Ponies of Fayra — Legend of Harmony

Flare scrolled through news on her mobile while waiting for the train to arrive until she heard Amber yawn for the umpteenth time.

“You’re not looking so good,” remarked Flare as she turned her attention from her mobile to Amber.

“I’m fine. I just—” Amber took a deep breath“—Okay, I’m not fine.”

“You look like you could fall asleep at any moment.”

“I have to make it. We don’t have time for a multi-day delay. If we make it to Apple Valley you can at least start looking for clues while I sleep.”

“I want to find Zeph just as much, if not—more than you do, but if you fall asleep in public…”

Amber made a low, frustrated growl that drew looks from all around them. “Fine. We’ll go to the nearest hotel.”

Pulling out her mobile, Flare located the nearest hotel and began leading the way to it. However, not long after the pair had left the train station, Flare felt a claw clasp her shoulder. Looking over to Amber, she saw her illusion glitch out as she desperately held onto her.

“A-Amber?”

“We’re not going to make it.”

“We’ll be fine. It’s not even a mile from here.”

Amber shook her head and made her way over to a nearby bench.

“Take my cloak, find Zeph, return to the Lost Isles.”

Flare stared at Amber in shock. “W-What!?”

“I’m going to fall asleep literally any second. I thought I could hold on, but I can’t. I was careless. I thought naps would be enough. Take my cloak, skate away as fast as you can, find a secluded place, put the cloak on, and continue forward.”

“I can’t leave you alone exposed on the street like that. What would happen to you?”

“I’ll find out when I wake up.”

“But…”

Flare watched in a daze as Amber’s illusion twisted in unnatural ways as she transferred money from her bag to Flare’s, then took off her cloak and held it out for Flare to take.

As ponies began screaming and rushing around, Flare stared at the cloak, then looked Amber in the eyes.

“Get going,” Amber growled intensely, causing a chill to run down Flare’s back.

Grabbing the cloak, Flare wrapped it around her neck as she began skating away. Zooming through the city, Flare didn’t stop until she was a long ways away and in a secluded alleyway where she took off her heavy disguise and donned Amber’s cloak.

Coming out of the alleyway, she gawked at her reflection in the mirror of a parked auto. Unlike the last time she had worn the cloak instead of just transforming her appearance to an earth pony, it also changed her hair color to bright red, and her body fur color to deep orange.

Snapping back to the moment, Flare reached for her mobile and began scrolling through the news, which had exploded with reports of a dragon being found unconscious at the Emerald City Train Station, along with requests for information about a small yellow filly with an orange mane wearing a puffy dress that was seen with the dragon.

Looking back at her reflection, Flare nodded. Amber must have predicted that ponies would be looking for her and tweaked the enchantment. It wasn’t a huge change, but it was certainly dramatic enough that it seemed unlikely anypony would recognize her. Especially as, unlike her disguise even with all its bulk still made her look scrawny, the cloak changed the fundamental build of her body, too. The only thing she truly had in common with her old appearance was her height.

Reaching into her saddlebags, Flare pulled out the tickets for the train she had bought with Amber. “Train doesn’t come for another hour. I wonder if I could go back and use these, or if I should find another way… Should I even go to Apple Valley now, or just follow the waystone?”

Hearing a strange sound from her mobile, Flare looked at it to see a window appear containing a bright pink earth pony that she recognized from her news scrolling.

“Hi everypony! It’s your Princess, Harmony Evershine, but all you wonderful ponies know to just call me Ari. Official message though, so I have to be all formal and all that. As many—if not all of you know, a dragon was found unconscious at the Emerald City Train Station today. There is—nothing to worry about. The dragon is already under the custody of the royal guard, and a team of our best investigators are on scene. However—the station will be closed for the rest of the day. If you’ve bought a ticket already you can exchange it—for free—plus an extra special bonus tomorrow, as a thank you for being patient. If you absolutely must travel today, the royal guard will be running a special shuttle service three times today. You can find more details on the Emerald City Transfer Park home page, and if you have a ticket, you are guaranteed a seat. That said, I—promise the bonus for waiting until tomorrow will be well worth it. As always, keep calm, pony on, and Ari-vederci!”

“Suppose that tells me my options if I want to keep going to Apple Valley… What would Zeph do… She would have never left Amber… Oh my pony… I’m a—terrible pony… But she growled, and she’s so scary when she growls… I’m sure she’ll be fine. Earth ponies are ponies too. Ponies who want to keep magic away from ponykind and rule over everything, but still ponies.”

Flare sighed heavily.

“Okay Flare, focus. What do I need to do—right now?”

Flare felt her stomach growl.

“Food. That’s what I need right now. I’ve been skating my tail feathers off.”

Looking at the map app on her mobile, Flare picked a nearby tea shop and skated over to it. Arriving at a quaint little building with fancy metal benches and tables with ornate umbrellas sitting in front of it, Flare made her way up to the counter and began looking through the menu.

A moment later, a light blue stallion not much taller than herself came over to the window. “Welcome to Hay and Herb. My name’s River, and our special of the day is Berry Breeze. A personal favorite of mine. Mixed berry tea steeped in a thick creamy mixed nut milk.”

“Alright, I’ll take one of those, and uhm, what do you recommend to eat?”

“Can’t go wrong with a double swirl cookie, but if you want something more filling, Every salad we sell is pretty good. Which makes it hard to recommend any one in particular.”

“Then pick any of them and I’ll take that.”

“Can’t say I’ve ever had anypony order like that before. Alright, one Berry Breeze and a mystery salad coming up. That’ll be twenty-six.”

After paying River, Flare watched him work from a distance, finding herself mesmerized by all the strange and noisy machines River used. Flare bit her lip as she held herself back from asking questions. She wanted to know everything about the machines, but didn’t want to risk appearing strange and having to abandon her food.

When River brought her food over to the counter, he smiled. “Here you go! Also, I was kind of curious,” River chuckled awkwardly. “It’s the slow time of day, and, well, would you mind if I ate with you?”

Flare stared into the stallion's pleading eyes for a moment before gulping. “No, guess not.”

“Awesome~ I’ll grab a drink, a snack and meet you at a table.”

Grabbing her food, Flare nervously made her way over to one of the tables and began sipping her drink, which may have been quite possibly the most amazing thing she had ever tasted, besides glow berries.

“You okay?” asked River as he sat down his drink along with a plate of brightly colored cookies on the table.

“This, is—Amazing!”

River chuckled, “I know, right? It’s the mixed nut milk that really gives it that ultra-rich flavor. It’s kind of pricey, but way worth it. So~ you from around here or visiting?”

“Visiting.”

“Cool, cool. Where from? I’m just local born and raised here myself.”

Realizing that she only knew two earth pony town names, neither of which she could use, she took an extra-long drink as she thought. “I’m just a farm pony, not really close to any place per se.”

“I’ve heard of ponies like that, but you’re the first I’ve ever met. Do you come to the city often?”

“No, in fact, this is my first time here.” Flare chuckled awkwardly before taking a big bite of her salad. Which, while not bad, wasn’t nearly as good as Clover’s mix, and tasted outright bland compared to the drink.

“Ooo—do You need a tour guide!? The shop closes in half an hour then I’m free for the whole weekend!” River blushed heavily and waved a hoof in front of his face. “Sorry, sorry, that was too forward, wasn’t it? Sorry, I just haven’t ever met another pony my size before, and I kind of really want to be friends.”

Flare had a hard time not laughing as River gave her the most awkward pleading smile she had ever seen. “I, uhm. I was actually going to go to Apple Valley. I even already have a train ticket, but, well…”

“I know, right? A dragon? I thought those were only in fairy tales.”

“Me too,” Flare nodded along as she thought about how shocked she had been when she first met Amber.

“Oh, my, pony! Does that mean you have a train ticket you can exchange tomorrow!?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“You are—so lucky. I bet you’re going to get an autographed album when you turn that in tomorrow, or something equally as cool.” River got a sudden look of horror on his face and covered her mouth. “Oh, oops, I’m sorry…”

“For what?”

River cringed. “For bringing up Ari since you’re a big Starshine supporter. I-It’s not that I agree with Ari on politics i-it’s just that her music is good. You know? I-I’m just not much of a political pony.”

Flare stared bewildered at River, not sure what he was talking about. “I’m a little lost to be honest.”

“You know, unless you somehow don’t know? Maybe it’s not a big deal to some farm ponies?”

“It’s not?” Flare smiled awkwardly, hoping River had given her some kind of out and not trapped her in some sort of conversational faux pas.

River smiled excitedly, then looked around cautiously before leaning close to Flare and whispering, “just between us I don’t have a side either. I love Ari’s music, but not a big fan of her rulership per se. I really like what Starshine stands for, but since I’m small, I don’t really want to risk being on the wrong side of an argument.”

River pulled away from Flare and gave her a brimming smile. “If you’re not interested in the gift, I’d pay you for it.”

“You can just have it.”

“Neigh-way, I’m paying you something for it.”

Flare cringed as she realized she had done something Amber had even warned her about. For pegasi giving things away was second nature. Don’t—need something yourself? Some pony wants it? Give it to ’em. Simple as that. However, according to Amber, earth ponies don’t work that way. Money is an essential part of their society. Everything comes at a cost. The only things that are “free” are things added onto an existing transaction to ‘sweeten a deal,’ as she said. With the only exceptions being a hoof-full of special occasions. “It’s just that I have two tickets, anyway. A friend was going to go with me, but something came up.”

“Oh—Perfect, I can pay you the price of the ticket, and hey, since I’ll have a ticket I could join you too. It’s been ages since I’ve been to Apple Valley and I was just thinking I should catch the train there for a weekend. Have you ever been to Apple Valley?”

“No…”

“Extra-perfect! I can be your tour guide there, too. That’ll make me feel better about the ticket. Cause I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. You could easily get a thousand for that extra ticket. Especially right now, when no pony even knows what the gift is going to be.”

Feeling a mix of emotions, Flare chewed her food slowly, giving her time to think. It could be risky getting too close to an earth pony, but she also had no idea what she was going to do in Apple Valley on her own, besides walk around aimlessly hoping to run into a clue. “That sounds like fun. I’d love the company.”

“Awesome—Though I should probably ask. Why you going to Apple Valley, anyway? Just making sure I’m not going to get in your way or anything.”

“No particular reason. I just wanted to get out and see the sights since I’ve never left home before.” Flare said, trying her best to sell her lie with an excited smile.

“That explains—a lot.”