Roxanne did not like what she saw. None of them did. Even Sapphire Glow was intimidated by the scene in front of them, and wiggled where she stood as the three took in the falling white fluffy flakes. Lake would've had a breakdown if he was with them right then.
“Uh, somepony knows how to get back to the portal, right?” Sapphire asked, sounding unsure. “Because this doesn't look good. As cool as human hands are, I don't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere in someplace where the sun never rises.”
“Did you write down our latitudinal and longitudinal location like I told you to, Tory?” Roxanne asked. “We can use that to get back. It won't be an issue.” As soon as she said it though, the way Tory’s feelings hit her, she knew it would be an issue.
“No?” was his concerned reply. It was enough to make Roxanne feel concerned for probably the first time during this whole adventure. This wasn't fear like what came from that scary chase when she first shapeshifted. She knew what to do then. She had no idea what to do now.
“You never told me to,” Tory continued, glancing between her, the ground, and the falling snow.
“I one hundred percent absolutely told you to write it down,” she asserted, doing the best to hide the frustration and anxiety that wanted to creep into her voice. “I made sure to tell you, just in case something like this happened.”
“If you did, I would have written it down,” he said. He sounded confident, but the emotions wafting off of him told Roxanne that he was unsure. He should’ve been. She told him to write it down.
“Check the notes app,” she told him. “Maybe Lake wrote it down. He’s way too careful to not have kept information about where we were.”
To both Roxanne and Tory’s surprise, he didn’t write it down. She imagined if he went with them, he would’ve made sure to note it. He wasn’t the kind to leave things like getting back to Equus up to chance. But he wasn’t here, so why would he? But then that was why Roxanne told Tory to write it down.
“Well I don’t think standing there talking about it is gonna help any,” Sapphire Glow said from farther away, bringing Roxanne and Tory’s attention back to their surroundings. “Pack up that stuff and let’s go! While the trail is still here, preferably!” Then the girl turned back around and continued moving away.
Thankfully, she didn’t move very far away from them, stopping after a few hundred yards of walking to wait for she and Tory to disassemble the gear. The snow didn’t look like it was getting any heavier, but Roxanne knew it wouldn’t matter before too long. Why the heck did they think it was a good idea to rely on a snow trail to get back? Maybe they really were a bunch of idiots like Lake thought before. He would’ve had none of that plan if he was here. He would’ve insisted on a better option to get back than just a snow trail.
“Maybe there’s a way to see previous locations on Google Maps,” Roxanne offered as she loaded up their supplies on Tory’s back. “I don’t know, but there’s no reason not to check.”
Tory let out a long, deep sigh as he stepped forward. Roxanne followed beside him. “Sorry that I didn’t write it down,” he apologized. “I know you probably said to, and I don’t know why I wouldn’t have… it’s just one roadblock in our way we have to pass to get to the next roadblock. And our own dang fault. Again. Mine this time.”
“It’s fine,” she told him. “Not your fault. We all mess up sometimes. And I’m sure it’s stressful being in your position.”
That earned her a quizzical look. “What position is that?” he asked.
“The leader.”
She watched Tory’s look change from quizzical to skeptical, and felt the confusion drifting off of him. He shook his head at her. “I’m not the leader of us,” he said. “I honestly thought you were the one leading us.”
He didn’t explain further, only silently turned his head and continued his way forward. He didn’t need to anyway; Roxanne could easily decipher what he meant. She definitely disagreed with his assessment. She wasn’t leading anything. She certainly wasn’t directing anything. Was she? Sure, she offered suggestions about what to do, but that was just it. Suggestions. Maybe Lake was doing the most directing of their actions? But Roxanne wouldn’t call him the leader either, even if he was definitely less reckless than she and Tory were turning out to be.
She didn’t say anything about it, walking in silence as they caught up with Sapphire Glow. The snow showers fell around them, brightening the dark day a little bit more, the clouds still reflecting a purplish orange glow as the moon hung steadily in the sky. More animals passed them by, thankfully nothing like polar bears or walruses though. Roxanne wasn’t entirely sure how dangerous the caribou were, but they didn’t bother them, walking gently along without so much as a second look. It was scenic and pretty out here. Beautiful even.
The trail they were on didn’t disappear immediately, but it did eventually fade away. Slowly but surely, over the course of a couple of hours, the deep footprints they left to mark the way back were filled in until nothing remained. They continued forward for another half an hour after the last footprint sighting before Roxanne suggested they stop and make a new plan.
“Ah, shit, this is such a shit situation,” Tory complained. It seemed like something he was doing a lot over the last two or three days. When the heck had his attitude gotten so sour?
Sapphire didn’t seem to mind though—when did the mare mind anything besides waking up early—and moved to stand next to him as they assembled their supplies once again.
“We’ll be fine,” she said, back to being just as nonchalant as she always was. “I have a natural sense of direction. If we keep going, we’ll find our way back. I’m sure of it!”
She absolutely was sure, in spite of the circumstances. How was this mare always so positive and upbeat about everything? Was it the ‘power of friendship’ that she talked about before? It made Tory smile again anyway.
“And if not, I’m sure somepony will come looking for us,” she continued. “You said before that Lake was cautious? Well I bet he’ll be here if we need his help. But we won’t.”
“Yeah, after he yells at us for going about this stupidly.”
And it was infectious, too. Before Roxanne’s mood could fall, she was smiling again. She wasn’t sure she believed it would be as easy as Sapphire Glow made it out to be, but Sapphire’s belief in it helped a lot.
“It’s only been a couple of hours,” Roxanne started, “but since the trail is gone anyway, we’ll rest for a little while longer, then keep going.” She turned to Sapphire and said, “You can take the lead when we do, if you’re sure you know how to get us back.” The girl smiled widely and proudly at receiving the task. She wasn’t a terribly difficult person to make happy.
“Since I’m already awake,” she said, “I’ll go off and take some more measurements. Right now, I’m not really sure how so much magic could build up on Earth that a portal to Equus appeared, but it happened. That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
“Do you have any theories?” Tory asked. Roxanne had to admit, she was interested, too.
“Beyond the magical buildup theory, not really,” Sapphire admitted. “Maybe Lake is just a magically gifted pegasus? He hasn’t really shown an exceptional amount of friendship per se, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t exemplify friendship, or that my assumptions are correct.”
“I wouldn’t call him extroverted,” Tory said, “but he does have other friends outside of us.”
Sapphire nodded, then grinned widely again. “But that’s why I’m a scientist!” she declared. “I’ll be able to get you an answer before too long, trust me. This kind of thing is what I live for! I’m on Earth as a human like I always knew I would be! Even if it’s someplace the sun never rises!” She held out her hands and wiggled her fingers excitedly before starting off away from them with her notepad and scientific devices in hand.
“Don’t go too far!” Tory called after her. “It’s still snowing, and we don’t want you getting lost!”
“I won’t,” she assured him without looking behind her. “But it’s nice to know that you care about me,” she said playfully. It didn’t seem to embarrass him like Roxanne expected the words to.
“Do you actually like her?” Roxanne asked as she bent over to lay the sleeping bags on the ground. “And don’t set up the tent yet. We’re just resting, not stopping.” She shapeshifted back into a human and grabbed some of the clothes they brought along with them to dress in.
Was this taking a toll on her? Shapeshifting all the time like this? She didn’t know, but she felt like a little bit of her energy was draining each time she changed into something else. That wasn’t the case for her on Equus. Only here. Was it because of the lack of magic on Earth? How was magic even real to begin with?
But she couldn’t help it. If she waited too long, the urge to change pressed upon her. It made her feel itchy, like there was something on her skin that she needed to wash off by shapeshifting. Male, female, human, horse, something else entirely—it didn’t matter. So long as she kept changing, she felt fine.
Except when she was the changeling form of herself. The need to shapeshift didn’t press on her then. But then, as comfortable as that form felt, it looked strange and felt weird in different ways. Ways she couldn’t exactly describe. She didn’t know what it was, but it felt way more alien than any human or horse or other creature she could change into. It was throwing her off, natural as it seemed to fit her.
She needed to find that changeling she met in Sapphire's neighborhood again. Or any changeling. Someone to talk to about this would be good.
Roxanne stretched and yawned tiredly as she listened to Tory answer her question. “Not really,” he told her. “We’ve only known her for a month. It’s no different than having a college roommate in your dorm for a semester, or meeting someone who works at the same job as you. I’m obviously not being serious when I flirt with her, and neither is she.”
Roxanne was grinning a toothy smile at him by the time he finished. “That’s a pretty long explanation for someone who doesn’t like her,” she teased. It made her laugh when he scrunched up his face and looked away. He wasn’t as easy to embarrass as Lake was, which made it better.
She raised her hands up and shrugged. “Look. You do you,” she said. “Or do Sapphire. I don’t care. It's not like I'm her or her older sister or something.”
“Yeah, right,” Tory rolled his eyes as he laid the sleeping bag on the ground and sat on top of it. “Why are we talking about this anyway? Shouldn't we be trying to find that portal back to Equus? Or at least figure out how to get back to it?”
“You heard your girlfriend,” Roxanne smirked. “She has a natural sense of direction. And she was completely confident saying it.”
Tory didn't say anything, only sat where he was and tried not to smile at the slight joke. “Whatever,” he replied, trying to brush her off. It was kind of cute how he tried to pretend he wasn’t attracted to her.
What an awkward love triangle it seems to be, Roxanne thought silently. Not that Lake ever had a chance with Tory anyway. Even Lake knew that.
They laid on sleeping bags outside while it snowed, the white flakes taking another hour or two to finally stop falling from the sky. Sapphire Glow was back before then, a wide grin on her face as she talked happily about what she found.
“Did you know that there are parts of the land around here that are at almost two particles of magic per cubic centimeter? And it's not a symmetrical pattern of spots! It’s completely asymmetrical, and fades in and out depending on where I stop at!”
“Okay… what does that mean?” Tory asked. It was a good question. For all they knew, nothing.
“Well, a place with four times as much magic around it means that would be a good spot for a portal to form!” she said excitedly. “Maybe that's why it formed out here to begin with! I think we should set up camp around spots like that! We could rest and get some magic in our system before we continue to the portal, just in case it takes a long time to find it again.”
Roxanne sent a questioning look to Tory at that idea, who only shrugged. There were no complaints about it, and so they picked up their stuff again and moved.
“I'm sure it'll be fine,” Tory suddenly said in the middle of the walk, nodding his head as he spoke to no one in particular. Maybe it was just to psyche himself up. “Sapphire knows what she's doing,” he said aloud.
“That's right, I do!”
“And even more, I might have forgotten to write our location, but I remember where on the Maps app we were when we were at the cave. We’ll find it again soon enough. Certainly not before too long.” He felt like he believed what he was saying a little bit, but not a terrible amount.
Roxanne went with it anyway. After all, as terrible the cards dealt to them were, it might only have been a day or so, or less, before they got back to Equus to plan their movements more thoroughly. No harm, no foul.
It was longer than a day that the trio spent in the cold and snow.
They wandered around for an hour or so until Sapphire Glow finally found the spot she wanted to study. This time, they did set up the tent as Tory turned off Lake's phone to preserve the dwindling battery. Roxanne had to admit it: the additional magic Sapphire said she was measuring did make her feel better. She was still drained, and feeling moreso hour after hour, but it lessened. Apparently four times the amount of magic made a difference.
It did bring up concerns about the future though. What was she gonna do when she was back in Pennsylvania? She couldn't keep shapeshifting all the time, for both the obvious reason and others. This might get tricky in the long term.
But then again, once they were able to get the word out that other worlds existed, who the heck would care? That would leave a lack of “magic” on Earth as the only problem. Still a very tricky situation it would be though.
“If worldgates can form on Earth,” Sapphire explained when Roxanne asked, “then that means there are pockets on Earth with higher magic concentrations than others. And Pennsylvania must be one of them since you said you live there and showed up from there, even if it might be finicky. I wouldn't worry about it.”
Roxanne took her advice and didn't worry about it. There were more important things to worry about anyway. Like finding the spot the portal was in.
It didn't take a scientist like Sapphire claimed to be to understand that the darkness didn't help them. They should've brought a flashlight with them; that was something that even Lake hadn't thought of, so they couldn't be blamed for forgetting an important tool like that. But the moon and the stars and a camp stove didn't do much for helping their sight line. As well, Sapphire Glow couldn't teach Roxanne how to make her horn glow like a light since there was no magic here and she was a human right now anyway. The moonlight was basically all they had. At least it was almost full, still waxing.
“I'm really sorry I didn't write down our location,” Tory apologized again once it felt like the hour was getting late again and Sapphire suggested they rest. “I know you probably told me to do it.” He sighed, undressing for the night and continuing, “It's a pain Lake is so cautious sometimes. He turned off location saving on his phone, so the history isn't there for us to trace back to. We basically have to guess.”
“Well this part looks familiar at least,” Roxanne offered. “That's a start. I'm sure the cave is somewhere around here.”
And there were only three of them out here right now. If she sensed a fourth person, she would definitely notice it. Lake would come looking for them eventually, and that might be their way out. She knew Tory was wrong about him. His nervous caution was usually a strength, even if it stressed her out. She and Tory weren't that much better at making decisions than Sapphire was.
Lake never came looking for them though.
Roxanne expected to sense him sometime the next morning, but she didn't. Nor did she hear his voice calling from anywhere in these mountains, something that should've been easy given they were probably a couple thousand feet lower than the surrounding area. Where the heck was he? This wasn't like him. Did something happen in Equestria? Roxanne hoped not, but she couldn't come up with a better explanation for his absence.
He didn't appear at all that day, nor did he the next day or the day after.
Sapphire, for lack of better phrasing, did not have a natural sense of direction. She may have known a lot of things, but how to get back to the portal from out here wasn’t one of them. The idea of trying to follow the direction of a stronger magical signal was no worse than any other, but it effectively led the three in circles. They were no closer to finding their cave now than they were before two days of wandering randomly. They might actually have been worse off.
By that time, patience among the small group was dissipating. Even Sapphire Glow's normally upbeat personality was being worn down. They were all tired and cold and a little hungry and wanting anything but to be out here anymore. Why the hell did they think trusting footprints in the snow was a good idea? They deserved this for their stupidity.
“I'm sure we'll find it soon,” Tory tried to encourage them, although there wasn't much feeling behind the words. All three lay lazily tucked themselves inside their sleeping bags after a smaller than normal portion of breakfast. It was agreed between them that it would be best to start rationing food until they found their cave again. It didn't make anyone feel any better.
“The army of Equestria or something is supposed to inspect that portal right?” he offered. “I don't know how long that'll be, but I'm sure they'll wanna cross through to investigate it. There's no way we don't see people then and get back to Equus. Or maybe someone else will come along.”
“It would be nice if Lake would hurry up and come along,” Roxanne said tiredly, her eyes closed as she lay on her side. She was in the form of a neon green unicorn that wasn't too dissimilar to the pastel pink mare she showed up to Equus as. If—when— someone came along, it would stand out in the dark and against the snow. It might be life saving.
But she needed to be careful. With each successive change, Roxanne felt more and more of her energy being drained from her. There were dark bags under her eyes, and her shoulders slumped while she walked, her mind full of thoughts about how exhausted she felt. Never mind the discomfort that came to her when she waited too long to shapeshift.
“It's pretty strange that he hasn't come yet,” the mare continued. “I genuinely wonder if something happened to him. If I could just taste his emotions—”
“Would we even be close enough for you to feel him?” Tory asked. “I don’t know how it all works for you, but I doubt you’d be able to sense the emotions of someone miles away. Otherwise we could just start looking for civilization on the southern island.”
No, of course she wouldn’t be able to. She didn’t sense a stallion that was planning to kill her until he was about forty yards from her. But then again, that was in a denser neighborhood in the largest city in that country of horses. This was an island that presumably held nothing but animals, and Roxanne could tell the difference between people and animals.
“Maybe if we were able to get within a few thousand feet…” Roxanne started, then let out a sigh. If they were able to, then they would just be able to hear Lake when he called, or anyone else for that matter. Heck, they might even be able to see the cave, so they could just head back.
“Lets try and get moving again, I guess,” Roxanne decided as she stood up tiredly. “We’ll move in a semicircle this time, and scan the area for anything that stands out.” She looked at Tory and asked, “Are you sure this is around where on the map we started?”
“I’m certain,” he nodded. “We weren't that far from the inlet on the map to our north. This should be around the area we were at.”
“I hope so,” Sapphire spoke up, “because I don't wanna be here when the Royal Guard gets here.” Both Roxanne and Tory turned to her, and she continued, “Technically, being in Lilac's house violated my probation, even though she invited me inside. I don't wanna get caught here and go to jail.”
Roxanne slapped her forehead with a hoof and let out a huff of a breath. Why didn't Sapphire bring that up before? She could've stayed with Lake on Earth in that case!
“Sorry,” she shrugged, like potentially going to jail for two years wasn't a big deal. What would they do without her? What would they do if Roxanne and Tory were caught with her? Lake might fall over and die at that news.
They walked, slowly and carefully, making sure to thoroughly examine the terrain for anything that looked familiar. It all did to Roxanne, in a vague sort of way; they'd been out here wandering around for three or four days now. Of course it looked familiar. Nothing seemed to stand out though.
“There's no chance it just disappeared and leads somewhere else now, is there?” Tory asked, glancing to Sapphire for a response. “Right?”
“It's possible,” Sapphire nodded, without much energy. She was getting tired, too, from lack of magic, Roxanne knew. At least she wasn't downright exhausted like the changeling was. Another day or two of this and she was going to simply fall over.
“There's nothing to suggest that happened though,” she explained. “When magic dissipates suddenly like that, the magic in the air around the spot rushes in to fill the void. But then again, it'd be harder to detect that happening on Earth with so little of it around.”
“So then if Lilac closed the door so the portal disappeared, and Lake opened it again, that might be able to lead us to it?”
“I don’t know,” Sapphire sighed. “It might, but how would they know to do that from our end?”
Tory sighed at that, and Roxanne stopped to sit on her haunches. “This might be useless,” he said. “We're getting lost out here.”
Roxanne knew that, and didn't bother asking if there was anything else they could do. She could tell from Sapphire's emotions that there weren't other, easier options. This was going from just a shit situation to very, very bad. Why didn't Tory just mark down their coordinates like she said?
Lake, please get here, Roxanne silently thought as she used a bit of energy to shift into a bug. And let me feel your emotions when you do.
Another day went by with no portal. Another day went by where Roxanne felt more exhausted. She didn’t know how much longer she would be able to be out here, but she felt like she could barely move right now. Her friends saw it, and offered their bodies to lean on so she could walk. Once they got home permanently, this was going to be an issue.
“Just stay upright, Roxie,” Sapphire assured her. “We got you. It won’t be good, but I’m sure the Royal Guard will be here soon.”
Roxanne could only grunt in response. She was beginning to feel absolutely terrible. Not that Sapphire or Tory were doing any better. This was such a stupid idea. What did they expect to find? Nothing. This was a dumb, uninhabited island. They should’ve given up on this before they even got out here, the second Lake said they were in Norway. If they had, they could’ve–
“I hear something!” Tory suddenly called out, jumping away quick enough that Roxanne fell over on her side. He turned around to face behind them, and both she and Sapphire followed suit after the girl helped her up. Sapphire only radiated confusion, contrasting against Tory’s hopeful excitement. She obviously couldn’t hear anything.
And neither could Roxanne. Tory’s ears might have pricked up, but Roxanne heard nothing, felt nothing. No emotion beyond her two companions came to her senses. There was nothing out here. Not even animals.
“Yeah, that’s him!” Tory declared, a smile plastering itself upon his face. “Lake! We’re over here, and coming to you!” he called loudly.
“I don’t hear anything,” Roxanne said quietly, her eyelids drooping just like her shoulders. “There’s no emotion over there.”
“I don’t hear anything either,” Sapphire agreed, shaking her head doubtfully.
“It's there, trust me,” Tory said confidently. “You can't hear that?” He turned around and called out again, “Lake!”
What was he, a bat? Roxanne shook her head, but didn't question it. He was confident in himself, absolutely certain he was hearing whatever he was. Besides, even if he wasn't, it wasn't like they had any better plan anyway.
“Lead us to him then,” she said tiredly as she leaned on Sapphire for support. She hoped it was him.