Waking up at first light, Zeph rolled her shoulders in an effort to shake off the morning stiffness as her eyes adjusted to the waking world. As her vision cleared, her eyes landed on the still sleeping lavender bunny next to her. She wasn’t accustomed to sleeping next to anyone, in fact she had no memories of sleeping next to anyone at all. Most ponies sleep next to their parents when they are young, but Zeph didn’t have much of any memories of her parents. They were around, but not involved in her life much at all. They had, instead, chosen to focus their attention on her younger brother for a variety of reasons. Not only was he more agreeable according to them, but he was also home, whereas for as long as Zeph could remember, she strived to spend as little time home as possible. Often going as far as to sleep out in public places to avoid wasting time traveling during a case.

Zeph so rarely spent time at her filly-hood home that she didn’t even have her own bedroom. When she was home, she slept in the common room, and even in her own home, she used her “bedroom” as an archive room and the main common room for her actual sleep. Despite her lack of attendance, her home was anything but dirty as Flare, her neighbor and filly-hood friend has always made a point to come by and clean at least once a week, claiming that it’s the least she could do for all the things Zeph helped her out with. Though Zeph wasn’t entirely sure what she helped her out with, that was so deserving. Sure, she solved a missing item case every so often, and helped move things when needed, but otherwise, all she did was eat her food and cause her problems.

As the smell of Flare’s cinnamon breakfast bread filled the air, Zeph’s attention was caught by Argon springing to life and bouncing over to the window to follow the scent.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get some soon, but later. I like to be the last one there. That way, Flare’s free to talk.” Argon stared at Zeph inquisitively as if to ask what her relationship with Flare was. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I think she might just see me as a pity case. I mean, I’d like to think it’s more romantic than that, but…” Argon stared at her more as if to say “go on.”

“Well, for one, I’m pretty sure I would have accidentally starved to death long ago without her. When I’m neck deep in a case, I can get so wrapped up in research I forget to eat.” Argon rolled his eyes as if to say “you’re being overdramatic.”

“I know what you’re thinking, and, no, I’m not just being overdramatic, I’m really that bad sometimes. If my lack of eating didn’t get me, dust probably would have. I’m pretty sure I’ve only actually dusted once in my entire life.” Argon raised an eyebrow and tapped his paw as if to say, “I still don’t believe you.”

“Okay, okay, sure, I would probably take care of myself if she didn’t do it for me—and I’m a horrible pony for it, but it makes me happy that she does what she does and I want her to keep doing it… because I’m lazy.” Argon gave her a cracked smile and shook his head. “Not sure what you’re trying to say on that one.” Argon hopped away from the window and over to the table where he wrote down, “self lies = unhappiness.” Which caused Zeph’s heart to skip a beat as she tried to come up with a rebuttal, but after a few moments of staring into Argon’s eyes, she sighed. “You’re a tough interrogator, you know that?” Argon looked at her unamused. “Fine, it makes me feel happy when she does things for me, like maybe it’s a sign she feels the same way?” Argon wiggled his paw as if to say, “maybe, but...”

“Y-you think she doesn’t like me that way!?” asked Zeph in a panic. To which Argon shrugged and began writing as if to say, “no clue, but…” a moment later Argon finished writing, “kindness != love.”

Zeph groaned, “I know, but I can hope, can’t I?” Argon shrugged as if to say, “I suppose.”

As the smell of cinnamon dissipated, Zeph listened closely until she could hear a group of ponies leaving the pizzeria, at which point she had Argon hop on her back and made her way over to the Pizzeria. As she approached, she was waved over by Flare, who presented the pair with their food.

Zeph laughed as Argon took a nibble of the cinnamon bread and made the most adorable sneeze. “Oops, sorry about that little guy. Guess I went a bit overboard with the cinnamon,” Flare said as she handed him a napkin. “Thinking about it, should he even be eating bread? That doesn’t seem like something bunnies should eat.”

Zeph thought for a moment before answering, “You have a good point. Honestly, I keep forgetting he’s a bunny. Do you have anything else he could eat?”

Flare nodded and headed back. A moment later she reappeared with a large bowl of greens with a handful of crystal glow berries on top. Zeph watched as Argone enthusiastically devoured the glow berries before casually nibbling on the rest of the salad.

“I wonder if glow berries taste different to him than us? He really seems to love them,” noted Flare.

Zeph looked towards Argon and asked if it was normal for him to eat glow berries, to which he nodded enthusiastically.

“Any chance I could talk you into keeping them in stock for him?” asked Zeph.

“Don’t even need to ask. For some reason your brother—really liked the glow berry pizza, so I’ve gone ahead and added glow berry sauce as a regular option. Though I’ll be honest, it’s kind of annoying that the first thing I make that he seems to actually like is some weird Zain concoction.”

“Why would that matter?”

“Because I’ve been trying to impress him for years, duh.”

Zeph found herself so taken back by what Flare had just said that she could barely mutter, “W-what?”

“Don’t play dumb. You know I’ve been trying to get your brother to ask me out for years.”

Feeling a tap on her leg, Zeph looked down to see Argon nudging her to reply.

“I’m sorry, but I really hadn’t noticed that—at all.”

Flare stared at Zeph dumbfounded for a moment, before getting a look of excitement on her face. “That must be it!” She declared enthusiastically as she practically jumped for joy. “I’ve been too subtle! If the Lost Isles’ best detective couldn’t even figure it out, I’ve clearly been too coy. According to Auntie Seagazer though, mares should ever directly tell the stallions they like that they like them though… You’re supposed to impress them and get them to admit they like you first.” Flare trailed off into a mumble, “But how else can I impress him, I already…” Zeph zoned out as her mind began to race as she tried to figure out if it had always been obvious that Flare liked her brother, and she was just unaware of it because of her own hopes and feelings, or if Flare really was just—that bad at conveying her intentions. Zeph really couldn’t remember a time when it seemed like Flare was specifically trying to “impress” Zain… if anything she could think of a dozen or more times when It seemed like Flare was trying to annoy him… Zeph’s eyes went wide as she realized that the times when Flare was annoying Zain were very likely the times she was trying the hardest to get his attention.

Feeling a tap on her leg, Zeph broke out of her thought process and looked down at Argon, who was pointing to Flare. When Zeph looked at Flare, she noticed she was waiting for something. Zeph looked at her nervously for a moment before smiling awkwardly and saying, “Come again?”

Flare sighed heavily. “What should I do?”

“About?”

“Are you okay?”

“Actually, not really. Sorry. Uhm, I-I’m kind of distracted today. Y-you know, trying to figure out how to help Argon. W-which I need to get going on that. I need to, uhm, get to … the library before it gets busy.”

Flare looked at Zeph in disbelief, “Get to the—library before it gets busy? Since when is the library—ever busy?”

“I-it happens.” Zeph squeaked out in defense of her ill-thought out excuse.

Flare sighed heavily. “Are you—really okay, Zeph?”

“Yep, 100%. Just, you know, in a case solving mindset.” Zeph did her best to give a reassuring smile.

Flare stared at Zeph unamused, “Zeph, you only give definitive answers when you’re lying.”

“What!? Phst— I give definitive answers when I’m not lying.”

“Your name may as well be Zepharella, probably-might-be-seems-like-it-could-be, Cloudchaser.”

“Well, that seems a bit long for a name.”

“Precisely. You don’t give definitive answers, you generally give some long indefinite statement. I quote from the last time I asked you if you needed help when you got trapped in your bedroom, ‘that might be beneficial to my ability to solve the case.’”

Zeph chuckled awkwardly. “That does sound like something I’d say…”

“You seemed fine when you got here, so what’s the issue?” Zeph fidgeted around awkwardly as she tried to come up with something other than the fact the pony she likes isn’t interested in her. “Zeph, this isn’t about me liking Zain, is it? I mean, I guess if you really had no clue then it would be kind of shocking… But it’s nothing to worry about. We already act like sisters.” Zeph, trying her best not to cry at Flare’s words, needed to think of an excuse to get away quickly. A moment later, she felt Argon kick her in the leg before zipping out the door.

Zeph suppressed a smile as she looked back at Flare while doing her best to look panicked. “Sorry, Flare, w-we’ll talk later. Don’t worry though, I’m uhm, probably, cool with you and Zain.” Not waiting for a reply from Flare, Zeph rushed out the door after Argon. Making it out the door, she could see him in the distance, clearly trying to make himself noticeable as he continued to flee.

After a lengthy pursuit, she managed to catch up to Argon, who was patiently waiting for her on a bench near a quiet nine-way street intersection.

Panting heavily, Zeph sat next to Argon. “Thanks for the assist, but you know, you could have stopped running a long time ago.”

Author's Note

In my headcanon pagasi have hollow bones and are super light. The way I like to think about them is if they were to stand on a cardboard box it wouldn't even buckel. Which is why I picture their home as being a lot like a sprawled out ground based community birds nest built just high enough off the ground to avoid needing to do much of any landscaping.