Ponies of Fayra — Legend of Harmony

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.”