For a few seconds, Theo stared up into the sky with abject horror on her face. She had been so close! Corey had even talked to her on the radio! It was all the proof she’d wanted to overcome her growing fears that everything she knew was a lie—that maybe she’d always been a hippogriff and every human memory was some kind of illusion.
Corey was the proof that her world was real, that the objects she carried were from a real place. That she was really Theo, and that the path back to her true body and world was reachable.
She could still hear the distant rumbles of shifting ice, back towards Sleighsburg. Snow billowed about her in the chill wind, and she felt defeated.
Emerald emerged from the snow, her body half covered with it. She said something reassuring, something that Theo couldn’t quite understand. Of course, I’m not wearing the necklace anymore. I can’t speak their language.
She sat up, brushing a little of the snow from her own body. She found that she knew what to do without thinking, and she shook herself out like a cat. After a few seconds of struggling, she realized Edge was approaching her too. He held out the necklace, muttering something as he did so.
She didn’t need to know what it would be about. She took the offered jewelry, wrapping it around her neck. The animal sounds he was making shifted through the spectrum and down into words she could understand again.
“—nothing that says we couldn’t give it another try. We came close! The portal opened. Probably we just didn’t configure it right. A machine as ancient and complex as this probably has intricate requirements to make the magic work. Don’t give up, Theo.”
“Right.” She swallowed, forcing a smile. “Right! It’s normal! Old machine, might just need… to be set up correctly, that’s all.” But even she didn’t believe it.
A few minutes later and they were back in the control room, under a bridge with plenty of new bits of fallen stone. She could only imagine the danger this would present to anyone who was here when it was switched on. Thank god we didn’t leave Emerald here. They were lucky that no debris had fallen onto the controls.
Unfortunately for them, this was a problem far more complex than just giving the device another use. The wheel refused to turn for her, no matter how hard they yanked together. Instead, when she got close, a delicate metal apparatus lifted up from inside, with a faint red glow coming from it.
“I think it wants something,” Sharp said, after a few minutes of trying. “And… I might know what it is.”
Theo dropped onto her haunches, panting and clutching at her chest. Her feathers and fur kept her quite warm, but working down here had given her sweat a chance to freeze. She was shivering now, and she wasn’t the only one.
“Shoot, Sharp. Give me the bad news.”
“This is about the right size for something magical,” he said. “I don’t know hippogriff society too well, but I know one thing about them. They use enchanted jewelry, kinda like what you’re wearing now. I think without it…”
“You mean… the battery’s dead,” Theo groaned. “We need to find a hippogriff, and somehow convince them to come back here with us. So they can use their magic necklace to power the portal. Is that… is that even possible?”
“Of course it is!” Emerald said, bouncing up in front of her. She’d been working just as hard under the bridge, yet there was only excitement on her face. Far more than she’d had when they left. She doesn’t want me to go. “They’re probably really nice! This old doorway thing is probably important to them, right? They’ll want to come here. We just have to… find one to ask.”
“We.” Sharp snapped his tool bag closed, tossing it into his saddlebags. “I make no promises about we, Emerald. The closest a hippogriff might be would be the Crystal Empire, if we’re lucky. If we’re not, we might have to go all the way to Canterlot. That’s a week by airship, one way. Winter Gale would strangle me for even suggesting it.”
“Not now that Summer is here!” The pony fluttered into the air, bouncing from one patch of snow to the next. “She makes it okay!”
Guess I invited that one. Telling her she could call me that name until I left. What could Theo do now, tell her to stop? The child didn’t look like she’d take that suggestion very seriously.
“If she was a pony,” Sharp answered, his voice low and almost embarrassed. “You know what she’s like. Just as backward and stubborn as everyone else in Sleighsburg.”
But Sharp hadn’t said “she has to travel,” he’d said “we.” He’s not abandoning me. Whatever sinking towards depression she might’ve been feeling dissolved as she heard it. The world might be strange and difficult to understand, but she didn’t have to fear it if she wasn’t being left alone. Sharp Edge was going to take her.
They stepped out into the feeble arctic sun, and she shook herself out again, shaking loose as much of the ice as she could. It helped a little, though the wind was still blowing out here, chilling her again. Maybe I should get a real jacket.
“Let’s focus on making it back to town,” Sharp said. “Theo, I’m sorry. I know I said we could send you back, but… I had no idea it wouldn’t have the energy. I’ve never heard of anything like this happening. I should’ve warned you.”
She met his eyes. “I’m grateful for everything you’ve done already. I couldn’t ask you to… travel all the way to the ‘Crystal Empire’ for me.” But please don’t say you don’t want to, because I’m fucked if you don’t.
He reached out, settling one hoof on her shoulder. “I might not have to, Theo. But you are the reason I’ve been living in Sleighsburg all this time. Traveling together for a week or two will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about your world. And… having you around will be what gets me an audience with the hippogriffs. They’re notoriously territorial after the war, but… I bet with your help, we could even get into their city! Not that we should have to. There’s an embassy in Canterlot, and I know historians are always going north to the Crystal Empire. Should be simple.”
“Simple,” she repeated. “And… and you said the hippogriffs were the ones who built this thing! They might know more about humans. They might’ve traveled between worlds more.”
“Maybe,” he agreed. “I could never get them to talk to me. But we’ll change that.”
Even with a much more cheerful Emerald, it was a slow, cold ride back to Sleighsburg. As the huge portal structure fell into the background, Theo felt a little like she was leaving her world behind. She had been able to send messages through that opening, but now… now she might never see it again.
Don’t start freaking out now, stupid. Sharp is going to help. We’ll get to the embassy, get help, and this will be simple.
Emerald sure seemed to think so, from the way she flew in circles around the sledge rather than riding in back with her. “This is gonna be awesome! I’ve always wanted to see the Crystal Empire! Mom will have to let me come with you there!”
“Your mother wants you to be a clerk, like her,” Sharp said, his voice sensitive. “She’ll think spending time with us would push you towards blacksmithing. She won’t let you come.”
Emerald landed on the sledge in front of him, glaring. “I don’t care what she thinks! Mom barely even works the counter most days—she just sits on the dock all day drinking spirits. She probably won’t even notice I’m gone.”
Edge just shook his head, giving Theo a look of desperation. She couldn’t help, though—she agreed with the little pony. Not only that, but having a child along would probably make things easier with Edge. Being alone with someone who smelled like he did and stood as tall as he did shouldn’t be so hard.
The trip took them back along the same path they’d taken, but to Theo she could barely even recognize any familiar sights. There were few trees, and stripped of those there were only large rocks and ice formations to use for reference. At one point, Edge stopped in front of a boulder the path wrapped around, nudging it with one hoof. A crevasse had opened under the rock, splitting it right down the middle. It looked like just a little shove would send its two halves careening down into oblivion.
“What could cause that?” Emerald asked, landing in the snow beside the opening and looking down. “That’s… deep. I can’t even see the bottom.”
“Sleighsburg is on permafrost, some of it ancient,” he said. “That’s why I chose White Hill for my house. I knew I could get into the soil that way. It couldn’t be…” He glanced briefly backward at Theo. “But I can’t imagine what else it could be. This looks like it was created by the Doorway. That earthquake… it might’ve gone all the way to the coast.”
“It didn’t feel that bad,” Emerald muttered. She lowered her voice to a whisper, glancing around nervously. “You think anypony saw which way we went? They wouldn’t… blame us, would they?”
As it turned out, they would.
Theo could see the mob gathered outside Sleighsburg before the squat buildings had even come into sight. Many of them held torches, spluttering dark things that hissed and spat with whatever they used to fuel them. There must’ve been a dozen ponies there, all of which had gathered up the most dangerous tools they could. Huge pitchforks, tridents, anything they could carry. All of them were calling for her blood.
“Calm down, everypony!” Sharp Edge stopped the sledge a dozen paces from the edge of the crowd, spending a few nervous seconds unhooking himself. He stepped forward, glaring at the two of them to stay put. “What’s bothering you? Surely it can’t be… anything to do with our guest.”
“Didn’t you feel it, blacksmith?” asked an elderly mare. She carried no weapons, and her eyes were swollen shut with age. Even so, she stood on naked ice without the help of a jacket. Ponies were sturdy creatures. “The shaking. It came from there.”
“We felt it,” he said, glancing between the members of the crowd in turn. “That doesn’t mean it has anything to do with us! Earthquakes happen.”
“Here, in Sleighsburg?” The mare’s voice shook with age, but there was confidence in her tone. “Never. We live in harmony with the ice, and it has always been kind to us. Can you honestly say she had nothing to do with it?”
Sharp glanced backward at Theo, ears flattening to his head. Maybe he planned on lying—but when he opened his mouth to try, nothing came out.
Theo winced, stepping forward beside him. As she moved, the entire village retreated, staring at her in horror. A few of them whispered insults, far angrier versions of what they’d said when she passed through town. “Should’ve given you to the sea,” “back where you belong” and worse.
“What happened that you hate me so much?” she asked. “Earthquakes are terrifying, but you all live so close to the ground. It shouldn’t have been that dangerous for you.”
The elder turned towards her, shriveled face taking her in for a few seconds. Maybe her eyes weren’t completely useless after all. “Sleighsburg’s trading docks have been on the edge of the glacier for generations. Your quake caused the ice to break. A few homes were lost to the ocean. Lives too.”
“Kill her!” someone yelled. “Give her what she gave Winter Gale! Into the deep!”
“No.” The elder stomped one hoof, turning to glare back into the crowd. “We are not like them. Ponies are better than that. The carnivore will be banished. This is the only way to send her evil spirit out of Sleighsburg. Nature will judge her for her crimes.”
“Winter Gale,” Emerald muttered from behind her, voice barely a squeak. Nopony seemed to hear her.
Sharp glanced between her and the crowd, eyes moving quickly. She could practically hear the gears in his head grinding together. “She has nothing,” Sharp said. “If we send her away now, she’ll die.”
Several ponies in the back of the crowd shouted things like “Obviously!” and “What she deserves!” Theo whimpered, feeling her forelegs nearly give out. Never in her life had she seen hatred like this in person before. And from the sound of it, she might even deserve it.
“What are you saying, Sharp Edge?” the elder asked. “You have treated Sleighsburg well in your time here. I will hear you.”
“I had already intended to take her south… to answer for her, uh… crimes or whatever. I need to take her to my home to prepare for the expedition. I swear we will be gone by dawn.”
“Why should we allow this?” the elder asked. “She deserves no sympathy after what she has caused.” More agreement from the crowd.
“Maybe not,” he countered. “But your granary is mine. Your grindstone is mine.” He fumbled in his vest for a moment, removing a bit of bent metal. Scrap, but Theo didn’t think they could tell that. “Allow us to gather our possessions and depart, or… I will destroy them.”
So maybe he could lie after all. There were more angry threats from the villagers, but the elder quieted them again. After a few more seconds, she nodded. “Until dawn,” she muttered. “If you are not gone by then, we will give her to the sea. It’s where creatures like her belong, anyway.”
The mob remained behind a few moments more, just long enough to give her their angriest insults yet. Then they left, leaving the three of them alone in the darkness outside Sleighsburg.