Ponies of Fayra — Legend of Harmony

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.