Making her way out of the library, Zeph was suddenly brought aware of her growling stomach as she realized that the sun was mere moments from setting and she hadn’t even had any breakfast. Not ready to face Flare, she turned to Argon. “So I’m thinking we grab something to eat from one of the nearby places and then get started on finding what we need.”

Argon pointed at the sun, made a gesture of it setting, and then looked at her inquisitively. “I know. It’s getting late. I know how the sun works. I just don’t want to go home.” Argon continued to stare at her, waiting for her to continue. “Because I’m sure Flare is going to be waiting for me. I—really don’t want to see her at the moment, you know?” Argon smiled awkwardly as he pointed to Zeph’s far left. Turning her gaze to where he was pointing, Zephs heart stopped as she saw Flare standing just to the side of a pillar, tapping her hoof.

“And—why wouldn't you want to see me?” Asked Flare in a harsh tone.

“W-why are you waiting in front of the library!?” asked Zeph, completely ignoring Flares’ question.

“Because I figured there was a good chance you’d still be here and be starving. So I brought you dinner. Worst case, you weren’t here, and I’d give your food to Emmy. Now that I’ve answered your question, how about returning the favor?”

Zeph gulped so hard she thought her throat might actually collapse. “Uhm, I-I really need a break from pizza? I’ve had it quite a lot lately, and well… Just wanted a little variety. I-it’s good to have variety. That way you don’t get overly used to one thing.” Zeph smiled awkwardly as she hoped Flare would believe her.

Flare stared at Zeph as she thought for a moment, then smiled at her. “Sometimes it’s like you can read my mind. I was just thinking that Zain might get burned out on pizza all the time. I guess not every pony can eat pizza every day of the week like I can. In that case, let’s stop by the farm stands on the way back and pick up some salad ingredients. I wanted to start trying to make more robust salads for Argon, anyway. I was talking to Sundancer today, since she came in for lunch and gave me a lot of good tips on what bunnies need to stay healthy. She seemed pretty worried about the little guy.”

“Probably because she doesn’t trust me to take care of him.” Muttered Zeph whispered so low, she was sure Flare wouldn’t hear her.

“Yeah, I kind of got that impression.”

Zeph was stunned for a moment, as she wasn’t expecting Flare to hear her. After a moment of awkward silence, Flare excused herself, as she wanted to give the food she had made for Zeph to Emmy since they were going to have salads instead.

As soon as the large glass doors closed behind Flare, Zeph turned to Argon and whispered. “Now’s our chance, let’s go!” Argon looked at her as if she was crazy and shook his head.

“Come on, do you have any idea how awkward it’s going to be to walk home with her—and have dinner?”

Argon bobbed his head as if he had experienced so many similar conversations that he was no longer phased nor amused by the idea. After which he gave her a firm stare as if to say, “Yes, yes, now if you’re done being a foal about this talk to Flare.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one doing the talking.” Zeph gulped as she just realized she had said something mean. “Not that there’s anything wrong with the fact you can’t talk.”

Argon rolled his eyes and shrugged before giving Zeph a half smile and waving his hand towards the door just as Flare came through. Which Zeph interpolated as his way of saying. “I know I can’t talk; no need to sugarcoat it. Also, I’ve stalled you long enough. You can’t get away.”

As Flare approached the pair, she smiled at them. “It’s pretty funny watching you two from a distance. You always seem to be having quite lively conversations. ”

Zeph chuckled awkwardly. “He’s easy to talk to.”

Flare trotted past Zeph and motioned for her to follow. “Sundancer seemed worried that he would be left home alone all the time, but honestly, seeing you two together, I get the feeling you’re just going to take him around everywhere.”

“I kind of get that feeling too, actually,” Zeph said as she felt Argon hop on her back.

“I know we’ve never been on the greatest talking terms, but be honest with me. Do you not think I’m a good match for your brother? Is that why you’ve been acting so weird?”

Zeph’s mind came to a screeching, bewildered halt at Flare’s words. How could they not be on the best of talking terms? She literally tried harder to talk to Flare than any other pony in all of the Lost Isles. Feeling a gentle kick on her back, Zeph snapped out of her dazed state and muttered, “What do you mean we’re not on great talking terms? We literally talk to each other almost every day.”

“Yeah, about flighty chit-chat stuff. A couple times a year when Zain’s around and he’s nudging you along, we’ll get into more in-depth conversations, but otherwise it always feels like you’re struggling to avoid personal conversations around me.”

Zeph felt a glut of irritation and confusion boil up at the back of her mind. How could things have gotten so misinterpreted? Sure, she went out of her way to hide her feelings because she didn’t want to risk their friendship, but was she really that opaque? As she thought about it, Zeph realized that she did, in fact, mostly talk to Flare about the happenings around the Lost Isles and details of the case she was working on, whatever thing her brother was reviewing, or whatever new pizza Flare was working on and little else. Feeling a gentle kick on her back, Zeph snapped back again and looked towards Flare, who was thoughtfully staring in front of her while they trotted down the pathways.

Feeling another kick, Zeph sighed, “We always have great conversations.”

Flare laughed sharply as she paused for a moment to make a dismissive hoof gesture. “Sure, about work, but we literally almost never talk about anything on a personal level. The only reason I even know what your favorite color is, is because Zain told me a long time ago.”

Zeph laughed awkwardly, as she had already realized that Flare was right. She never talked about personal things. Zeph didn’t enjoy talking about personal things with any pony, not even her brother, but he had the power to force her to. She’d felt as a detective it was important for her to do her best to keep her personal feelings out of things.

“Honestly, most of the time I feel as if we’re practically sisters because I know so much about you from Zain, and we spend a lot of time together, but after this morning I’m starting to wonder what you really think about me?”

“I think you’re great. Honestly, I do.”

Flare hummed disapprovingly. “A near-definitive answer… You started with ‘I think’, which is good, but you added the definitive at the end…”

“I—”

“No, you don’t have to explain yourself. It’s fine. I know I have some improving to do.”

As the trio reached the farm stands and Flare trotted off to start gathering things, Zeph sat down at a bench and stared at Argon, who hopped in front of her.

“Well, you were right, kindness does not equal love.”

Argon looked at her sympathetically for a moment, then put his paw on her leg as if to say, “I didn’t want to be right, I just wanted to be honest.”

“I don’t even know what to think now, you know? Like one small part of me wants to tell her how I’ve been feeling, the rest of me just wants to run away and never see her again.”

Argon shook his head while giving her a firm look, then put his paws on his chest before doing a motion about letting go while giving her a reassuring smile.

“I feel like you’re trying to say I shouldn’t just run away from her. I should try and embrace what’s going on and go from there?”

Argon nodded and smiled.

“You know it’s kind of weird, but sometimes I swear I can hear, or rather feel, what you're trying to say.”

Argon rolled his head in a half circle, looked over at Flare curiously, who was in the distance and then looked back to Zeph as if to say, “Anyway, back to the topic at hoof.” Then he scratched his chin while giving her a thoughtful look.

“What do I think about Flare now, eh?”

Argon put his paws on his chest and looked at Zeph inquisitively.

“I mean, I think so… I don’t know… I mean, it’s weird, but Flare made some good points. I really don’t talk to her about personal things, whereas I seem to talk about them with you constantly. Maybe I was never really in love with her? I’m starting to wonder if I really know what love feels like… I guess ponies always say it’s like a deep personal connection that they can’t explain, which I thought maybe I had that with her, but now I really don’t think so… Really, out of any pony … critter, I seem to have that with you. I don’t know. How would you feel about a pegasi partner?” Zeph said jokingly, but a moment after saying it began to wonder if she wasn’t actually a bit serious. Even though she had only known Argon for a short while, she already felt a deeper connection with him than any pony. She was even willing, no—excited, to put her life on the line for him. In fact, as she paused for a moment to sincerely consider the adventure they would be taking together, she couldn’t help but smile in a way she had never felt before.

Argon stared at her unamused for several moments before tipping his head a little as his expression changed to thoughtful contemplation, as though he wanted to say something, but couldn’t come up with a way to say it.

“You’re pretty adorable when you think like that. Anyway, you don’t have to actually answer that.” Zeph’s smile faded as the image of the powerful magenta earth pony flashed into her mind. “You already have some pony important in your life.” She said with an unintentional somber tone.

Argon immediately shook his head and stuck out his tongue, touched his chest before putting his paws over his heart, then pointed to both Flare and Zeph.

“So not your owner, not your love interest, but an important friend… or family. For some reason, I feel like you meant to say family, but couldn’t?”

Argon nodded.

“It really is kind of strange how I can feel what you mean.”

As Zeph saw Flare trotting back towards her, she looked at Argon again and smiled. “I think this is going to be a lot less awkward now. Thank you.”

Argon gave her a reassuring smile, then hopped back on her back as soon as she stood up.

“Sorry about that guys, I got—way too into learning about greens and flowers from Clover, but I think you're both going to love the salad tonight!”

“It’s cool. It gave me time to think about things.” Zeph said as she was looking back at Argon out of the corner of her eye for a brief moment. “I think I know a few good ways for you to catch Zain’s attention.”

Author's Note

Probably not true for all people, but personal experience is that if you don't feel comfortable being yourself around a love interest, especially after several years of knowing them, then it's probably not actual love. When I was in k-12 there was someone I liked for 5 years. We were good friends by the end of the 5 years. Then one day they said they were interested in someone else and it was confusing feelings for a day and then a sense of freedom after that. It's funny, but by tricking yourself into thinking you're in "like" with someone, you tend to ultimately close yourself off to finding real being aware of love.