Ponies of Fayra — Legend of Harmony

Zeph trotted awkwardly beside Cedar as they followed Cozy and Clef.

After saving every pony, Cozy had nudged them all to get moving towards Clef’s clan, which was quite possibly the last place in the world Zeph wanted to go, and she got the feeling Cedar felt the same way given that he kept looking at her as if he was waiting for a signal to run.

“Why do you two keep looking at each other so weirdly?” Asked Kira, who was riding Cedar.

Zeph made a sign for Cedar to slow down and got up close to Kira and whispered. “Because we’ve heard unicorns eat other ponies.”

“WHAT!?” Exclaimed Kira so loudly that her voice seemed to echo several times through the forest causing even Clef to stop talking to Cozy and look back at them.

“You shouldn’t scream like that. It can attract a lot of unwanted attention.”

At Clef’s words, Kira ducked down as if she was trying to hide atop Cedar somehow.

Cozy took a few steps towards them and squeaked, “What in Equitoria is up with you three? You’ve been acting weird ever since I saved you.”

Zeph looked nervously at Cozy, then motioned for her to come closer. Cozy rolled her eyes and made her way over to the group. When Clef began to follow, Zeph held out her hoof. “Sorry, just something between us.”

“Ah, team meeting. Understood.” Clef said as he turned around and took a few steps in the opposite direction.

When Cozy got to Zeph, she lowered her head and whispered the same thing she had told Kira as she watched Clef. When Zeph pulled her head back, she saw Cozy staring at her as if she was crazy.

“Detective, how did you come to this conclusion?”

“Cedar said—” Cozy held up her hoof for Zeph to stop, then looked over to Cedar and motioned for him to talk.

“It’s what my mother told me.”

“And what is her experience with the matter?”

“She said that’s how my grandfather went, and why we left the mainland.”

“How old were you when your mother told you that?”

“Not sure. I’d reckon I was about Zeph’s size, though. Mother seemed pretty big back then.”

“Did you ever ask her about it later in life?”

“Not really something I wanted to talk about, so no.”

Turning back to Zeph, Cozy looked at her with a raised eyebrow and turned hoof. “This is what you are accepting as ‘reliable’ information?”

“Argon didn’t disagree… per se… He said it wasn’t entirely wrong. So that means there has to be something accurate about it, right?”

Cozy walked around Zeph and looked at Argon. “If completely false is at Zeph’s back, and completely true is as high as you can reach, how true is it?”

Argon placed his paw just barely above Zeph’s back.

“If it helps, the mental image I’m getting from him is a big lifelike image on a wall of a unicorn with glowing eyes and sharp teeth. It has the words ‘attack of the killer unicorn.’ Now it’s changed to another one that looks similar but has the words ‘return of the killer unicorn.’”

“Detective, I do believe he’s referring to theater productions. As in, it’s not true, but there's popular entertainment about it.”

Zeph felt as though she were glowing red. “Oh…”

“I love theaters!” Cedar exclaimed with an eager smile. “I’ve made a lot of my own sets and puppets. But how does that explain my grandfather?”

“You did say your mother only told you lies when they were to protect you from harsh truths, and if you were my size, you must have been pretty young. So…” Zeph trailed off, hoping Cedar would pick up the rest.

“Oh~ I see… That makes a whole lot of sense now that you mention it.”

“It’s amazing what you can figure out with a little bit of detective work, now isn’t it, detective?” Cozy said with a smug smile.

Zeph, feeling even redder than before, nodded awkwardly to Cozy.

“Can some pony explain things to me, because I don’t get it?” Declared Kira, who was still gripping Cedar tightly.

“I’ll let the three of you fill her in while we keep moving. Clef’s legs don’t seem to work if I’m not nudging him forward.” Cozy remarked as she started to step away.

“What have you two been talking about this whole time, anyway?” inquired Zeph, causing Cozy to spin back around with an annoyed sigh.

“Mostly how amazing I am. Which is annoying to say the least—but he has a map at his clan headquarters, so hopefully we can figure out where we are soon.”

“Couldn’t you just fly up and figure that out?”

“I could. Though that would mean leaving you alone for a while again, and given how I found you last time I left you alone… Due keep in mind I have a promise to Flare to keep. Speaking of, she’s out looking for you, too.”

“Was out looking for me, right? When you were back at the Lost Isle, you told her what happened—right?”

“I told Emmy what happened.”

“And she’s going to tell Flare—right!?”

“Flare had already left the Lost Isles before I got there.”

Zeph’s eyes widened as her heart nearly stopped. “S-she’s on the ocean!? With the whirlpool, the fog, THE BOAT EATING ROCKS!?”

“I’m told she’s traveling with a dragon, if that makes you feel any better.”

“Not really…”

“Wait, boat eating rocks?”

“Yeah, when we got to the mainland, a bunch of rocks ate the trot glider, or, well, what remained of it. It kind of broke in half-ish after your spell ran out.”

“Oh — I kind of forgot about that…”

“Yeah, the last part of the voyage was a bit intense. But back to Flare. Can we use the compass you’re tracking me with to track her?”

“If we had something to tune it with. I don’t know about you—but I don’t carry around any of her feathers or any other piece of her.”

“What about the bow she gave you?”

“The bow isn’t a piece of her. Tuning the compass to the bow would lead us to the plant the fiber or dye came from. If it could lead us to anything at all.”

“You could have picked up a stray feather when you were back on the Lost Isles.”

“That would have been a good idea… I could go back and get one, but that would also mean leaving you alone for a couple of days.”

“We’ll be fine. We need to find Flare, or, well, you need to find Flare.”

“It’s not that I disagree, but Flare is one pony being led around by a dragon. Whereas you’re a girl and her little bunny lost in the land of glow with your straw-stallion and cowardly fox.”

“That story has a happy ending.”

“Yes, because a story that starts out with a house being blown away in a storm and staying in one piece is clearly trying to be a realistic think piece on the dangers of being in a land of magic, while being oblivious to it.”

“You do seem to be a magic expert… Which I do have some questions about. Like how did you know how those vines worked, and how to do what you did? I know your bracelet lets you use levitation magic, but what let you nullify out the other magic?”

“Detective, when some pony tells you ponies eat ponies, that is something to question. When some pony saves your life, maybe just tip your hat and leave it at that.”