Of course there was no telling for certain just how long they might be waiting for their friends to return. According to the locals, the Worldgate was so unsafe that a whole team had gone through it and never returned. Maybe planning for what to do once they had everyone back was a fool's task—maybe Vesper and Blake were the only ones left.
There was little to do while they waited, other than traveling briefly down to the ferry station to use the bits to arrange transportation back to Equestria for the ponies they'd rescued. As it turned out, they didn't even have to worry about giving away some of the bounty—a nation that was willing to pay so handsomely for the return of its citizens would certainly not leave them without a way to get home.
In the end, Vesper and Blake were the only ones there to wish them a safe trip home, as they boarded a ferry bound for the mainland visible as a faint shimmer on the water.
"Our long journey ends," Foxglove said, one of the few brave enough to approach and wish them a personal goodbye. "For you, it is only beginning. But you made it this far. I doubt anything could stop you."
Is that even a compliment? Vesper nodded her gratitude anyway. "Maybe we'll see you again. There are a few Worldgates in Equestria. Could you tell us about Echo Caverns before we say goodbye?"
Foxglove stopped on deck, turning back to face her. He grinned, though the gesture still seemed exhausted somehow. "It's the ancestral gathering place of all nocturnal clans. Bats, like yourself. But I do not know where it is. Bat ponies are fiercely protective of the site."
"Thanks!" She waved again, grinning. "We have a map already, so that's very helpful."
Blake remained silent as the ferry pulled away, leaving the two of them together on the dockside. At least the hippogriffs hadn't sent guards to trail them—that would probably spoil the mood.
"Protected by bats sounds way safer than most of what we've dealt with so far," Blake said. "What are you gonna do, squeak at me? Those teeth probably aren't even long enough to get through skin."
She grinned toothily back, exaggerating her fangs as best she could. But he was right—they weren't very large, so she didn't have a lot to work with. "I do not squeak. Let's get back to the room before the bird decides to steal everything and run."
But she hadn't. They found Galena indulging in what was probably a pricy room-service meal of fresh fish and greens. She pulled it closer as they walked past, showing her beak. "Get your own," she insisted.
They didn't. They'd barely even made it back in before the door banged open again, and the missing members of their group arrived. Well Kaelynn looked like herself, anyway. Ryan had taken on the body of the hippogriff officer from the day before. Cute for a bird—not as regal and confident as Blake, though. Some other stuff wasn't as impressive either.
"How was the Worldgate?" Jordan asked. "Good news?"
From the warmth that passed between the two of them, a little hope rose in her. But Kaelynn's words did not match the glow radiating from her.
"Other side of the portal is polar cold, but otherwise safe so far as we could tell. But it's like fifteen thousand feet up—that cave is near the peak of somewhere I'd never feel confident climbing. Icy rock as far as the eye can see, way above the treeline. You start losing oxygen as soon as you cross."
Ryan nodded his birdlike agreement. "I'm guessing the hippogriffs got proud—growing up flying, they must've underestimated the mountain. Or maybe they overestimated how easy it is to be human. Either way, that's probably how they went. Climbing accident."
"Wish we could've brought back any possessions to give them closure..." Kaelynn muttered. "But we would've froze to death before we got anywhere. At least we could pass on what we learned to the hippogriffs."
"Any cell service?" Jordan asked. "We could call for rescue, not worry about climbing ourselves."
Ryan and Kaelynn shook their heads in unison. Ryan explained, "Tried it. No luck. We might have better luck with a proper radio, but we didn't exactly climb under Paris expecting to need one."
"We'll file it away then," Blake said confidently. "Despite the difficulties of reaching it on this side, and the mountaineering on that side—it's still probably our best bet so far. Compared to dodging a monster or digging our way out of an unknown, abandoned tunnel. But if that thing is in northern Canada or some shit, it would still be a death sentence. Just slower."
"What happened while we were gone?" Ryan asked. He glanced at the table, but didn't actually go over to investigate. He remained within reach of Kaelynn. "We should think about our next portal."
Blake caught them up over the next few minutes, while Jordan mostly watched and tried to figure out what secret in-joke was going on between them. She was less successful than Blake, and soon they were all on the same page.
"I like the ship idea," Kaelynn said, as soon as he'd finished. "I always planned to sail the world one day. Visit all the best reefs, meet crazy sailors in portside bars, drink an inordinate amount of rum on international waters..."
"Me too," Ryan said hastily. "Same. All the same."
"Bullshit," Jordan cut in. "You can't just agree because she said it. We'll have to run a boat, Ryan. It's hard work sailing. Just think about getting here, only there's five of us this time. We won't have enough money to hire a crew—from the conversations we had on the docks today, we'll be stretching our gold and cutting corners just to get outfitted and repaired with what we have."
"Unless we do some of it ourselves," Kaelynn said, bouncing over to the table even more energetically. "I bet if I asked the royals would let me use a workshop! And you could do some of it too, Blake! It's like flipping a house, only it flies, and we aren't going to flip it!"
Blake faltered, tail freezing behind him. Even without Ryan's crazy magic, Jordan knew defeat when she saw it. Blake was going to agree.
"We need to be damn sure about this," Jordan said. "We can always pay other people for train tickets and stuff. Ride around, walk the rest of the way to these remote places. There's no GPS in this other universe. We're doing it all ourselves using shitty maps and an astrolabe."
"You make it sound even more badass," Kaelynn countered. "We should take advantage, Jordan! Pretty sure the royals like me enough to cover our expenses while we work. Real world already thinks we're dead, what's another few weeks? Once we find a really good portal, having our own ship will only make things easier. We can give the National Geographic crew and all the ambassadors a world-class tour."
Jordan pouted. But she could recognize a lost cause when she saw one. "I want my own room."
At least all the time working would be an opportunity to keep an eye on Galena. Jordan's worries might be completely unfounded—Galena had fought beside them to escape from captivity, instead of turning them in.
Galena rose from her perch by the window, actually smiling as she approached. "I swear to all of you, you will not regret this choice. I saw the way you sailed, and the way you fought. If you wished it, you could be a fierce crew, and terrify all those who sail your skies."
"We do not wish it," Blake said flatly. "We fought hard because we were fighting for our survival. Trying to screw over other people isn't a very good motivator."
"Even so." Galena was apparently undeterred. "You work together like ponies—this is good. Griffon ships have so many egos. Every bird wants to sit atop the highest perch and lord over the others."
"Teamwork is part of what we do." Ryan circled around the table, watching her closely. His own stolen bird-shape was smaller and leaner by comparison. Though he had a beak, he still seemed to have more in common with Jordan than Galena. That reassured her, even if she couldn't say why. It wasn't a bad form to take, so long as the poor kid didn't pay them another visit. He'd probably have a heart attack from the shock. "We've done plenty of dangerous things before. Climbed places that we weren't allowed to climb. Broke through barriers meant to keep us out. Filmed things we weren't supposed to see."
He crossed to the window, staring down at Mount Aris. "Guess if we were going to take a vacation in another universe, this would be the place. Nice and safe. And if we're lucky, those evil pirates will lose interest in us."
Galena laughed. "Not likely, insect. But they may think we tried to flee. They will grow distracted and slow, for a while. Still... they cannot reach us here. Be glad you didn't anger the Grim-Admiral. He might send assassins after you into Canterlot itself. But my crew were not so well connected. Or I would've let them kill you."
Jordan thought she knew what a refit of the ship would be like—it meant redesigning floorplans, tearing out things they didn't need, installing more modern furniture and fixtures. It meant paying unicorns to cast a proper "mending" spell on the mast, so it wouldn't topple on them in a storm.
As it turned out, the work she was most afraid of ended up not to be necessary. The Bright Hawk was already meant to hold a crew of eight, along with a luxurious captain's suite. The cells they'd been dumped in were meant for the passengers the ship would have carried, or maybe cargo.
But the pirates who had owned the ship before them hadn't exactly taken good care of it. Most of the personal quarters were a mess of mildew, ratty birds’ nest, and empty flagons of alcohol. Getting the smell out meant tearing out the most damaged parts of the floor, and refinishing much of the rest.
But Jordan had imagined knocking out walls and laying new floors over everything, wasting months and months of time floating at dock doing nothing.
She would've preferred to do nothing. But saving as many “bits” as possible meant doing the work themselves. They had to wade through the wreckage the old crew had made, dragging trash-bins, and pushing sweepers. It was a vile task, made more so since only Ryan could simulate hands.
But he didn't use it for the "grunt" work—almost as soon as they began, he took up with Kaelynn in the old captain's quarters, with borrowed machines and a heavy pallet of raw materials. Pipes, metal plate, and even something called a “thaumic arc welder.”
Jordan wasn't allowed to play with the fancy magical welder, or even to have fun painting varnish over the newly sanded walls and floors. Not after knocking over a can of the stuff in a moment of clumsiness with a wing.
So it was that she ended up out on the docks, wandering past the place the Bright Hawk was resting. She could've lingered with Blake and Galena, but not being allowed to do anything but sand... that was too far. Maybe after a few days they'd get bored of doing it all themselves, and let her try again.
Jordan was so lost in her own thoughts that she almost didn't notice the creature that walked past her, scanning the docked ships with interest. They were just another hippogriff, no different than so many others swarming over the docks. There might be slightly fewer of them here than elsewhere in the city, but the difference was minimal. Most of the ships docked still had hippogriff crews, unloaded by hippogriff workers.
The bird who walked past her looked no different than so many others, dressed in a heavy traveling jacket and saddlebags. But of all the people she might find wandering another universe, how many of them had a gigantic American flag on their jacket? In the real world, Jordan might treat someone like that the same way as a poison arrow frog. But here, in another world...
"Excuse me!" She galloped a few steps, opening her wings and flapping them as she moved. It didn't really help, they weren't meant to be used that way. "Miss! I couldn't let you pass without complimenting your jacket! It's so... patriotic!"
And handmade, by the look of it. The stars didn't look quite aligned. Though cut to the same pattern, their tops were slightly askew, and the grid not regular. Like an ancient flag she might find in a museum.
The bird stopped dead, turning to face Jordan. She flicked rapidly from suspicion to relief. Unfortunately, her first words were in Spanish.
The first thing Jordan had ever heard that she couldn't understand, and it was in an Earth language. "Sorry, come again? Mi espanol es muy mal."
The bird suppressed a laugh, then spoke again in only slightly accented English. "I'm looking for a ship with travelers from another world. Guessing that's you?"
Jordan probably wouldn't have admitted it, if it weren’t for the jacket. But it would be hard for this strange bird to broadcast her own nature any louder. She nodded. "That's us."