile, and even “city pony” customs, as River liked to put it for her.

As the pair neared a downhill slope, Flare stared out at the city in awe as her eyes worked across the colorful lights of the cityscape before going out to the ocean to admire the last remnants of color in the sky.

“I know, right? I love this view. I come here pretty much every day after work. Of course, it helps that I live at the bottom of the hill.” River laughed. “The big blue building, to be precise.”

“Wow, that’s a—big house.”

River chuckled. “I don’t live in—the whole thing, silly. I rent a rather small, single-room apartment there. Size doesn’t matter to me, though. What mattes is that it’s a place—I pay for—on my own.”

“You pay for your house?”

“Yep. One-hundred percent on my own. It’s not much now, but one of these days I’ll be able to afford a nicer place. I don’t plan on working at a tea shop forever. One of these days I’m going to make a breakthrough in my true passion and make a living as an artist.”

Flare felt so utterly confused by River’s response that she found herself unable to even pick a question to ask.

“You look—super confused all of a sudden. I mean, I know I don’t really look like an artistic pony, but it’s not—that shocking, is it?”

“I guess I’m most confused by why you’re not already doing what you’re passionate about?”

“You say that like it’s nothing to be an artist. The market is—so saturated that it’s almost impossible to find a niche, and the skill level requirements ares intense, to say the least. As is, I’m lucky if I make twenty-five a month doing commissions. But I know if I stick to it and keep trying, I’ll find my niche, get my skills up, and eventually find my breakthrough… and you don’t look any less confused now…”

“Back where I’m from, if a pony wants to be an artist, they just be an artist… I’m sorry, but I’m just not getting it.”

“Huh—I’ve been pretty good at figuring out what you don’t get thus far, but this one seems odd… What do ‘artists’ do back where you’re from?”

“Paint stuff like surfboards, buildings, or make sculptures or other installation pieces… do I need to keep going?”

“No, I think I get it. Everypony where you’re from are physical artists. Which, in hindsight, I should have guessed. Speaking of guessing, I bet there’s not much competition where you’re from either? Which would probably make it—a whole lot easier for them. Though surfboards are a strange one… I thought all ponies of the salt lived pretty far inland.”

“Ponies of the salt?”

“Isn’t that what you are? I guess you never said you were, but I just kind of assumed it after we talked for a bit. Since the whole idea of the ponies of the salt is to live more traditional lives without modern technology. Which seems to be you to a T. I mean, you didn’t even know what your mobile number was used for until I explained it to you.”

Flare laughed awkwardly.

“Not that I’m judging. I’ve had a blast hanging out with you today. Though I’ll be honest, I always thought ponies of the salt—or maybe you like to be called something else? were more urban myth than reality.”

“I never considered my home very ‘traditional’ before, but compared to here, it certainly feels like it. Though, if you don’t mind, maybe just stick to country pony? Being called ‘a pony of the salt’ doesn’t feel right.”

“Got it. As for explaining my situation better… I’m a digital artist. Like the artwork on your mobile. I’ve never had enough money to do physical art. Also, not really too interested in it either. No undo, you know? Or, well, you probably don’t know.” River laughed awkwardly. “How about after we’re done, you come home with me, and I’ll just show you?”

“Okay.”

“Perfect. Now, I believe we have a pizza to get to.”

Flare followed River a short way to the right until they reached a long stone building with a sign that read “Hillside Plaza.”

Flare knew they were getting close to the pizzeria as the familiar smell of freshly baked crust, warm and yeasty with a hint of toasted nuts, filled the air. Upon arriving at the building, Flare was taken aback by River holding his mobile in front of a screen, then grabbing a box from a glass cabinet filled with red light before leading her over to a table.

Flare watched in bewilderment as River opened the box, revealing a pizza covered with all the toppings they had agreed on.

“I guess we picked something common?” asked Flare, assuming that their topping choices must have been so common that they didn’t even need to order.

“Not at all. This pizza is probably the strangest thing I’ve ever ordered.”

“I never saw you order it… Unless that’s what you did when you held up your mobile, but surely pizza can’t be made instantly?”

“Oh, no, sorry, totally forgot to explain that. I made the order on my mobile as soon as we were done deciding on toppings. I get pizza so often I can order anything on or off the menu in a few seconds flat. I probably eat—way too much pizza for dinner. Which is why I balance it out with salads at work for lunches.”

“I’m starting to wonder if there’s anything you can’t use mobiles for,” Flare said as she took a slice of pizza, then took a big bite, chewing slowly as she digested the flavor.

“You look a bit disappointed,” remarked River, with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

“Not at all. It just tastes so different from anything I’ve made. Back home, I run a pizzeria. It’s certainly not bad, but very different.”

“You run a pizzeria!? As in, you own the whole thing?”

Flare nodded while she finished another bite of her pizza. “Yeah, it’s just me there. I’ve been running it for almost a decade now, actually.”

“D-Decade!?”

“Yeah, but, granted, it wasn’t a very big place at the start. When I first opened, it was just one small pizza oven and a table for four a couple friends and I built from driftwood to the side of a road.”

“How big is it now?”

“Fairly good-sized, especially for one pony to manage. Nice sized kitchen, oven big enough to keep up with demand, a dozen tables, overall a pretty respectable building. Oh, and lots of art. Though it’s all surfboards. I—love surfing, so, of course, I made friends with Luna, the local surfboard artist. Often, when boards get too old to be properly repaired, she restores their paint jobs and hangs them up around the pizzeria whenever she has extra time on her hooves.”

“That sounds—so cool! I’ve thought about learning to surf, but haven’t ever gone through with it.”

“It’s totally worth it. The feeling of freedom out on the ocean with the wind in your wings. It’s amazing.”

“Wings? Is that a metaphor for something?”

Flare nearly choked as she realized what she had said. “Uhm—oh, yes, sorry. I meant the sails on the boards. B-back home, we have special surfboards called ‘wing gliders’ because they make you feel like you have wings.” Flare laughed awkwardly, hoping her haphazard lie sounded plausible to River.

“Oh—I think I know what you’re talking about. I don’t see them very often, but I have seen ponies on what looks like a surfboard with a sail on it.”

Flare felt a great deal of relief as she took another big bite of her pizza, thankful River was so understanding.

“How long you going to be staying away from home?”

Flare chewed slowly as she tried to think of an answer. After quite some time, she finally swallowed. “To be honest, I don’t really have a set plan on returning home.”

“Interesting… You just planning to travel around until you’re satisfied, or maybe you’re looking to move away from home?”

“Just traveling around. I have no plans of moving away from my home.” Flare noticed River’s excitement dip.

“You do sound like you have life pretty well figured out back home.”

“Not really, but I have a lot of friends I couldn’t stay away from for long.”

“Would it be too inappropriate to ask why your friend couldn’t join you on your travels?”

“Yeah… It’s pretty personal. I’d rather not say.”

“Alright. I was just curious since it seems like you’re just out and about exploring, so it’s kind of surprising you couldn’t just wait for them. Is there some time-sensitive thing you want to do, like a festival somewhere?”

“Any chance we could just change the topic?”

“Of course. No worries, we all have things we don’t like talking about. For me, it’s my parents… It’s all weird trauma stuff that can be summed up as: I want to live my life my way, they want me to live my life their way. Long boring story short, I visit once a year and it’s always a disaster, and that’s about all I like saying about it.”

“That’s how my friend is, too. I visit my parents—all the time. But Zeph? Phsst, last time her mother came over to visit, she snuck out of her house and hid at my place for a week before she finally risked going back home.”

“I know how she feels. I once came home and saw my father waiting at my door. I turned around and slept at the tea shop for a couple of days. Thankfully, neither of my parents knows where I work. Anyway, we need a less heavy topic. You’re out exploring new things and having fun.” River gave Flare an excited smile. “I just realized something. You probably don’t know what video games are, do you?”

“I’ve seen them mentioned in the news a couple of times now. I think they might be a genre of book?”

River snickered for a moment before taking a deep breath. “That is both hilariously wrong, and kind of accurate at the same time.”

042 - Memories of Long Ago

Runa had closed her eyes and looked away just as she had been forced into the center of the room. At first, she felt light, then she felt queasy, and finally, she felt nothing more than the cold stone of the floor on her rump and Cedar against her back.

Opening her eyes, she looked around, confused. The room had gone dark, the melody silent. Cedar was pushed up against her back and nothing else had changed?

Picking herself up, Runa began looking around the room when she heard Cedar’s voice.

“Does it suddenly smell a whole lot different to you?”

Runa sniffed the air a few times. “Now that you mention it, I don’t smell that black water anymore.” Looking down at the floor, Runa noticed that their hoofprints were gone. “I’m starting to think we’re not in the same room anymore.”

“I’d reckon not. I’m pretty sure some of the symbols are different, too.”

“I guess we pick a door and see what else has changed?”

With a nod from Cedar, Runa made her way towards what would have been the door they entered from, had it been the same door. Not long down the hallway, it was clear they were no longer in the same place, as the hole they had made on their way in was gone.

Continuing down the hallway in the opposite direction, they came to a small room with a large ornately carved crystal block humming in the center. Runa could feel magic flowing around her but couldn’t tell anything about it, and the room was otherwise empty. Turning around, the pair made their way back to the room they had entered from and out the other exit. At the end of the next hallway, they found themselves in a moderately large room lit with dim green glowing crystals, filled with nearly empty bookshelves except for a few sparse wooden boxes.

In the center of the room was an ornate podium with a large obsidian slate being held upright atop it.

Making her way over to the slate, Runa lowered her horn and closed her eyes. She felt nothing. Opening her eyes, she looked around the slate. It was polished to a mirror finish. There didn’t seem to be anything else noteworthy about it, as far as Runa could tell.

“I think it’s just decoration…” she declared as she looked over to Cedar.

“I’ve been wondering something. The necklaces we’re wearing glow orange, but everything here glows green. Why is that?”

“I don’t really know. But I can say natural glowstone is always orange. However, in ruins, it’s sometimes green or lavender.”

“Maybe the colors indicate how old they are?”

“The only thing I can really say is that if they’re underground ruins, they are usually green. If they are above-ground ruins, they are usually lavender. But based on stories from Clef and Midnight, that’s not always true.”

Runa watched Cedar casually walk over to a wooden box on the shelf and look inside.

“At least we have food to eat.”

“Food? Wait a moment… that’s nice looking wood… in a ruin… Ruin’s don’t have nice-looking wood. They have dust where wood might have been, or at most, wood that looks ancient.”

Cedar sniffed the box and then looked at her. “I’d say it’s pretty fresh wood.”

Making her way over to the box, Runa peered in and was surprised to find rather nice-looking apples. Making her way over to another box, she looked inside to find dried herbs.

“This place isn’t all that dusty either,” remarked Cedar as he walked around the room to another. “Looks like vegetables over here.”

“I think somepony’s using this place as a root cellar. We should continue on and see if we can’t find them.”

With a nod from Cedar, Runa made her way out the opposite exit they came. After another long hallway, the pair found themselves at a zigzagging stairwell that seemed to stretch up several floors.

“That’s a lot of stairs…” mumbled Runa as she looked up.

“Wanna race?” Cedar said with an excited smile.

“Aren’t you a little old to be getting excited about something like that?”

“Nope.”

“I’m going to conserve energy and go slow. Is what I would say if I wasn’t interested in getting out of here sooner rather than later.”

As Runa raced up the stairs ahead of Cedar, she paused at the second landing to look back to gloat, only to see him catching up fast. Feeling a rush of desire to prove herself, she rushed up the next few flights of stairs. Reaching the second-to-last landing, Runa took the turn sharply, and in an instant, found herself grazing the side of a dark gray blur out of the corner of her vision. Spinning around, she was barely able to keep herself from tumbling over.

Spinning back around to face what she had nearly run into, she saw Cedar laying atop what appeared to be a rather small elder dragon.

After a moment of being dazed, Cedar pulled himself up and stared at the dragon, who was still laying on the ground. A few moments later, the dragon sat up and looked at them in a bewildered daze.

“Ponies?”

“Dragon?” Runa replied.

“Ash the dragon, to be precise.”

“In that case, Runa the unicorn, to be precise.”

“That’s not a unicorn name. Next you’ll tell me the earth pony’s called Wollor.”

“Name’s Cedar, actually,” interjected Cedar.

“Now that sounds like a proper pony name. Now what are two ponies doing all the way out here?”

“And where is—all the way out here?” asked Runa.

“Odd question—you are in the Mt. Cantory region—one of the most treacherous places in all of Fayra. Home to very strange goats and one dragon.”

“I’m assuming you’re the dragon?”

“Oh right, myself… Two dragons at the moment. Though I only visit here when I need to get away from the world. Now my turn for a question: Where did you come from?”

“The bottom of this place. Specifically, the room with all the symbols plastered on all six sides. My turn again. Where is this—Mt. Cantory region? What else is nearby?”

“Before that, tell me a bit more about where you came from—before you were in that room.”

“We were collecting crystals at Shadow Falls.”

The dragon got a deeply contemplative expression on his face. “That is not a location I know. Which is strange. Or perhaps maybe it’s one that I can’t remember anymore.” The dragon smiled knowingly. “Are you from Equitoria?”

“Isn’t that where we are?”

“Equitoria has been lost to Fayra for longer than I can even recall—at least not anymore. Dragons may live a long time, but our memories grow hazy after a few hundred years, let alone a few thousand. I’ve long since lost the ability to remember much of that era of my life. That said, a few years ago, I had a dream about a pony I used to know. It felt like a warning, as though my heart was trying to tell my mind that I had forgotten memories that I once wished I’d never forget. I heeded that warning and came here, a place far away from everything, a place I could focus on trying to remember.”

“How’s that going?”

Ash sighed heavily. “I still can’t remember her name,” Ash then smiled warmly, “but I have recovered fragments of the moments we shared. We used to spend a lot of time together in a library carved into a large tree. She had a pet owl that I remember being especially jealous of. Though I’ve yet to recall why.”

“So, getting back on topic, if we’re not in Equitoria, where are we?”

“For all intent and purpose, you are on the opposite side of the world.”

“Equitoria is—the world.”

“No. Equitoria is, or rather was, a peninsula nation in the world of Fayra.”

“What do you mean by—was?”

“Nowadays, the only thing there is an everlasting fog that seems to warp space in a way that for all intent and purpose makes Equitoria so it simply doesn’t exist anymore.”

“That sounds—a lot like The Everfog, which is what wraps around Equitoria… Which means we’re on the other side of the Everfog… huh, so things really do exist beyond the Everfog?”

“Quite—a lot, actually.”

“Any chance you know a lot about magic?”

“Afraid not. Never wanted to be tempted by the stuff.”

“Why?”

“Because of the curse of The Peace Keepers, of course.”

“That means nothing to me.”

“That feels like it’s important somehow… Like it just stirred an important memory…” Ash stared off for several long moments before looking back to Runa. “It feels important, but alas, nothing is coming to the surface. Anyway. The curse of The Peace Keepers, at least pertaining to dragons, is that the more magical power we hold, the longer we sleep. If a dragon amasses enough magical power, they’ll fall into an eternal slumber, which is a nice way of saying we sleep ourselves to death. Dragons have an immense natural thirst for magical power, which is most commonly acquired through hoarding treasure, but can be obtained other ways as well. Which has ultimately led to the vast majority of dragons being found forever sleeping atop large piles of treasures. Those who sought to find a cure have thus far been found resting atop a pile of books. Like the other dragon here. Those of us who remain awake are those of us who have taken to a stoic and non-materialistic view of life.”

“Which means you’re probably not going to be of much help getting us back…”

“No, but if you would like to be introduced to yodeling goats, you’ve come to the right dragon.”

“Uhm, no.”

“Actually, I’d like to meet a goat. My mother told me about them,” interjected Cedar.

“Your mother knew of yodeling goats? I’m surprised they exist in Equitoria.”

“I don’t think they were yodeling, but then again, I don’t know what that word means either…”

Ash smiled at Cedar. “Let’s change that, shall we?”

043 - Kitsunny?

Zeph helped Kira up the last part of the mountain to where Cozy was waiting for them, impatiently tapping her hoof.

“Phew, even floating up half the way, it took quite a long time to get up here,” panted Zeph as she admired the last sliver of the sunset. “Anything change from inside the ruin?”

“I’ve made some progress figuring things out, but it’s been slow given that I’ve had to keep flying out here to check on you two.”

“Was that slight really necessary? Kira already feels bad about slowing us down.”

Zeph watched as Cozy took a deep breath. “It wasn’t. I’m just on edge. Balancing your safety and figuring out what happened to Runa and Cedar has just been—a lot. Anyway, hurry inside. Once you’re in the ruin, I’ll cover the entrance.”

Once everypony was in the ruin, Cozy used her levitation charm to move a boulder in front of the exit before leading the group deeper into the ruin.

“I’ve flown through this place several times, so we should be pretty safe. Still, I want at least one of you on guard at all times, and you should all stay together. If somepony or bunny needs to go to the bathroom, you all go. Furthermore, try not to touch much. The nature of this ruin is making it difficult to tell if there are actually traps.”

After quite some time walking through hallways and down stairs, the group came to the edge of a dark room covered with symbols.

“This is the room Runa and Cedar disappeared in. For the time being, I think it’s best if—” Cozy stopped talking as Zeph took a step into the room to get a closer look.

“If what?”

Cozy sighed. “If—nopony comes into this room but me…”

As Cozy’s voice faded, Zeph looked around and noticed that everypony was already inside the room. A moment later, she heard a loud slam, causing her to look behind her to see that the path they had taken inside the room was now closed off.

“Well—at least we’ll figure out what happened quicker this way,” remarked Cozy as she continued to hover in the room.

As the room began to glow and a haunting melody filled the air, Zeph gulped. “W-we’re going to be okay, right?”

Cozy shrugged. “We’ll find out. If not, at least I get to see something interesting before the end. To be honest, seeing this spell in motion is breathtaking. A truly marvelous feat of magical engineering. It appears to be sending and receiving information using short bursts of displacement magic and temporary storage fields. It’s putting into motion things that I had barely begun to theorize were possible.”

“I’ll admit, hearing you talk about it in such a way is oddly comforting.”

As a shimmering swirl of light began seemingly pulling Zeph towards it, she looked back at Argon. “If this is the end, I just want to say sorry I couldn’t get you home.”

Argon put his paws against his chest and smiled, as if to say, “Have hope, our adventure isn’t over yet.”

“You’re right, I shouldn’t be talking like it’s over. When it’s over, it’s over—until then, we stand together!”

Taking a deep breath, Zeph stopped resisting and walked towards the center of the room. As she came into contact with the shimmering swirl of light, her vision seemed to smear, and the melody became muffled until it faded completely and her vision returned to normal.

Looking around the room, it looked a lot like when they first entered it.

“So, wait, nothing happened?”

“We traveled an interestingly long way,” remarked Cozy as she flew away from the group. “These symbols are different.”

“The air also smells different,” remarked Kira.

“Judging by the black hoof prints on the floor, I’d say it’s safe to assume we wound up in the same place Runa and Cedar did,” commented Zeph as she began following the prints until she reached a room filled with shelves similar to the one they passed through not long ago—except this one had boxes on some of the shelves and a strange black slate that Zeph watched Cozy fly up to.

Walking alongside Cozy, Zeph noticed she was smiling widely. “This is what I was looking for!”

“A mirror?”

“Not in the least, Detective,” Cozy said as she tapped the slate, causing it to spring to life with strange symbols for a brief moment before going dark once more. “That’s interesting… It’s completely passive. So it only works for as long as there is a steady stream of magic going into it. That’s very un-dragon-like. Unless…” Cozy trailed off, then tapped one of the empty shelves with her hoof, at the same time tapping her other hoof to the slate, which caused the slate to once more spring to life—but to Zeph’s surprise, this time it stayed alive. “That explains why there needs to be constant power pulsing through the shelves. They provide the magic to the display.”

“So how about explaining what you found to us non-magically inclined ponies?”

“It would be a way to access the information in this library—if I knew how to read it…”

“Not fluent in dragon, I take it?”

“I know some, but I wouldn’t call myself fluent at all.”

“If it’s a library, maybe you can find a ‘how to read’ book for kids?”

“Actually, that’s a pretty good idea.”

Zeph watched Cozy tap her hoof around the slate for a few moments.

“Looks like I’ve found some, which seems to also prove that this is a book-less library as I suspected. I mean, at some point, I suspect there were actual books here too, but apparently the dragons who built this place planned for the future.”

Zeph felt a tap on her back, followed by a mental image of Runa and Cedar.

“We should probably keep looking for Runa and Cedar.”

Cozy sighed. “Right.”

Cozy flew away from the slate and began leading the group again until they reached a zigzagging stairwell that seemed to stretch up several floors, which caused Kira to collapse.

“I-I can’t do more climbing, I’m sorry. I-I just can’t!”

Zeph walked over to Kira and put her hoof on her back.

“You’ve done great today. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure—”

Kira sniffed as she looked towards Zeph with tear-filled eyes. “B-but the others are still lost…” Kira stared wishfully at Argon. “I wish I was a bunny. That way I wouldn’t be a hindrance.”

Zeph blinked as a bright light suddenly blinded her. When she managed to open her eyes a moment later, she saw Argon sitting on the ground where Kira had been.

“Argon? What happened to Kira?” Zeph felt a tap on her back, causing her to look back to see Argon still on her back. “Wait, what!?”

Looking back to the Argon on the floor, she saw him examining himself with awe for a moment before hopping up in excitement and declaring in a voice that sounded like Kira’s, “I’m a bunny! I’m a bunny!”

“What do you know? Kitsony—can transform into things they can see,” muttered Cozy as she landed near Kira. “I was just going to levitate you up again, but I suppose this works too.”

“I can turn into anything I see?”

“Maybe not anything? To be honest, I’ve only heard that kitsony can turn into ponies they can see, but that seems to at least apply to animals, too.” Cozy stared intensely at Kira for a few short moments. “You don’t seem to have used up much energy transforming either.” Cozy pulled out a small cluster of glowberries and held them out for Kira. “Still, you should eat some glowberries to be safe.”

“So, is this just a natural thing kitsony can do, like my ability to connect with Argon?” inquired Zeph as she watched Kira nibble glowberries.

“Sure, we can call it ‘natural.’”

“You don’t sound convinced?”

“Natural is a relative term when it comes to pure magical creatures.”

“What’s a pure magical creature?”

“As in, made from magic. She doesn’t have a true biological form like you do. Natural creatures are made of living cells; pure magical creatures are made of crystallized magic.”

“Wait, Kira’s like a ghost, but solid?”

“That’s one way of putting it, I suppose. The Lost Isles really doesn’t have many pure magical creatures… the aurora wisps on the East Isle are the only ones that come to mind.”

“I remember those things. That was an amazing trip. But I don’t remember you being with us on that one?”

Cozy looked at Zeph with a raised eyebrow. “It shocks you that I’ve been places without you?”

“Yeah. I mean, we’ve known you most of your life, and it seems like you only go places if Flare’s dragging you along.”

“Suppose it probably does seem that way from your perspective.”

“So, you really go places without Flare?”

“Detective…” Cozy sighed heavily. “Just a couple of odd trips now and again. Such as a recent skip across a puddle to find a wayward friend.”

Zeph turned her attention upward as she heard a strange sound echo down the stairs. “Yodel-odel-lay-ee-hoo!”

“That was weird… I’m not sure what that sounded like…”

“Indeed… we should probably be going,” Cozy said as she walked over to Zeph and tapped her. “That should make the climb up easier for you.”

Having Kira hop on her back, Zeph trotted up the stairs with ease, feeling light as a feather. As she reached each landing, the strange sound became more frequent and louder. By the time she reached the top, she could swear that she could hear Cedar’s voice mixed with the odd sounds.

As the group came out of the stairwell, Zeph could see bright mid-day sun shining in from large skylights in the ceiling.

“Wasn’t it just dusk, not too long ago?” remarked Zeph as she entered the room behind Cozy.

“I was thinking the same thing myself,” Cozy said as she guided the group through the room and toward the sounds.

Coming out of the ruin, Zeph looked around in amazement at the jagged, towering mountain range that seemed to stretch on endlessly in every direction, until her eyes landed on Cedar and Runa sitting on circular stone benches surrounded by goats and what Zeph was fairly certain was a dragon.

The moment Runa looked their way, she immediately jumped up and galloped over to Cozy.

“Cozy! You’ve found us! Thank the forest. I don’t know how much more of these goats I can take.”

Zeph listened for a moment as the goats and Cedar made another call out over the mountains, before he started walking her way with a big smile.

“Cedar seems to be enjoying their company,” Zeph remarked, causing Runa to cringe.

044 - Morning Coffee

Flare squeezed her eyes tightly as a sliver of sunlight shone in her eyes, waking her up from her dreams. Sluggishly sitting up, her mind was still racing. She had spent the entire night dreaming about running around collecting glowing balls in the strangest places.

As her vision focused, she suddenly remembered that she was sleeping at River’s apartment. After staying out late playing games, he had brought her home and explained digital art to her.

Looking around the sparsely decorated single-room apartment, Flare could see River sleeping on the opposite side of the room from her, along with her reflection in the mirror. Her hair and feathers were a mess. It was clear that she had been tossing and turning all night.

Flare kept staring at her reflection, something felt off about herself, but she couldn’t quite place it. Getting up off her makeshift bed, Flare began stretching until River yawned.

“Morning, River,” Flare said, feeling a little awkward as she hadn’t ever stayed over at a stallion’s place alone before.

River stared at her in a daze for several long moments before replying. “Morning to you too, Flare.” River shook his head and yawned again before staring at Flare some more. “I’d swear you were different colors yesterday, but then again, I’m not really a morning pony, so I don’t really think straight until I’ve had coffee.”

Flare froze in place as she watched River lethargically make his way out of his bed and over to the kitchen area of the room.

Looking at her reflection once more, Flare’s eyes went wide. The reason it had felt off was because she was back to normal. Frantically feeling herself, Flare realized she was no longer wearing Amber’s cloak. Looking around the room, she found it on the ground to the side of where she had been sleeping.

Flare just barely managed to get the cloak back on before River turned back around.

“I assume you want… a… cup… too… huh, weird… I could have sworn you were just yellow and orange a moment ago… Starting to wonder if I don’t have a coffee addiction,” River said before laughing awkwardly.

“P-probably just the sunlight. And, sure, I’ll try some cof. How much is the fee going to be?”

River burst out laughing. “I’m not charging you, silly.”

Flare watched as River yawned again as he turned back to the now roaring machines behind him. A moment later, Flare began smelling a rich aroma that filled the air.

“That smells really good. What kind of herbs are they?”

River turned back around to Flare in shock. “You’re not going to tell me you’ve never had coffee before—are you?”

Flare shook her head as she began to regret having said anything.

“Wow… I didn’t even think it was possible for a pony to make it to adulthood without having coffee. You’re not actually just a mature-looking filly, are you?”

“No.”

River smiled at her. “I was just joking.”

A few moments later, River brought over two half-full, large, colorful ceramic cups and placed them on the table next to Flare.

Taking a sip of the drink, Flare instantly felt herself become more alert. Looking over to River, Flare noticed the dazed look in his eyes had faded to a calm awareness.

“It feels good to be able to think again. Of course, now I’m thinking if you’ve really never had coffee before, maybe I shouldn’t have given you any. It’s pretty easy to get addicted to.”

“It’s certainly interesting, but I don’t think you have to worry about me getting addicted to it.”

As Flare finished her sentence, she noticed River was staring at something. Following his gaze, she saw one of her feathers lying on the floor.

River walked over to the golden feather and stared at it in awe. “Cool feather. As weird as it’s going to sound, this is the color I thought you were when I first woke up.” River laughed awkwardly as he brought the feather back to the table and set it down next to Flare. “I’m assuming it’s something you dropped, since it’s a pretty big feather just to blow in.”

“Oh—yeah, it’s, uhm, a lucky traveling feather?” Flare smiled nervously.

“Cool. I don’t actually believe in superstitions, at least if they’re bad, but who doesn’t want more good luck? Which is why I keep an acorn charm on all my bags.”

“Seems like I also saw them quite a bit in your art last night, too.”

“Yeah, I try to sneak them in where it feels natural. Speaking of feeling natural…” River pulled his mobile away from its charging stand. “Let’s see what’s in the news this morning… Nothing on the dragon, no new Ari announcements, yet another post for Argon…”

“I’ve seen quite a few of those. What do you know about him?”

“Argon?”

Flare nodded.

“That seems like an odd question for a pony wearing a Starshine supporter’s pendant… Did you, by chance, manage to buy that without knowing what it meant?”

“It’s to charge my mobile in emergencies, isn’t it?”

“Well, yes, but it’s also a symbol of support for Starshine. Those things are—really expensive, so ponies only actually buy them to show their support for her ideals.”

Flare cringed as she bit her tongue right before she asked another question.

“You okay?”

“Y-yeah.”

River stared at Flare suspiciously for a long moment. “You want to ask a question, don’t you?”

Flare nodded instinctually.

“Then ask. At this point, you could tell me you don’t even know who Starshine is, and I wouldn’t be that shocked.”

“Well… I don’t really know who she is, outside of the fact she owns TriStar.”

“I know I said I wouldn’t be—that shocked, but I’m still pretty shocked. Okay, so you at least know the general political drama going on, right?”

Flare shook her head.

“Wow… You wouldn’t happen to be a pony from an alternate or parallel world that crossed over into this one, would you? Because if you are, I’m fine with that—I love those movies.”

“A what?”

“When we’re on the train, we’ll watch a movie and it’ll make more sense to you. In the meantime, getting back to your question. Starshine is widely regarded as the most brilliant pony of our era, as the company she founded in her youth with the help of her great-grandmother has pioneered or revolutionized virtually everything we consider modern technology today. Mobiles, personal computers, smart appliances… etc. Because of that, Starshine holds immense sway with the people, and as time has gone on, she’s become more vocal about opposing traditional ideas, which has caused her to clash with the royal family and general nobility more frequently as the years go on. I haven’t lost you, have I?”

“I think I’m following.”

“Okay, so as for Argon, he’s Starshine’s childhood pet slash personal mascot. No pony knows where she got him. Some ponies theorize that he’s some kind of childhood experiment of Starshine’s, but virtually everypony can agree that he’s utterly adorable. Getting back on topic, though. The two were virtually inseparable until he went missing. Personally, I agree with the conspiracists and think he was taken by the royal family or greater nobility as a way of showing Starshine that she’s not as invincible as she thinks she is. But that’s just pure conspiracy. As far as the official news is concerned, he simply went missing, and no evidence of foul play was found. He most likely just wandered off and got lost. Of course, that doesn’t make any sense. Argon isn’t a normal bunny. He holds the top score in several online games, and Starshine has credited him as a key programmer of StarOS. Yes, a lot of ponies believe that anytime he’s credited for something, it’s just Starshine in disguise—which could be true—but there seems to be a lot of evidence against it. Of course, I don’t know. In the modern day, it’s so easy to fake things… which is why I just stay neutral.”

“I don’t know what a programmer is, but Argon is one smart little bunny.”

“And how do you know that?”

Flare stared into River’s sky blue eyes as she mentally chastised herself for making yet another slip-up.

“Just from what I’ve read?”

“You sure you just don’t know an alternate world version of him?”

“Uhm…”

“I’m joking. You’ll get it later. That said, it’s easy to feel like you ‘know’ things when you read them, especially if you see the same things repetitively. Which is why it’s dangerous to read too much news or hang out on social media a lot—at least in my opinion. Of course, that’s also one of the reasons I have a hard time with my art. Trying to be a digital artist without social media… but I hate the idea of doing it so much. I don’t want ponies paying attention to me, just my art.”

“I think I get it. I want to make the best pizza. I don’t really care if people are talking about me, but I want them to love my pizza.”

“So why pizza, anyway?”

Flare blushed and tapped her hooves together. “Oh—it’s just a silly little reason…”

“Now I—have to know.”

“I got lost in a cave when I was pretty young, and a then-stranger helped me out. When I asked her what her favorite food was, she told me pizza, and for some reason, I decided I—really wanted to promise to make her the best pizza in all The Lost Isles to thank her. And ever since then, it’s been a lifelong dream to fulfill that promise. She tells me I’ve already repaid her plenty, but I just don’t feel the same way.”

“Sounds romantic. Are you two together?”

“No. Cozy and I are just friends.” Flare watched as River began using his mobile again. “What’re you up to?”

“Just doing a search for ‘The Lost Isles,’ but doesn’t look like anything’s coming up. Only thing even close is the Lost Island of the Maremaids, but that’s a movie…”

Flare held her breath, not sure what to say, nor what to think about her lack of ability to think before she talked.

“Suppose we should get going. We can grab breakfast on the way to the train station. I know an awesome crêpe stand.”

045 - Bedtime Story

Cozy finished her sixth book on reading draconic runes, then returned to studying what she had come to understand was the transport room.

As Cozy was reading the instructions for the room, Runa came up beside her.

“Making any progress?”

“I think I’ve figured out why we wound up here.”

“Yeah?”

“This ruin is a support location. Under normal circumstances, only entities with ‘registered personal terminals’ and those accompanying them can use the system. However, in the case of a system malfunction, all ‘suitable’ entities are automatically transported here to get parts to repair the system.”

“So the ruins we were in are busted, and they want us to fix them?”

“Seems so. Thankfully, they seem to assume that if you’re reading the instructions, you’re completely clueless. Our first step is to go to storage level two, room three, to acquire a personal terminal. We need it to read the transport log, which should tell us what needs to be repaired, along with the coordinates of where we came from.”

Cozy began making her way to the stairwell, with Runa following closely.

“How’s everyone doing?” asked Cozy.

“They all seem to be having a lot of fun. I tolerated it. To be honest, I’ve never been the ‘goof around and have fun’ type. Clef, Midnight, and Blossom are always trying to get me to goof off more, but I just feel like I’m wasting my time, you know? Of course, I don’t know… maybe I do need to learn to relax more. Even Dusty has told me I need to ‘enjoy the little things in life’ more, and he’s a hopeless workaholic.”

“It is important to learn to enjoy your moments. You won’t have them forever,” Cozy said, as she reflected on her recent conversation with Zeph. Cozy always enjoyed her time when Flare dragged her along on things, far more than when she went places on her own, even if they were substantially less productive, if at all productive. There was just something special about being around ponies who wanted her around.

Before meeting Flare, Cozy really hadn’t had anything she would consider a true friend. She mostly had acquaintances, such as the guardians of the forest, and mostly one-sided interactions with ponies before then.

“That’s what Willow says too,” replied Runa. “But that seems more like a good reason to work more and play less to me. My time is limited—why waste it?”

“True. If it feels like a waste of time, then why bother?”

“Precisely.”

“But if it doesn’t, cherish the moment and worry about work another day.”

“I’m kind of surprised to hear that from you.”

“It’s not something I always thought. And it’s something I’m still working on understanding. Though it’s like this moment, right now. It’s made slower and less productive by me walking with you rather than flying to where I need to go, but I’m enjoying it.”

Cozy looked over to Runa and smiled, causing her to blush heavily.

“Oh—uhm,” Runa chuckled awkwardly for a moment. “I’m really enjoying this moment too.” Runa stared into Cozy’s eyes and smiled awkwardly.

“Which I’m sure there are more productive things you could be doing. Yet, here we are, enjoying a fleeting moment together that doesn’t need to be, but we both want it to be.”

“I really do want this moment.”

Reaching the stairwell, Cozy’s attention was caught by a series of strange noises echoing down.

“W-what are they doing up there?” squeaked Cozy.

“Not sure. Sounds noisy, though. When I left last time, Ash and Cedar were talking about gardening… which may have been even worse than the Yoodle-doddle-dee song.”

“Not a fan of gardening, I take it?”

“Not really. I appreciate ponies who garden. Willow grows some amazing stuff, but when it comes to learning it myself? If I’m not cooped up in my workshop, I want to be out exploring. Plants require too much time.”

“They do. I spend—a lot of time taking care of my glowberries. Though I have them pretty low maintenance nowadays, outside of having to harvest them.”

“You grow glowberries, why?”

Cozy nodded. “Glowberries are one of the few sources of pure magic you can cultivate.”

“Pure magic? I thought they just glowed via a chemical reaction.”

“Magic with no base signature, element, or domain.”

“Okay, element I understand, but what’s signature and domain?”

“Domain is creative or destructive. But not destructive in terms of blowing things up. Fire is an element, for example. Using it to cause an explosion to destroy things would not make it destructive domain magic, as fundamentally, you are still creating fire.”

“So then destructive would be… nullification?”

“Precisely. You can’t use creative magic to nullify. You can do things like cancel it by, say, using water against fire. Though you ultimately make steam or some other byproduct. You can also disrupt with creative magic by creating an interference pattern, but you cannot truly nullify with creative magic. The opposite is true too. You can nullify about anything with destructive magic, but you can’t create anything.”

“I see why destructive magic isn’t very popular. How many things do you want to just erase out of existence? Anyway, what about the signature?”

“That one is… harder to explain. If you think about magic like animals, you have the animal kingdom. Within it, you have different phyla, which are the fundamental types of animals. So if you were to apply that same logic to magic, you’d have the magic kingdom, and the signatures would be the phyla of that kingdom. Which I’m using that example for a reason. Fundamentally, different groups of magic users require unique signatures of magic in order to use it directly. Dragons can use dragon magic directly. Ponies can’t use dragon magic directly. They can use relics or other means, but not directly within themselves. Pony signature magic doesn’t seem to exist anymore, which is why modern pony magic relics don’t function. However, old primitive pony relics do, and that’s because they were built in ways that were signature-independent. Dragon relics are almost always signature-independent. For whatever reason, it seems dragons really didn’t like using their own magical power.”

“Probably because of the Peace Keepers’ curse. I know I wouldn’t be too interested in using magic if it meant sleeping myself to death.”

“Peace Keepers’ curse?”

Cozy listened to Runa’s explanation of the Peace Keepers’ curse while she guided them into the storage room and followed the instructions to acquire a registered personal terminal, which, for all intents and purposes, was simply a much smaller version of the obsidian slate she had been using in the library.

“That certainly does explain a lot about why dragon relics work the way they do. It’s always an exciting feeling when you learn something that shifts your view of something, and everything feels more in focus.”

Runa yawned, then smiled contentedly at Cozy. “I know that feeling.”

Cozy looked up from her terminal and smiled back at Runa, then glanced back to her terminal before looking back to Runa. “It’s been a long day. We should find you someplace to sleep,” Cozy said as she put her terminal in her saddlebag.

“I’m fine.” Runa yawned again while stumbling slightly.

Cozy shook her head and chuckled as she recognized the same stubbornness she often saw in Zeph and Flare when it came to sleeping when something exciting was going on around them. Having learned that sleep is rather important to most things, Cozy had learned that she needed to trick the stubborn ones into sleeping at times.

“Let’s go back to the library. I need to study more runes before I can continue on.”

Author's Note

Updated the name of the series. Given the direction it's been going, I no longer feel like its original starting series name made any sense. I also never really liked the original series name. I finally did some cover-ish art for it, though it's just design art. All of the concept art is still in the rough thumbnail phase or foggy mental image phase. I barely do HD art nowadays, so concept art has been extremely slow. Most of the art I've made in the past few years has been game dev pixel art, except for the few rough character concepts I did for my non-pony series.