Ponies of Fayra — Legend of Harmony

Cozy sighed. “Your mouth can run along with your feet.”

“Sorry about that. I just get—really excited when talking about magic.”

“Yes—magic… How about a change of topic? How did your clan come to be?”

“Funny story actually. When my sister and I were orphaned, we needed to prove our worth as Echochasers, so we set out to find a new family relic. That was… a rather spectacular failure. We almost got eaten twice, and when we fell into that pit of spike weed, I really thought we were done for. When we were limping back home, we happened upon a Sporekin who not only healed us but spent a lot of time teaching us how to use spores in order to get our family relic. After we were officially recognized by the Echochasers, we realized that we didn’t really care and instead wanted to spend more time with our Sporekin friend. Wondering if there was anyone else in the same situation, the three of us went around to all the clans and found our founding members. Of course, back then, we called ourselves the outcast clan because that’s all we saw ourselves as. Just the rejects. However, as we started combining our knowledge, we realized that we could be more. We could be the spark that could change everything. Thus, we renamed ourselves the Sparkmasters.”

“Since you’ve decided to try and be more than outcasts, have you gotten any new members?”

“Uhm, well, no…” Clef laughed awkwardly.

“So then what makes you think your new clan is going to be anything more than a temporary club for outcasts?”

“Because there’s something truly magical about ponies of all types working together! Coming together for the common good, caring about more than the rigors of tradition, and truly pursuing the study of magic.”

“You mean—unicorns of all types coming together, don’t you?”

“Yes, but not anymore.” Clef said with a big pleading smile.

“Still no.”

“I’m sure you’ll change your mind when you meet the others! Speaking of, you can see the clan headquarters from here.”

Cozy’s eyes wandered across the landscape in front of her until they landed on a network of makeshift tree houses nestled amongst the trees.

As they neared the cluster of houses, a spiral staircase leading up to the central treehouse came into view, and for the first time since Zeph had called a private meeting, Clef turned his attention away from Cozy.

“Welcome to the village of the Sparkmasters!”

“Impressive, for a playhouse,” remarked Cozy, feeling more than a little unimpressed.

Seemingly ignoring her comment, Clef led the group up the stairs and into a large, sparsely decorated open room with an enormous map painted on the far wall.

“This is the Sparkmasters headquarters! It’s where we hold all our important meetings.”

“How many members are there in your little club?” asked Cozy, as she made her way over to the map.

“Six, counting myself. We have a member from every clan, except the Everlost.”

“Wouldn’t that be five, then?”

“There are two of us from the Echochasers. My sister, Midnight Melody, and I.”

Just as Clef finished talking, a door burst open, revealing a dark blue unicorn mare who rushed in and over to Clef.

“Clef! Where have you been? You were supposed to be back hours ago!”

“I got a little wrapped up in my quest to get shade blossom pollen.”

“He was nearly eaten by timber web spiders,” snipped Cozy.

The mare stopped at Cozy’s voice and stared wearily over to her. “W-who are all these ponies?”

“I’m glad you asked! This is the single most amazing pony ever!” Clef exclaimed as he pointed towards Cozy. “She used Sapweaving, Echochasing—and Everlost magic to send a pack of timber web spiders tumbling to their doom!”

The dark blue mare scrunched up her face as she stared at Cozy. “She doesn’t even have a horn. That doesn’t make any sense. Actually… What are you…?” the mare’s gaze wandered beyond Cozy. “What are any of you? Minus the earth pony.”

Cozy looked to her right as Kira came prancing up and offered her hoof to the mare. “I’m Hakumei Kirameki and I’m a pony! But you can just call me Kira.”

Cozy slammed her hoof against her face as she watched the awkward display.

The dark blue mare held up her hoof awkwardly and tapped Kira’s hoof. “Uhm, I’m Midnight Melody, but every pony calls me Midnight. I’m an Echochaser… Or, I mean, I’m a Sparkmaster.”

“I’m sorry for my—friend. She’s suffering from memory loss.” Interjected Zeph as she came up to Midnight. “I’m Zeph, Zeph, Cloudchaser of the Lost Isles.”

“I’ve never heard of the Lost Isles clan before.”

“It’s not a clan, it’s a—” Cozy kicked Zeph in the leg.

“It’s a place you don’t need to know about. We’re pegasi on a mission to return a lost bunny to his home.”

“Pegasi… that sounds familiar-ish…”

“They’re a race of ponies that went extinct after the Great Divide.” Said a strong female voice from the side of the room. Turning her gaze to face the voice, Cozy saw a white mare with a bright red mane entering the room from the side. “My name is Spore Blossom, by the way, but please just call me Blossom. I’m a former member of the Sporekin clan.”

Cozy glanced over to the new mare. Given that they only had a single member from each tribe, it was safe to assume that Blossom was the friend that had inspired the Sparkmaster clan with her act of kindness towards Clef and his sister.

“I’m sorry, but what’s a Sporekin?” asked Zeph.

“It makes sense you wouldn’t know, since if you did, your race wouldn’t be a mere myth. The Sporekin are a clan of unicorns who utilize mushroom magic. We use the spores from many of the unique mushrooms around the forest to cast a variety of spells.”

Cozy bit her tongue as she resisted the urge to correct the mistaken mare. The Sporekin didn’t cast magic of any type; all they did was refine spores and sprinkle them around. Powerful effects indeed, but magic? Not at all.

“What about the other clans?” inquired Zeph.

“Echochasers use magical relics. Sapweavers use magic derived from flora besides mushrooms, of course. Shardseekers use gemstones. Pollenplunders use Everbloom pollen. Everlost become one with the Everglow.”

“And Sparkmasters have no such limitations; we welcome magic of all kinds!” interjected Clef.

“It’s worth noting that the correct clan name for the ‘Pollenplunders’ is Purebloods, and if you call them Pollenplunders to their face, you’re going to get in trouble.” Snipped Midnight as she glared at Blossom.

“I don’t care; their snobby know-nothings who just plunder pollen, and that’s that.” Blossom looked away, annoyed.

Cozy certainly didn’t disagree with Blossom, but she wasn’t about ready to admit it.

“To say I’m lost would be an understatement. Could you assume I know nothing about unicorns, which is true, and explain it to me a bit more?” Zeph said, as she looked towards Blossom.

“We~ll, if you know nothing about unicorns, then I suppose you would first have to know that ’Purebloods’ are unicorns that are not related to zebras. When the unicorns lost their magic, they moved to the Everglow, and the—smart ones integrated into the various zebra tribes. Whereas the power-hungry ones, now known as the Purebloods, laid false claim to the Everbloom and built a society around it.”

“Keeping in mind, I know nothing. What’s a zebra, and what is an ‘Everbloom?’”

“Those are certainly elementary questions, and I’m not the best elementary teacher, but I’ll do my best to explain. Zebras were the dominant species of pony in the Everglow before unicorns moved in. The different Zebra tribes all knew different ways of harnessing the forest’s magic, and the unicorns willing to learn became one with those tries. Whereas the unicorns who were unwilling stole the Everbloom. Which is a magical flower field in the heart of the Everglow that produces pollen that can be used to harness the power of the elements. As its name suggests, the Everbloom is always in bloom, and thus the flowers there can be harvested any day of the year, which gives them unrivaled power. Especially as the rest of us have to manage our resources carefully as we can often only harvest elements of the forest at very limited intervals.”

“Oh—I see, so you ‘farm’ magic from the forest. Just like any pony would farm vegetables from the land.”

“A crude but accurate way of putting it, I suppose.”

Cozy smirked as even Zeph, a pony who had little to no true concept of magic, understood that what the unicorns were doing was little different than what any other farm pony did.

“Okay, now if the pollen from the Everbloom is so plentiful, why do the Purebloods not just share it?”

“For the same reason earth ponies hoard coins.”

“So… they… can… hoard vegetables?”

Blossom stared at Zeph dumbfounded. “W-what?”

“I’m just kind of guessing that’s why earth ponies have coins…” Zeph rubbed her leg and smiled awkwardly.

“That’s not why earth ponies use coins… Or, well, I guess, kind of, now that I think about it. It does have the effect of allowing those with coins to hoard vegetables. Though not just vegetables, everything. It makes those who have coins powerful, and those who don’t workers. Which is what the pollen does for the purebloods. Just as there are many things that can only be accomplished with a great deal of coin, there are many things that can only be accomplished with a great deal of Everbloom pollen. Which means all they have to do is manage the pollen and they get everything else given to them.”

“That makes sense to how society works. All ponies take care of different things, and you distribute supplies and resources as needed. Some tasks are just easier than others, but it’s unreasonable to think any pony can do everything on their own, so every pony will need quite a bit given to them. Which I guess is to say, I don’t understand why they are bad yet.”

Blossom stared at Zeph thoughtfully for quite some time before Cozy decided she’d better nudge things along so they could get going.

“Detective, I believe you’re a fan of Rusty Quill’s writing?”

Zeph nodded enthusiastically. “His books are probably the reason I’m a detective.”

“So apply that here. In the first book, Prancy unraveled the society of elite islanders plot to hoard the entire island’s supply of a rare spice in order to always have it, even when there wasn’t enough to go to every pony who wanted it.”

“That was a good one.”

“Yes, but back to the point. Think of the Purebloods as the society of elite islanders, but instead of being a secret society, they openly hoard all the spice because they controlled the only supply.”

“This is a real-world group of villains!?”

“Pretty much. They are actual ponies doing iffy things because it benefits them to do so, and they are okay with that.”

“Okay, so now we just have to figure out how to stop them!” Zeph said with an enthusiastic smile.

Cozy slammed her hoof against her face. “This is not a book! We don’t.”

“But you could! If you join our clan and teach us how to use magic like you do. We could show every pony that things are better when we work together!” Interjected Clef with a brimming smile.

“We are here to get a bunny home, and that’s that.” Cozy said in a sharp tone as she made her way closer to the map. “Urgh, we could barely be much further away from where we needed to be if we tried.” Cozy squeaked in annoyance.

“And where is it you need to be going?” Asked Blossom as she made her way over to Cozy’s side.

“An earth pony town. Any should do as a starting point, unless there’s a specific one Argon has in mind?” Cozy turned to look back at Zeph.

“Apple Valley is where he wants to go.”

Blossom looked curiously over to Zeph, “The bunny tells you where he wants to go?”

“Not exactly. I just see what he’s thinking in my head. So I see a big sign that says Apple Valley. Big red sign, white letters, gold and green trim. Lots of trees around it.”

“Can you do that with all animals?”

“No. Just him.”

“So, he’s magic?”

“Not that he’s aware of. It only seems to work with me.” Zeph laughed awkwardly.

“Interesting. Does your group have any other strange magic?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Let’s get going.” Cozy said as she began walking towards the exit.

“But I haven’t gotten any supplies yet.” said Clef in a confused daze.

“And you don’t need them, because you’re not coming with us. All we needed was a peek at your map to orient ourselves. Thank you for your assistance, and goodbye.”

“Maybe we could ask them about supplies?” said Zeph as she began to follow Cozy. “We’re getting low on food, and don’t really know what we can eat.”

“We can manage on our own, detective.”

“B-but you haven’t even met every pony!” Shouted Clef as he began to follow Cozy.

“Three out of six is close enough. We have places to go, things to do, and barely enough daylight to do them in.”

“In that case, you should stay for the night, and get a fresh start in the morning.”

“Don’t need to, just need to get going.”

“At least meet with Stardust, please.” Clef ran in front of Cozy and stared into her eyes with desperation. “I-I can pay you for your time.”

Cozy rolled her eyes. “Why?”

“He’s trying to create combined magic, and he’s been having quite a lot of trouble with it.”

“No.” Cozy said as she walked around Clef. As Cozy approached the door, a dark burgundy unicorn entered. Doing her best to ignore the new mare, Cozy walked past her.

“That’s a nice levitation bracelet. Are you an Echochaser?”

Spinning around, Cozy scrunched up her nose as she stared into the violet eyes of the new pony. “How did you know?”

“That’s what horns are for.” The mare gave Cozy a smug smile.

“Y-you read its magic with your—horn?”

“I get that a lot. Most ponies think you need to dust every little thing in identification powder, but I think it’s just wasteful and lazy. We have horns; we should learn to use them. Of course,” the mare began laughing awkwardly as she rubbed her leg. “You don’t have one… Uhm, what are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Cozy felt her expression soften. She hadn’t ever met a unicorn who shared her views on identification powder before. “I’m a pegasus. The name’s Cozy, and you are?”

“I go by Runa. I know, kind of a weird-sounding old dragon word from what I’m told. It’s not my given name. I gave that up when I became a Sparkmaster, since I wanted to firmly let go of my past and embrace the pursuit of real magic.”

“Real magic?”

“Real spells, like those found in relics. As a former Shardkeeper, all I was allowed to do was blend rock dust together. Relics, though, use the same stones but actually manipulate their power through patterns of pathways etched inside of them. I’ve learned to read quite a few of the patterns, but I still don’t know how to make them actually work. I also wished I knew how the ancients were able to engrave directly inside stones, as I think that could be an issue, too. I’ve tried etching the simpler patterns on the outside, but that didn’t seem to work. Sorry, I’m probably boring you. I do that.” Runa laughed awkwardly for a short moment. “You seem to be in a hurry, so I’ll let you go.”

“Actually, I believe my friend wanted to get supplies before we left.” Cozy turned to face Zeph.

“Yes, I think it would be a good idea.”

“Which means I have some time if you’d like to show me your work?”