Ponies of Fayra — Legend of Harmony

Walking into her home Zeph didn’t even bother to light a lamp, nor take off her satchel despite being full of crystal glow berries that Flare had given her for Argon before making her way over to the corner of the room and collapsing on her moon bathed bean bag.

As she sank into the folds of the beanbag, she felt an intense wave of relief wash over her. After she sank completely into the beanbag, she felt Argon hop off her back, and a moment later he hopped in front of her.

“It’s been a—long day and a long while since I’ve been this happy to return to my bean bag.”

Argon smiled at her and bowed his head before hopping over to the pillow Zeph had given him and dragging it next to the beanbag so he could sleep close to Zeph.

Every moment she stayed on the beanbag, Zeph’s eyes felt heavy, but she wasn’t quite ready to fall asleep just yet. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Argon and cleared her throat. “Hey, kind of serious question for you.”

At her words, Argon sat back up and faced her with eager curiosity, as if to say, “Go ahead.”

“Do you think there’s a place for me in the earth pony world?”

Argon stared at her contemplatively for a moment before holding up his paw and wiggling, then looking back at her with curiosity as if to say, "Maybe, but why?"

"Because I’m thinking I’m not coming back. Sure, I learned that the Lost Isles has more mysteries than I thought it did, but it also proved that the only true mysteries here are for historians. I have friends and family, but what does that matter if I don’t have personal fulfillment? I don’t want to just feel like I’m muddling through life my entire life; I want to feel like I’m doing something truly meaningful. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I know some of the cases I’ve solved here are meaningful to the people I helped, but they were all just so little. Most could have been done by any pony.”

Argon stared into her eyes with a look of deep contemplation then turned away from her and looked back with a concerned expression.

“You’re not sure I can handle life in the earth pony society?”

Argon smiled gently as if to say, “It would be rough.”

“I’m fine with it not being easy. I’m kind of tired of everything being easy. Of course, getting to the mainland isn’t going to be easy in itself. I can get a wing glider easy enough, but not sure that’s enough for us to actually make the trip. Ideally, I would use a trot glider, but…”

Argon looked at her and rubbed his paws together with a greedy look on his face. Zeph didn’t understand what he was trying to say, but for some reason, images of circular pieces of metal filled her mind.

“No idea what you’re trying to say.”

Argon started counting on his paws.

“Oh, how many? We’d only need one. It’s just going to be us going.”

Argon slammed his paw against his forehead.

“If you want to know the issue of getting a trot glider, that’s because they’re really only made as a community shared item. Even carriers don’t need one entirely to themselves.”

Argon scratched his head for a moment and then thought about something for quite a while before appearing to come to a realization. As Zeph watched him for some reason, her mind was filled with the odd circular pieces of metal and she got a feeling that it was somehow strange that they weren’t anywhere to be seen.

“Strange thought, but do you have the ability to project images into ponies’ heads?”

Argon looked at Zeph as if she was crazy, and shook his head.
“Just thought I’d ask. Since the images that appear in my mind while we talk seem to be getting more vivid the longer we’re together.”

Argon made a paw gesture that seemed to say, “And this has never happened before?”
“Not that I know of. Do you see images when I talk?”

Argon shook his head.

Zeph yawned so hard nearly fell off her bean bag. Argon hopped over and patted her on the leg as if to say, “Goodnight,” before hopping back on his pillow.

Closing her eyes, Zeph drifted asleep in mere moments. After what felt like only a few seconds, Zeph felt a hard kick against her leg. As her eyes flew open, she felt a small paw over her mouth and soon realized that Argon was trying to keep her quiet while pointing out the window. Her mind suddenly flooded with the images of three ponies standing outside her door along with an immediate sense of danger.

Motioning to Argon to follow her, she swiftly slinked her way across her common room and into her archive room, where she quietly unlatched a small crawl door at the back of the room that was unintentionally partly hidden behind a bunch of boxes and made her way through. Once in the alley behind her house, Zeph heard a loud crash from inside her house, no doubt one of the ponies trying to enter her archive room by opening the door too wide.

Zeph paused for a moment as she thought about staying to see if she could overhear anything, but felt a renewed sense of urgency when Argon kicked her again and motioned that they needed to run.

Getting a mental image of herself tied up, Zeph wasted little time in leading Argon away from her neighborhood while staying in the sandy area between houses rather than the walkways to hide her footsteps. Once she felt she was far enough away, she got back on the walkways and galloped until she had passed through several large intersections before allowing herself to rest at a bench.

Looking towards Argon sitting in front of her, she let out a big sigh. “I thought things like that only happened in books. I mean, sure, I’ve investigated ponies disappearing plenty, but in the real world it’s not other ponies disappearing them.
That’s not a thing that happens in the real world.”

Argon looked at Zeph with a raised eyebrow as if to say, “Strange, this feels fairly normal to me.”

“This is normal in the earth pony world?” Zeph squeaked out in disbelief.

Argon held up his paw and waffled it for a moment, then shook his head, then pointed to himself and smiled awkwardly.

“So, kind of, but not really, just happens to you… You wouldn’t happen to know what those ponies wanted, do you?”

Argon nodded, then made an annoyed huff as he seemed to realize he had no way of conveying the information.

“Just try thinking about it in images.”

Argon rolled his eyes, then closed them. A moment later, Zeph could hear faint echoes in her mind.

“When Ironhoof gets here, we break in and get this over with.”

“I don’t like this. It’s wrong, we shouldn’t be doing it.”

“She can’t be allowed to leave the Isle; according to the boss, she’s unpredictable and could leave at any moment. Tonight may be our only chance to do this without being noticed.”

Hearing a sound behind her, Zeph looked back to see a coconut fall from a nearby tree. Sighing in relief, she turned back to Argon.

“That’s amazing. I could hear them talking… Sounds like we need to make a break for it tonight.”

Zeph sighed heavily and looked at Argon with a pained smile. “I don’t think we have much of a choice; we’re going to have to do something bad… We’re going to have to steal a trot glider.”