Vesper was in no hurry to leave the old mine—in terms of places to fly, it was about perfect. Not blinding, like the outside could be during full sun. Most of the cavern was swallowed in total darkness, but occasionally shafts of light pierced through the crystal walls from distant openings.
There were magical lanterns too, but that was exactly where she shouldn't go. If a tour finds us down here, they might up their security.
Maybe she should talk to Pale Light about the Worldgate they'd found—some small town in Poland was close enough to establish contact between worlds. It would soon be time for the talk show tour, the book deals, the fame and fortune. Now if only she could bring herself to care about any of that.
The others trudged their slow way up the same path as before, since they couldn't fly. Even Ryan, curiously. Strange that he wouldn't want to get to know his powers better. He had become so good at changing forms, but couldn't fly with any of them. Maybe she should teach him.
Aside from a single brief scare with a tour-group passing them in the darkness, they encountered no trouble on the return trip. The Crystal Caverns were just too well-made to suffer the usual plight of abandoned places. There was no water, no apparent seismic activity.
Will they build an airport down here, for people to go back and forth between our worlds? Maybe a hotel?
What she really wanted to do—get lost in the caves, looking for that unique cavern reserved only for bats—she didn't dare do. She might feel at home underground, might have senses specifically evolved to thrive down here. But she didn't have a map to those caves. Exploring at random was a swift path to get herself killed. She would not let her transformation make her careless.
They didn't slip into a tour group, the ponies were just too observant for that. But they could wait for the largest gap between groups, then follow into the tour’s exit passage as though they’d been part of it all along. Not exactly the smoothest possible infiltration—but ponies weren’t expecting one, either.
Before the tour-ponies had any idea who they were or where they’d come from, they were already past them.
The first light of the Equestrian sun wasn't exactly a welcome sight for Vesper, not after the comfort of the caves below. Maybe she should've grabbed herself a cheap pair of sunglasses while she was on Earth. She should start keeping a list of things to bring back.
They took a circuitous path around the city at first—not because any of them wanted to avoid bringing the group back together, obviously. But if any of the authorities might be following, it would be a mistake to lead them to the Bright Hawk.
Ryan lingered behind them, changing into a few different ponies when no one was looking, watching their back. Only when they were certain that they didn't have a tail did they finally head for the dock.
The Bright Hawk was exactly where they'd left it, bobbing gently up and down along with the winds. It had its fair-share of onlookers, noting its strange modifications and missing top-deck. They clambered aboard to a deck that was deserted.
"Glad she didn't stay up and wait for us," Ryan said. "You could see it, Kaelynn needed more time in the water. Throw some lunch together, I'll see how she's doing."
Ryan slipped down belowdecks, leaving Vesper and Blake alone. Well, as alone as they could be with dozens of ponies passing all the time on the docks below. "I hope it isn't too hard to get Kaelynn to go home with us," Blake said. He turned vaguely towards the stairs, and the mess, but didn't seem to be in any rush. "I can't leave her here. But dragging a fish through the caves against her will probably isn't possible either."
Vesper could understand that—she wasn't terribly hungry either. "It takes a year for this to be permanent, right? And we have ten more days to wait until the film crew gets here. Is ten days really going to make a difference if she does want to stay? What if I do?"
She watched the kirin with laser-focused intensity. If they'd still been underground, she could've monitored the smell as well, for anything he might give away. Unfortunately, he only looked tired, defeated.
"I'm not worried about the next ten days. I'm worried about what happens when we make this thing public. That's going to turn into the kind of pressure that most people just can't handle. Our videos get millions of views, but they're produced and edited to make us look exactly how we want. Once we put this out there, it's up to the world how they respond. Maybe they carpet-bomb the place."
Vesper followed him through the doorway belowdecks. She was probably ready for a little canned food, so long as it was made the way she wanted. Maybe she could find somewhere to nap while Blake tried to convince Kaelynn to leave.
Hoofsteps pounded on the hallway, and Ryan reappeared. He'd changed back into himself, and had a scroll of something clutched in his mouth. He's coming from the wrong direction. That's the workshop.
Ryan didn't say a word, just hurried straight to the mess table, where he dropped it. He pointed with one hoof, eyes unreadable. Well, freaky insect eyes were terrible at showing emotion in the best of times, so that wasn't anything new.
"What is it?" Blake asked from just beside her. "Where's Kaelynn?"
In answer, Ryan just pointed again, a little more insistently. Blake slowed, probably going to argue with him that he was being overdramatic and stupid. Vesper's curiosity was too intense to wait for all that, so she trotted over, staring down at the letter.
It was written in a perfect imitation of Kaelynn's handwriting, sort of. It was the writing she'd used on many blueprints and sketches, blocky and exaggerated. That was a way to make sure that measurements were correct in construction, and probably a little of her struggling to write with her mouth.
But just as Vesper needed no magic to read Ryan's distress, she needed no degree in criminology to know she was looking at a forgery.
"My friends,
I am sorry, but something important has come up, and I must leave you. It has been a pleasure to serve on the Bright Hawk. I received a message by dragonfire that urgent matters have arisen with my tribe. I'm sorry, but I cannot wait.
I have taken all that I need, you may dispose of the rest as you see fit. Perhaps one day we will meet again.
-Kaelynn"
Vesper tried, very, very hard to keep her emotions in check. Poor Ryan was practically shaking on his hooves, looking like he might collapse into a whimpering heap. This was perhaps the grimmest news they could have received, short of the ship having burned with Kaelynn still aboard.
She fought valiantly, and lost. A giggle escaped her lips, hastily silenced with the side of one leg. "That's... the stupidest..." She held it out to Blake. "Read this."
He did, eyes skimming over it. Then he leaned in, intent.
"How could you?" Ryan asked. "You know what this means, Vesper? Do you have any idea?" He sounded like she'd just strangled one of his pets.
She cleared her throat, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. "I'm... I'm sorry, Ryan. This is horrible. I just... I'm trying to put together what kind of sack of shit thought that letter was going to fool us."
Ryan glared, but didn't argue the point.
A few seconds later, and Blake looked up, settling the note back on the table between them. "Did you find anything else?"
"Some signs that someone went through her quarters. The book of seapony songs is gone. They left everything else—money, phone, everything."
"They cared so much about making this seem like it was legit," Vesper said, nudging the note with her muzzle. "Why write something like this? Did they really think we'd buy it?"
"I don't see any signs of codes or ciphers hidden in it," Ryan said, tone defeated. "They didn't let her write her own ransom note."
Blake began to pace back and forth beside the table. "We need to go over the whole ship. There could be sabotage, other things missing we don't know to look for. First thing we have to do is make certain of what happened."
"The first thing should be getting Kaelynn back!" Ryan snapped. He lifted into the air in a buzzing hover, glaring down at Blake. "Now's not the time to run the inventory of the fucking soup! This is my fault... I let her talk me into this. I should've stayed with her. They couldn't fight two of us."
"They could fight all of us," Vesper said. She slid between the two of them, putting her back to Blake. Whatever else he might do back there, the kirin probably wouldn't burn her to death. Probably. "Ryan, take a deep breath. Obviously we're gonna help her. Compared to that, nothing else matters. But what if there's a bomb under our hooves? We can't save Kaelynn if we blow up. Or I dunno—an ambush?"
"We should see if the dockworkers saw anyone walking onto the ship," Ryan said, like he hadn't heard. "They probably had to take Kaelynn in a cart or something, or wrapped up. There's no way to hide how different she looks. Maybe ponies saw her walking around the city. I can ask."
"Look over the ship first," Blake declared. "I don't think this is an ambush, or there would be no point leaving a note. But we can't be sure. I have no idea what would possess a kidnapper to write a note like that. Whoever it was didn't know anything about Kaelynn."
Ryan landed with a grunt. "Whatever, fine. We'll look. We can figure out what we're going to do to rescue her while we're working."
It took less than an hour to comb over the Bright Hawk. Not that there might not be secret damage to something, or maybe poison hidden away somewhere they wouldn't expect. But they found nothing overt, nothing else missing, and no sign of damage.
They finished their search in Kaelynn's own quarters. The place was utterly undamaged, just like everything else. "We can make a few conclusions, I think..." Vesper said, running her hoof along the wall-separator. "Whoever did this wanted us to believe the story and leave. They didn't take our valuables, or do damage to the Bright Hawk that would keep us here for longer. They didn't put any specifics in the note that would give them away."
Blake nodded. "But they slipped up. They talk about dragonfire, which sure as hell didn't send messages in Game of Thrones. And makes it out like Kaelynn can just go home to her tribe. Did they think she was indigenous or something?"
"No," Vesper replied. "That's the pony way of talking about subspecies. Pegasus, earth pony—or fish. Master forger, but they couldn't copy things they didn't know." She turned towards Ryan. "Does changing into someone give you their handwriting?"
"No." He leaned up against the barrier, dragging one hoof weakly through the water. Whether he was searching for clues, or just wistfully flopping around, Vesper couldn't tell. "Nothing about your mindset. No thoughts, no memories, and no handwriting. But the workshop is full of examples to copy. If they found her working, they'd know it was hers."
"There was no sign of a struggle." Blake turned back towards the hall. Every door was open now, and he had an honest-to-God hippogriff longsword belted to his waist. It made him look even more brave and heroic than he usually did. Unfortunately, it hadn't helped much during the search. "We don't know it happened here. Interviewing on the dock was a solid idea, Ryan. Do we have any others?"
"Can't call her," Vesper said wistfully. "I might be able to find her while she's dreaming. Pale has talked about going between the dreams of sleepers. But I have no practice."
"I'm thinking the authorities," Blake finally said. "Don't look at me like that, Ryan. Equestria's a country! They have police. Clearly they have kidnappings, or we wouldn't be having this conversation. Maybe they have investigators."
Ryan hopped away from the wall, vibrating for a second to shake off the moisture. "This is how we do this. Jordan, ask around, see if you can find any witnesses. Blake, you go to the police." He turned away, glancing out a harborside window.
"What about you?" Vesper asked, tentative. She wanted to give him a hug—clearly the bug could use it. But his stance was so intent, like he might bite anyone who got too close.
"Two days ago, I met some people who I think can help more than the police. I'll talk to the changelings."