//------------------------------//
// Chapter 60: Ryan 
// Story: Forbidden Places 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

Ryan could've stayed with his friends while they asked around the city, gathering all the information they could on Kaelynn's disappearance. That was probably the smarter play, considering how little they knew. Maybe each of them was a target, and the deceptive note was a multilayered lie, meant to lull them into underestimating their enemy. Maybe they would get picked off one by one.

All that might be true, but he just couldn't bring himself to care. His own selfish eagerness to see Earth again might just have cost the most important person in his life. They'd been together for a short few weeks, the first person he'd cared about in years. 

Now he had an entire world to search, without any clues beyond the note. Even worse, this wasn't Earth, where they had friends and fans in cities all over the world who could offer their help. In Equestria, they had almost no allies to speak of.

Maybe the queen of hippogriffs would want to help. They seemed to care about seaponies, since they were supposed to be extinct. But even if they could send a message to Mount Aris, would they even get a reply?

The hippogriffs weren't the first creatures Ryan thought of, anyway. He took on the appearance of one, but that was only out of habit. He needed a shape that would escape notice as he hurried back across Canterlot. 

This time he didn't have to wander or ask around. He wasn't quite ready to fly up a cliff to the upper city, and wasn't even sure if Vesper could. But he could take the gondola, then gallop through the diplomatic district to the lopsided Changeling embassy.

He felt stupider and stupider the closer he got. While running past the griffons outside their nest, gleaming swords in their claws, he couldn't help but reflect on how stupid this would sound. Like walking into the Chinese embassy in an American city and demanding they help find your kidnapped girlfriend.

But he didn't let himself slow down. Ryan no longer cared about his magical reserves. He no longer thought about the two members of their expedition they had left behind in Poland. Janet could handle herself, and Galena was more dangerous to the people around her than they were to her. But Kaelynn was a fish, in a world none of them fully understood.

The guards parted for him without so much as a word of challenge. He knew why, now—changelings had a scent, one that stuck to everything they touched. Unless he tried to scrub it off, they would always be able to identify him if he changed back even for a few moments.

In this case, identifying him was exactly what he wanted. He made it inside, to the "secretary" bug behind her desk. Much of the papers around and beside it seemed to be covered in nothing at all, or random scribbles. As though the bugs here had seen other embassies gathering paperwork and just assumed they ought to do it themselves.

"Welcome home, bug," she said. "Please, let us see you."

There weren't just guards inside. Ryan saw eyes peeking up from the many tunnels, attention fixed on him. His last visit gave him enough to guess about why, too. Even if they didn't need to feed on his emotions, they could still sense him. He must be burning like a tire-fire right now.

Ryan changed back in a flash of green light, burning off the disguise with total disregard for efficiency. But changing back never took much power—it was copying that drained him. "I have something urgent for Pharynx," he said. "I don't know if he can help, but I have to ask. Please."

The secretary buzzed, radiating contentment and curiosity. "You are the oldbug... Ryan. I was disappointed when I heard you were already gone. Welcome back."

They're telling stories about me? He didn't have the bandwidth to feel annoyed. "Pleasure to meet you," he said. "Can I have an appointment? If not him, than anyone in charge. I don't know where to turn."

A few watching bugs scattered at his words, buzzing nervously to themselves. Apparently his intensity was too much for them. But just as some fled, others were visibly drawn to the room. More guards, with their assortment of bizarre weapons. Real swords mixed freely with museum replicas, as well as copies of hardened slime that would obviously not survive any real use.

They didn't surround him, but clustered near the entrance, as though expecting an attack any moment. Of course, none came.

"I'm sure he will see you," the bug said. "What is the source of your passion, Ryan? Why are you so upset?"

Should he make something up? But a lie wouldn't serve him here, not surrounded by creatures that could read his emotions. Maybe feeling so strongly about this would earn him more attention. He leaned in, whispering only for her. Of course there was nothing to stop her from repeating it to half this room as soon as he was gone. 

"The pony I love was kidnapped. I need to find her."

The secretary nodded without a word. She buzzed away down a tunnel behind the desk, visible crawling through the semi-transparent hardened slime for a few meters before she was completely gone.

More and more bugs poured out of side-passages and tunnels, looking around for something. He could sense the curiosity from many of them. They glanced at Ryan, then out at the guards. "Are we under attack?" one asked.

"Maybe," said a guard. "They attacked him. Could be coming for all of us." As they spoke, they pointed their spear briefly at Ryan. Yet they hadn't tried to interrogate him, or even get closer to overhear his conversation with the secretary.

Too bad humans aren't more like this. One person gets hurt, and we all rush to fix the problem. 

They didn't keep him waiting long—another minute, and the secretary returned. "Come, hurry," she said. "Pharynx is here. He will see you right away."

Ryan followed her behind the desk, then crawled. The damp and darkness frightened him even less than they had last time. The world might be ripped out from under him, but here was somewhere safe. Here were bugs that would give him somewhere to hide. Maybe even help him.

The office hadn't changed since last time. Pharynx hadn't either. He welcomed Ryan with salute of his wings, rising as he entered. "I hear you have bad news."

Ryan nodded sharply. "I don't know if there's anything you can do to help."

"I don't know either," Pharynx said flatly. "Tell me, cousin. If there is anything the swarm can offer you, we will provide it."

He explained. Ryan spoke slowly and carefully. He concealed only one thing—where they had gone, saying only that all the members of the crew were away in the city for the night, leaving Kaelynn to protect the ship.

Pharynx could probably sense his reluctance to reveal that particular detail. If he'd pressed, Ryan would've told him everything without resistance. Nothing mattered more than getting Kaelynn back—not fame for the trip, not controlling how the Worldgates were revealed to the authorities of either side.

But these were changelings, creatures of secrets. Pharynx didn't interrogate him.

It took less than ten minutes to explain everything. When they were done, Ryan could feel Pharynx’s sympathy and frustration radiating from him. As with many of these bugs, his emotions were not constant—he was letting Ryan sense it deliberately.

"Know first, that we will not let you starve. No matter what happens, you can come here. We will care for you."

Ryan's wings buzzed in annoyance. He resisted the urge to express his frustration in words. "I am... grateful," he said. It wasn't true now, but it might be later. Once the shock wore off, and long-term feelings like "hunger" could get through.

"I don't wanna tell you bad news. But a lie would be worse. Someone has to make sure you know."

Ryan nodded grimly. "Whatever it is, I'm ready."

"The ponies will probably not be able to help you. Canterlot has so little danger that its authorities do not know what to do when real crime arrives. Equestria is too safe, its ponies are too soft. They won't find your mate."

Pharynx spoke with total conviction, and his words struck Ryan like a physical blow. But he didn't look away. There was no point hiding his tears when the changelings could sense his pain anyway. "What do I do?"

"Would you accept help from us?" Pharynx asked. "We have... experts. I have bugs skilled in infiltration, who survived their assignments under the fallen queen. Those same skills may help find your friend."

Ryan nodded, wiping away the moisture on his face with one leg. "We're not even from here. I'm not a proper changeling. My girlfriend isn't a changeling at all."

"I taught you last time, we do not care." He rose, walking a little closer to Ryan. "I can tell you now, my bugs will compete for the chance to help you in this. There are many in our swarm who were bred for purposes that a life of peace does not provide. To use their training for good is a dream. Stars know I'd do it myself, if I could."

"Oh." Ryan sniffed, then looked up. "Really?"

"I will see who of the swarm is in this hive. But you should know... this is not a promise to save your friend. I do not know what happened, and I don't know if we will be able to find her. But I promise we will try."

"That's enough," he said. "My friends and I—we're not investigators. We're explorers. We need all the help we can get."

He waited in Pharynx’s office then, feeling increasingly anxious. Shame they hadn't been able to bring back devices that would work better in Equestria, like radios. It would be nice to ask what his friends thought about outside help.

But Kaelynn was as much his friend as theirs, and now she was more than that. If anyone was going to make a decision, it would be him.

Under other circumstances, he might've taken the time to inspect the various objects stored in the office. Some looked like weapons, others bizarre cultural or maybe religious artifacts. But he just couldn't bring himself to care about anything else right now.

A few minutes later, and two bugs clambered back inside. Pharynx of course, and another a little shorter than he was. Female, with different shades of crystalline green in her coat and wings. She wore a long jacket that covered much of her body, and probably concealed who knew what kind of strange objects.

"Ryan," Pharynx said, gesturing to his companion. "This is Aerial, one of my most trusted spies. I can't think of anyone better to track down your friend."

The bug nodded once. "I am sorry for the pain you suffer, Ryan. If your friend can be found, I will do it. If her life has been taken, I will help you take another in retribution. This I swear."

Like Pharynx, Ryan could feel nothing coming from this bug, not the slightest shred of deception or hesitation. Of course, if she could hide her emotions from him, then she might be feeling anything. But if she wasn't going to help, why even bother getting involved?

"Thank you. I don't know how much Pharynx told you, but our situation is dire. We need all the help we can get."

"Very little," Aerial replied. "I did not want my perspective tainted by the interpretation of an intermediary, even one skilled and perceptive. Tell me everything, and I will tell you what I think."

He did. As with Pharynx, Aerial didn't interrupt him, remaining quiet and patient until he had rehashed the basic details of the story. But that was when she started asking questions. 

She wanted to know all kinds of things—the profiles of his other crewmates, in case they might be suspects. The kinds of cargo they might be carrying, the reasons that someone might want to kidnap Kaelynn. All sensible questions, though of course he could only give unhelpful answers to most of it.

Pharynx remained in attendance while they spoke, though the bug was entirely occupied at his desk, and never interfered. But Ryan had no reason to fear keeping secrets from him. The bug already knew where he had come from, so there was no reason not to tell this investigator. If the bugs wanted to screw them over, there was very little Ryan could do.

"We don't have enemies here, except for the pirates I told you about earlier. We don't have allies either. It's... look, my whole ship isn't from Equus at all. We're from another realm, and we traveled here by Worldgate. That's one of the reasons we instantly knew the note was a fake, since the real Kaelynn could only go home using another Worldgate. If she went off on her own, she would never see her home again. But whoever wrote her goodbye note didn't know that."

Aerial glanced once at Pharynx, thoughtful. Unlike the leader, she never opened her feelings up for Ryan to sense, even for an instant. Ryan couldn't be sure she didn't think the entire conversation was insane.

"He speaks the truth," Pharynx said. "These worlds were known to the swarm, but those we sent to harvest never returned. The fallen queen believed they were wastelands where survival was not possible, and no prey existed."

"Interesting," Aerial muttered. "It may be the opposite was true. Perhaps her investigators discovered a field so ripe with love they never bothered to return. They might still be living there to this day, oblivious that they do not have to live as parasites."

Ryan shrugged. "After we find our missing pony, my friends and I can share what we know, if you'd like to investigate. But... look, just trust me. I know where the Worldgate is, and Kaelynn wasn't using it, because I was there at the time. She's still here. Do you have any idea what might've happened to her?"

Aerial nodded. "A perfect note with imperfect knowledge—that tells me she was kidnapped by a unicorn. A changeling would never have written something with obvious flaws, we would study the role until we could play it properly. Only a pony would grow so confident in their magical superiority that they would attempt such an audacious deception."

"That makes sense. But half this city is unicorns, that doesn't really narrow it down."

Aerial shrugged one shoulder absently. "Take me to the last place you saw her. I will find whatever emotional traces are left behind, and see what else I can tell you. Without that, I can only tell you what you probably already knew.

"No pirate would have left without taking the ship, nor do they have networks of spies. They may be watching from beyond the navy's patrols, but they cannot be here. This means no existing enemy of yours is responsible. It was not a robbery, or else it would be far better to steal your artifacts and gold, leaving the pony behind. Whoever it was cared about her specifically. She is a member of a race believed extinct, since the Storm King's slaughter in the south and near conquest of Equestria. This does provide us a list of suspects, though I'm afraid it is not enough for action."

"Anything is more than we have," he said. "Please, keep going. You're making sense."

"Canterlot has a caste of old unicorns—ancient blood, descended from the Solar Council that once moved the sun and moon in time immemorial. These families have limitless wealth, and strange desires bred of indolence and apathy. Many are patrons of the arts, or artists themselves. Some others are collectors. What could form the centerpiece of a fine collection better than a specimen of an extinct species? Knowing the temperament of ponies, your friend is likely alive, preserved in an aquarium somewhere for the guests of this wealthy pony to ogle. If they were a griffon, she would likely be stuffed, or preserved in oil. So rescuing her may not be impossible."

Ryan twitched at the mention of such a horrible fate for Kaelynn. He could only hope this bug was right in her instincts. "It can't be legal for them to keep people in cages, can it? As soon as Equestria hears about it, they'll let Kaelynn out."

"They won't hear about it," Aerial said. "These families are tightly connected, with oaths and blackmail and threats going back centuries. Waiting for someone who observes your friend to reveal the truth is a doomed endeavor. We will have to find the household, infiltrate it, and set her free ourselves."

Aerial closed the distance between them, grinning slyly. Crazy how an oversized beetle with a bright green shell and glittery wings could somehow look both menacing and sexy at the same time. He'd probably just seen one too many Bond films.

"Even if we do find her, getting in could get us killed. Equestria is not as safe a place as its ponies like to tell themselves. It isn't that there is no evil here—only that those who do evil know they must keep it well hidden. If threatened by some creature who might expose them, they will fight like a starving grub for the last scrap of affection."

"The old houses deeply hate changelings for the invasion," Pharynx said from his desk, conversationally. "If they thought they could get away with killing you, they would probably do it for no reason at all. Is your friend worth that, Ryan?"

"Yes," he answered, defiant. "I don't care if I have to go through hell to get her back—you can book my ticket."