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 🎁️🎄️🎁️!