011 - A Solid Nights Rest

Zeph lay on her back staring up at the clouds listening to Argon tinker away. It seemed like every couple of hours something on the trot glider would break, but Argon had thus far been able to get everything working again with the parts and tools in the trot glider’s lock box. The first time it had happened early in the morning, Zeph had genuinely thought they were doomed, or at least limited to wind power, but by the third time it happened, she had developed a deep trust in Argon’s ability to fix things.

Hearing Argon’s signature squeak of success, Zeph got up, thanked Argon, and once more got trotting. After a couple of hours, the pair was able to reach a small island that served as the halfway marker. Pulling up on the beach, Zeph was relieved to find an ample supply of coconuts which supplied both food and water.

Once Zeph had the trot glider lockbox along with herself filled with coconuts, she pulled out the directions to the mainland and aligned the trot glider only to realize that the compass wasn’t pointing the way it should be. She looked at the instructions, looked back at the features of the island, and then handed them over to Argon as she began to speak.

“This is 98% the place, but the compass is pointing straight ahead, and it’s supposed to be pointing to the right.”

Argon stared at the directions for quite a while, before looking back to Zeph and nodded as if to say, “this is most definitely the spot.”

“Hmm… in that case, either our instructions are bad or our compass is broken. Which one you think is more likely to be wrong, some ancient magical compass, or instructions that were literally carved in stone.”

Argon looked at her with an unamused stare.

“Okay, yeah, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is what our options are. If we decide the compass is wrong, we keep trying to follow the instructions and hope for the best, but—”

Argon tapped his paw against the instructions. Zeph paused and read the line he was pointing at which clearly told them they needed to use the compass to navigate through a section that was impossible to do without it.

“Okay, so, best to assume that the instructions are wrong, but the compass is right, since otherwise there’s not going to be any way through. I suppose we know roughly which way the Mainland is, so as long as we avoid whirlpools and head that way, we should reach it… I hope…”

Argon stared at her concerned, and then pointed back the way they came, as if to say, “we should return to the Lost Isles.”

“Don’t be such a worry bunny. We’ll be fine. And I’m only half saying that because I don’t want to go back and risk being caught.”

Argon rolled his eyes and then made a series of gestures that depicted them getting sucked in a whirlpool.

“Speaking of, how did you get to the Lost Isle anyway? A two day boat voyage through a maze of whirlpools seems like it would be kind of hard to do by random chance.”

Argon shrugged, which caused Zeph to see a hazy image of what seemed to be a bedroom filled with glowing objects followed by a vivid image of the beach she knew from the north isle.

“What’s with all the glowing things in the earth pony world? I’m pretty sure every time I get a mental image from you about it, there are always tons of glowing things like the thing Flare found.”

Argon looked at her for a moment with a thoughtful expression which caused images of the objects to flash through Zephs mind. A few moments later Argon signed and made the gesture Zeph had come to know as meaning, “it’s too complicated to explain.”

Feeling a bit frustrated with her lack of ability to directly talk to Argon, Zeph sighed and looked out across the ocean.

“I think we should just use the compass to avoid whirlpools and find our own way. We’re already halfway there and we’re stocked up on enough supplies to last several days now.”

Argon looked at her, then looked out over the ocean with a worried expression before looking back at her again and giving her a weak smile as if to say, “I have my concerns, but if you say so, I’m with you.”

“Then it’s settled. Though I’m thinking we get a good solid night’s rest here. I enjoy being out on the water as much as any pegasus, but it would be nice to keep my hoofs on solid ground a while longer.”