Ryan wasn't the first through the Worldgate, he never was. The back of the group was always the safest place to stand—let the bigger, stronger members be up front, and the brunt of whatever danger waited for them.
Besides, being in back gave him time to move slowly, and appreciate the differences as he passed through. And there were many.
There was no rush of gravity and current pulling him through to the other side. There was no flash, no instantaneous moment of realization that he'd returned to his normal body. They would all show up naked, and it would be far more embarrassing than when he'd passed through with Kaelynn last time.
There was only a sudden tilt in the air, nearly knocking him over. But Ryan's instincts were far stronger than the others—his wings opened, buzzing rapidly as he re-oriented. A few seconds later, his hooves touched down in the mud, and he had landed.
His hooves. And that was only the second-strangest thing—Ryan's senses hadn't returned to normal. He still saw the world in gray, with patches of color surrounding the other members of his party. Kaelynn was the brightest, fueled by their intimate connection. He could feel everything she did—nervousness over the outcome, optimism for finally finding a way out. Then the wave of confusion as she realized exactly what Ryan already had.
"I'm still a horse," Blake declared, so loud that Ryan turned in his direction. Blake's emotions were the dullest to Ryan, more an aftertaste than actual emotions. Maybe it was something about him being a dragon, or maybe he was just the slowest member of the group to adapt and accept to Ryan's presence there. "Why the fuck am I still a horse?"
The Worldgate had taken them to... where, a grassy field?
Galena would be the first to find out, because she took off in a low hover, lifting vertically into the air and surveying the land to either side. "The rock is gone on this side, and it's too green. Light from over there."
Ryan followed her gaze, and she wasn't wrong.
Bright orange streetlights were suspended about 300 feet up, rising from the middle of a highway not too far away. They were the only thing lit in the night, though that was changing fast. That's not right. The sun was just going down. It can't be rising.
Yet it was. Orange bled through the sky in the other direction, and might soon overpower the distant freeway.
There was no mistaking it for anything else, several lanes of cement traffic on either side with heavy steel barricades. Off to one side massive cement pillars stretched down from one, exactly the kind he'd grown up with his whole life. And there were actually cars flowing back and forth on the highway. The lights he'd seen through the portal weren't any kind of magic, that was just the distant glow as they approached, then red as they faded.
Janet finally finished swearing in Spanish long enough for Ryan to catch her words. "This isn't how they work! I'm not supposed to be melted like Tracy... I should be human!" She lifted into a bipedal position, opening and closing both claws. But it wasn't natural, and soon she slumped back into the mud.
"This must be what they meant about the Worldgate being different," Vesper said—or would she rather be called Jordan here? She wasn't Jordan right now, so... "This won't work. We should go straight back."
"Get back down, Galena!" Blake shouted. "We can't be flying here!"
"I see... moving metal chariots, many of them off in the distance. No ponies drive them, and they go so fast! We should investigate."
"No!" he shouted, even louder than before. "I'll tell you all about them, when we get back! This is not how this was supposed to work. Janet, you go first. Kaelynn, you next, then Ryan. This one's a bust."
"Wait!" Ryan said. "We could still call for help, couldn't we? This is the US. We have to be somewhere. Maybe we could cross this side and find another Worldgate from our end. We have a copy of the map."
"No," Blake and Janet said, in exactly the same instant.
But it was her who continued. "I've seen ponies on this side before. Felt like all the police in San Jose showed up because of a single pony. There is no way in hell you have the resources to stay hidden over here. If we try, we're at the mercy of... someone. I don't know, but I won't try it." She turned, hurrying back through the portal without another word.
"We could still get supplies," Ryan said. The sky was getting lighter. He could see the distance between here and the freeway clearly now. A few cars were already pulled off to the side, right by the fence. Were they trying to watch? What would happen if someone put them up on YouTube?
Might help our story later, if we don't get caught before we go back.
"No," Blake said. "Send the backup."
Ryan hurried over to Kaelynn's pack, removing the little waterproof box near the top with his mouth, and fishing around for the phone.
"I'd rather..."
"Everyone, back through the portal," Blake said. "Except Ryan and me. We'll bring up the rear."
Galena moved towards the Worldgate, but didn't go through it yet. Her wings spread, expression frustrated. "Doesn't seem broken to me."
"We shouldn't look like this," Blake explained, frustrated. "Go on. You're not being abandoned. Show her, Kaelynn. Vesper. Go."
They did. Vesper first, flying through almost the instant she was ordered.
Kaelynn lingered in the opening for a few seconds, then vanished without argument, leaving a few faint gasps of disappointment on the air before she was gone.
Ryan, meanwhile, had the phone running. It had less than 10% battery, but there was service. Precious, glorious service. He could argue with Blake, but with the attention already on them, his friend would not likely be very responsive to pressure. Standing near him was like feeling the heat rising off metal in a forge, ready to catch fire and burn when exposed to the air.
Ryan didn't have fingers anymore, so navigating the phone took quite a bit more effort than he might've hoped. But he managed, selecting one of his contacts and opening a voice-text. But he didn't begin dictating.
He cleared his throat, the phone perched on a rock just in front of him. "Blake, I think you should deliver the message. You sound almost the same as a horse—I don't."
He grunted, but made his way over. As he did, Galena finally stepped back through the Worldgate. It was just the two of them now—in the real world, but not the way they'd hoped.
Blake waited for his nod, then began speaking. "Jolie, this is Blake. I'm here with Jordan, Kaelynn, and Ryan. I want you to know we survived the Paris expedition. We didn't die in the catacombs. I can't tell you what happened to us now, you won't believe us."
As he spoke, Ryan became conscious of other emotions—it wasn't just the two of them anymore. He looked up, and realized where they were coming from. People, up on the overpass. A few had gotten out of their cars, and leaned over the fence to get a better view.
It's getting lighter, how long until they can see us clearly?
He gestured with a hoof for Blake to hurry.
"If they haven't already, don't let them declare us dead. Don't let them auction our stuff. Don't let our families think we got stuck. We're not in Paris anymore, but we're still looking for a way back. I need you to gather the biggest kit of expeditionary equipment you can for four people, plus anyone else who can be ready and wants to come. Pack for an extended trip away from electricity, water, and food. Pack for cold, hot, and wet conditions. Most important, bring as much fucking camera memory as you can."
Far away, someone shouted. Ryan felt the instant their emotions changed from light curiosity to utter shock.
"We're out of time!" Ryan hissed. "We need to get back, Blake. Unless we want people stumbling through this Worldgate the wrong way."
Blake covered the mic with one hoof, glaring. But at least this time he seemed to hear.
"Keep the gear packed. Hopefully you hear from me in another few days. You'll need to fly, don't know where. Eastern Europe is next on our list, so make sure the passports are good. We have to go." He gestured, and Blake tapped the screen again with his tongue.
Thank goodness these things were waterproof, or else he wasn't sure how he would've made the thing work for him.
It clicked, then began to spin. A second later, a bright green checkmark and a single line of text appeared. "Delivered."
"They're staring at us!" Ryan shouted. "We have to leave now!"
Blake nodded. "Nothing we can do about it now, come on!"
Ryan took the phone in his mouth, then darted back the way they'd come. He could taste a growing crowd of emotions behind him—doubt, curiosity, confusion, awe.
We could shout for their help. Janet might be wrong.
But he didn't tempt fate. Ryan turned straight for the Worldgate, and leapt through.
His world warped and twisted, just like last time. He stumbled, nearly tripping over himself—but like before, his wings caught him, and he buzzed into a comfortable standing position. His hooves settled on the ground, in exactly the position he'd left.
They'd made it back safely.
"Well that's another fuckin' failure," Blake swore, rising from the mud with half his body now smeared. "How does this keep happening? How can they all be broken?"
The air all around them became suddenly hot. A few branches began to smolder, white smoke rising before the first red signs of ignition appeared on the edges.
Ryan stumbled back from him, recoiling at the overwhelming surge of a single, powerful emotion. His anger boiled and frothed, near to fury in seconds. Returning to Equestria had wreathed them in shadow as full nightfall set in, yet Blake's body seemed darker than all of it, with burning eyes and flickering flames emerging from his horn.
Galena swore loudly, taking off in a wide, terrified arc, so fast that she scattered branches and feathers behind her. Ryan wanted to follow after her, but didn't have the talent. Vesper had learned to fly, but not him. Even though his wings could probably do it easily...
"Blake, take a deep breath!" he shouted. "We're on your side here! Why don't you just... calm down..."
Those burning eyes now turned on him. "Calm down!" he repeated. The ground blackened beneath him, and the wave of heat expanded away in all directions. A few little branches actually caught fire now. Out here in the dry wasteland, the flames burst to life greedily, devouring everything they touched.
"Have you been paying attention, Ryan? It's all trying to kill us! Everywhere we go, something's in the way. Can't stop here, pirates! Can't go out here, it's too far away! Can't go out here, you'll suffocate! Can't go out through Paris, monsters! No matter where we go, we're stuck. Again and again and again!"
Janet took off running, and didn't look back. Kaelynn wasn't far behind her, though she hesitated a few meters away. "Blake, we agree with you! But this isn't helping! We can face this together!"
"Face this!" he yelled back. Flames leapt from his mouth as he did so, consuming the underbrush in front of him. Ryan continued to retreat, ignoring the little tears and cuts of the thorny plants. They couldn't pierce his shell easily, though some could.
They wouldn't sting nearly as bad as the flames Blake produced. How long did it take that griffon captain to die? Five seconds?
A great cloud of black smoke rose from around them now, illuminating Blake's shadowy form like a demonic specter in the center.
Ryan couldn't delay another second—he changed. Not into the dark shape before him, but the normal Blake. The reasonable leader, who held them together under pressure.
As he expected, the heat of the flames growing closer no longer scorched at Ryan's body. The heat and smoke was still there—the ground under his hooves was burning now, grass and all. But it wouldn't burn him. Just so long as he could keep from breathing in the smoke...
"Blake! We're on your side!" he yelled, as loudly as he could. "Snap yourself out of it! You're burning everything!"
Blake turned on him again. This time he wasn't even trying to restrain the fury of those flames. They leapt towards him with a terrible ferocity, turning the bushes behind him to flaky gray ash.
Ryan shuddered at the heat, turning sideways so the flames broke against his scales. He couldn't sense Blake's feelings anymore, yet he didn't need to. The heat of that anger was infectious.
Blake was going to get them all killed! The whole wilderness would burn at this rate. Did he not even care about the buffalo he would hurt? "Run, Kaelynn!" Ryan urged. "Get back to the ship!"
That was all the encouragement she needed, and she took off running. Hopefully she didn't evaporate before she reached the Bright Hawk.
That was when Vesper dropped into view, hovering inches above the blackened ground. She faced directly into the maelstrom.