Ponies of Fayra — Legend of Harmony

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.