Ponies of Fayra — Legend of Harmony

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.”