Landing back down on the deck of the trot glider, Cozy redid her levitation spell on Cedar before pulling out the two compasses Zeph had given her to check against whirlpools.

Putting the compasses down, Cozy pointed at the one Zeph said she got from Emerald. “This one I’m fairly sure points to the mainland, or at least something on it.” Cozy moved her hoof to point to the compass Zeph had gotten from Cedar. “This one seems to point to the one you got from Emerald.”

“Why would a compass point to another compass? Also, Cedar said it switched directions depending on what side of the island he was on.” Remarked Zeph in a thoughtful mutter.

“Actually, that’s just what my mother told me. I wasn’t allowed to touch the compass.”

“Still the same, unless you think your mother was wrong. Which means it could point to more than one compass.”

“Mother didn’t spin many lies. Those that she did were just to spare me harsh truths until I was old enough to handle them. I sure can’t think of a reason a compass switching directions would fit into that.”

“Either way, it’s a good thing I’m here. If you two had just set off in the direction Emerald’s compass was pointing, you’d be at the bottom of the ocean now.” Remarked Cozy in a grim tone. “Of course, you wouldn’t have made it off the island without me, either.” She said with a smug smile.

Cozy’s smile faded to a look of bewilderment as Argon hopped over to her and bowed his head to her.

“What does that mean?” Squeak Cozy.

“He’s saying thank you.” Translated Zeph.

Cozy stared at Argon intensely as she took the opportunity to study the magical particles emanating from him.

“Why are you staring at him like that?”

“There’s something strange about this bunny…”

“That’s a given… He’s lavender colored, acts like a pony, and probably eats too many glow berries.”

As Cozy watched the magic particles, she thought to herself that the reason he ate the glow berries was probably to convert them to a magical energy store. Shifting her gaze from Argon to Zeph, Cozy was taken aback as she realized that Zeph was also emitting a faint, magical aura.

“Okay, now you’re looking at me the same way.” Zeph said nervously.

Cozy briefly thought about simply sharing what she saw with Zeph, but discarded the thought soon after. No pony knew she could fly without needing a levitation artifact, let alone that she could read or manipulate magic, and she wasn’t ready to let that change. The less any pony knew about her true self, the better.

“You’re also strange. I can’t help myself. I’m trying to figure out what’s going through your head.” Cozy knew exactly why Zeph ran off on her own already. She knew Zeph as the type of pony who would stop at nothing to unravel a mystery she became fixed on, which was all the more reason she didn’t want to share the fact she could read magic with her.

“We were being chased. I had to get off the island in a hurry.”

Cozy stared at Zeph, unamused, as she took extra time to think of a retort as she studied Zeph further. “You had no choice, no friends you could have gone to, no group you could have sought help from?”

Zeph smiled sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her leg. “I mean, yeah, there are, but we were going to leave the island anyway, and why bring other ponies into something dangerous?”

Cozy certainly didn’t disagree with the concept of not needlessly bringing ponies into dangerous circumstances, but she also knew it was just Zeph trying to save face. Zeph did care, but she also frequently dragged Flare and Zain around on her mystery hunting. Besides that, Cozy knew the real reason she had taken the opportunity to leave in a hurry was to avoid the chance some pony would talk her out of it.

Cozy felt her face light up as she figured out the magic emanating from Zeph. It was something she had thought was just a myth.

“How many glow berries have you eaten lately?” Squeaked Cozy temporally disregarding her ploy conversation.

Zeph laughed awkwardly. “A lot. I kind of didn’t pack much else to eat for the first part of the trip. Why you ask?”

“Just trying to change the mood. I didn’t mean to sound too harsh. I just know that’s what Flare would have wanted me to relay to you.” Cozy gave Zeph a knowing smile.

“Flare isn’t going to let me off that easy. When… if I ever go back, I doubt she’ll let me out of her sights for a long time.”

“If you go back?” Cozy’s attention fully shifted from analyzing Zeph to the conversation.

“Yeah, I’m kind of thinking I’m just going to stay with Argon from here on out.”

Cozy raised an eyebrow and wrinkled her nose in disbelief. “Have you not seen the pony standing next to you? You want to live in a society of ponies who could squash you by accident?”

“That seems a bit harsh. I haven’t squashed too many things by accident… recently… I mean, okay, maybe a few things, but she’s bigger than a flower, vegetable, or coconut.”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine. After all, Argon lived there just fine.”

Cozy glared at Zeph in annoyance as her words to Emerald rang through her head. “I told Flare I’d bring you back safe, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“I appreciate your help, but I think this is my decision to make.”

Cozy rolled her eyes and dismissed Zeph with a wave. “You’ll change your mind. I’ll just have to keep you safe until you do.” Walking over to the edge of the trot glider, Cozy spread her wings. “I’m going to double-check our route.”

Flying off ahead of the trot glider, Cozy took deep breaths to calm her mind. She wasn’t used to so much stimulation. She had gotten used to her calm, quiet life on the Lost Isles. Picking up pace, she zipped through the sky as her mind continued to race, despite her best effort to calm it, she slowly lost focus of the world around her. What she really needed was to spend time in her thinking room. Flying reminded her too much of her past.

Having had enough, Cozy came to a sudden stop, only to realize that she had somehow flown into such dense fog she could no longer even see the water beneath her.

Author's Note

I need a better title for this. If anyone comes up with one please comment! For that matter if anyone comes up with better tiles for any chapter please share. 🥺