Ponies of Fayra — Legend of Harmony

Runa had closed her eyes and looked away just as she had been forced into the center of the room. At first, she felt light, then she felt queasy, and finally, she felt nothing more than the cold stone of the floor on her rump and Cedar against her back.

Opening her eyes, she looked around, confused. The room had gone dark, the melody silent. Cedar was pushed up against her back and nothing else had changed?

Picking herself up, Runa began looking around the room when she heard Cedar’s voice.

“Does it suddenly smell a whole lot different to you?”

Runa sniffed the air a few times. “Now that you mention it, I don’t smell that black water anymore.” Looking down at the floor, Runa noticed that their hoofprints were gone. “I’m starting to think we’re not in the same room anymore.”

“I’d reckon not. I’m pretty sure some of the symbols are different, too.”

“I guess we pick a door and see what else has changed?”

With a nod from Cedar, Runa made her way towards what would have been the door they entered from, had it been the same door. Not long down the hallway, it was clear they were no longer in the same place, as the hole they had made on their way in was gone.

Continuing down the hallway in the opposite direction, they came to a small room with a large ornately carved crystal block humming in the center. Runa could feel magic flowing around her but couldn’t tell anything about it, and the room was otherwise empty. Turning around, the pair made their way back to the room they had entered from and out the other exit. At the end of the next hallway, they found themselves in a moderately large room lit with dim green glowing crystals, filled with nearly empty bookshelves except for a few sparse wooden boxes.

In the center of the room was an ornate podium with a large obsidian slate being held upright atop it.

Making her way over to the slate, Runa lowered her horn and closed her eyes. She felt nothing. Opening her eyes, she looked around the slate. It was polished to a mirror finish. There didn’t seem to be anything else noteworthy about it, as far as Runa could tell.

“I think it’s just decoration…” she declared as she looked over to Cedar.

“I’ve been wondering something. The necklaces we’re wearing glow orange, but everything here glows green. Why is that?”

“I don’t really know. But I can say natural glowstone is always orange. However, in ruins, it’s sometimes green or lavender.”

“Maybe the colors indicate how old they are?”

“The only thing I can really say is that if they’re underground ruins, they are usually green. If they are above-ground ruins, they are usually lavender. But based on stories from Clef and Midnight, that’s not always true.”

Runa watched Cedar casually walk over to a wooden box on the shelf and look inside.

“At least we have food to eat.”

“Food? Wait a moment… that’s nice looking wood… in a ruin… Ruin’s don’t have nice-looking wood. They have dust where wood might have been, or at most, wood that looks ancient.”

Cedar sniffed the box and then looked at her. “I’d say it’s pretty fresh wood.”

Making her way over to the box, Runa peered in and was surprised to find rather nice-looking apples. Making her way over to another box, she looked inside to find dried herbs.

“This place isn’t all that dusty either,” remarked Cedar as he walked around the room to another. “Looks like vegetables over here.”

“I think somepony’s using this place as a root cellar. We should continue on and see if we can’t find them.”

With a nod from Cedar, Runa made her way out the opposite exit they came. After another long hallway, the pair found themselves at a zigzagging stairwell that seemed to stretch up several floors.

“That’s a lot of stairs…” mumbled Runa as she looked up.

“Wanna race?” Cedar said with an excited smile.

“Aren’t you a little old to be getting excited about something like that?”

“Nope.”

“I’m going to conserve energy and go slow. Is what I would say if I wasn’t interested in getting out of here sooner rather than later.”

As Runa raced up the stairs ahead of Cedar, she paused at the second landing to look back to gloat, only to see him catching up fast. Feeling a rush of desire to prove herself, she rushed up the next few flights of stairs. Reaching the second-to-last landing, Runa took the turn sharply, and in an instant, found herself grazing the side of a dark gray blur out of the corner of her vision. Spinning around, she was barely able to keep herself from tumbling over.

Spinning back around to face what she had nearly run into, she saw Cedar laying atop what appeared to be a rather small elder dragon.

After a moment of being dazed, Cedar pulled himself up and stared at the dragon, who was still laying on the ground. A few moments later, the dragon sat up and looked at them in a bewildered daze.

“Ponies?”

“Dragon?” Runa replied.

“Ash the dragon, to be precise.”

“In that case, Runa the unicorn, to be precise.”

“That’s not a unicorn name. Next you’ll tell me the earth pony’s called Wollor.”

“Name’s Cedar, actually,” interjected Cedar.

“Now that sounds like a proper pony name. Now what are two ponies doing all the way out here?”

“And where is—all the way out here?” asked Runa.

“Odd question—you are in the Mt. Cantory region—one of the most treacherous places in all of Fayra. Home to very strange goats and one dragon.”

“I’m assuming you’re the dragon?”

“Oh right, myself… Two dragons at the moment. Though I only visit here when I need to get away from the world. Now my turn for a question: Where did you come from?”

“The bottom of this place. Specifically, the room with all the symbols plastered on all six sides. My turn again. Where is this—Mt. Cantory region? What else is nearby?”

“Before that, tell me a bit more about where you came from—before you were in that room.”

“We were collecting crystals at Shadow Falls.”

The dragon got a deeply contemplative expression on his face. “That is not a location I know. Which is strange. Or perhaps maybe it’s one that I can’t remember anymore.” The dragon smiled knowingly. “Are you from Equitoria?”

“Isn’t that where we are?”

“Equitoria has been lost to Fayra for longer than I can even recall—at least not anymore. Dragons may live a long time, but our memories grow hazy after a few hundred years, let alone a few thousand. I’ve long since lost the ability to remember much of that era of my life. That said, a few years ago, I had a dream about a pony I used to know. It felt like a warning, as though my heart was trying to tell my mind that I had forgotten memories that I once wished I’d never forget. I heeded that warning and came here, a place far away from everything, a place I could focus on trying to remember.”

“How’s that going?”

Ash sighed heavily. “I still can’t remember her name,” Ash then smiled warmly, “but I have recovered fragments of the moments we shared. We used to spend a lot of time together in a library carved into a large tree. She had a pet owl that I remember being especially jealous of. Though I’ve yet to recall why.”

“So, getting back on topic, if we’re not in Equitoria, where are we?”

“For all intent and purpose, you are on the opposite side of the world.”

“Equitoria is—the world.”

“No. Equitoria is, or rather was, a peninsula nation in the world of Fayra.”

“What do you mean by—was?”

“Nowadays, the only thing there is an everlasting fog that seems to warp space in a way that for all intent and purpose makes Equitoria so it simply doesn’t exist anymore.”

“That sounds—a lot like The Everfog, which is what wraps around Equitoria… Which means we’re on the other side of the Everfog… huh, so things really do exist beyond the Everfog?”

“Quite—a lot, actually.”

“Any chance you know a lot about magic?”

“Afraid not. Never wanted to be tempted by the stuff.”

“Why?”

“Because of the curse of The Peace Keepers, of course.”

“That means nothing to me.”

“That feels like it’s important somehow… Like it just stirred an important memory…” Ash stared off for several long moments before looking back to Runa. “It feels important, but alas, nothing is coming to the surface. Anyway. The curse of The Peace Keepers, at least pertaining to dragons, is that the more magical power we hold, the longer we sleep. If a dragon amasses enough magical power, they’ll fall into an eternal slumber, which is a nice way of saying we sleep ourselves to death. Dragons have an immense natural thirst for magical power, which is most commonly acquired through hoarding treasure, but can be obtained other ways as well. Which has ultimately led to the vast majority of dragons being found forever sleeping atop large piles of treasures. Those who sought to find a cure have thus far been found resting atop a pile of books. Like the other dragon here. Those of us who remain awake are those of us who have taken to a stoic and non-materialistic view of life.”

“Which means you’re probably not going to be of much help getting us back…”

“No, but if you would like to be introduced to yodeling goats, you’ve come to the right dragon.”

“Uhm, no.”

“Actually, I’d like to meet a goat. My mother told me about them,” interjected Cedar.

“Your mother knew of yodeling goats? I’m surprised they exist in Equitoria.”

“I don’t think they were yodeling, but then again, I don’t know what that word means either…”

Ash smiled at Cedar. “Let’s change that, shall we?”