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."
Oooh! Picking up more transformed humans!
Ah, who is this mysterious person? Or... is this the crossover from Fine Print?
Hey, look! Janet made her way to Mount Aris!
Enter Janice. Here's hoping she agrees with this merry band of misfits. Nice chapter.
Absolutely. You just got called a badass.
Several ways to interpret that.
Galena, maybe don't discuss the scenarios where you'd happily let your potential crewmates die?
And a Spanish-speaking hippogriff. Gosh, I wonder who that could be.
The time to set sail for adventure is fast approaching. Let's see where it takes them, in every sense of the phrase. And I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what Janet's been up to.
Glad to see Janet from Fine Print, if only briefly this chapter. Now the question is what's she doing all the way out in Mount Aris and not sticking around Ponyville? Can't blame her for wanting to see the world she's stuck in though.
Can't wait to see how big of a role she plays and the rest of the group's reaction to her.
Lara Croft?
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This is only supposed to be in the same universe as Fine Print. Though this bird might be Janet from that story.
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That was my thought, I am thinking this might be Janet.
Man, this is like meeting up with an old friend. Wonderful!
Dun dun dun!
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...
Ah, Janet. Welcome to the story. I wonder what she's been up to?
Lood Star. Lood.
After he speaks in English, why would she try Spanish?
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The hippogriff spoke in spanish first, Jordan then told her that her spanish wasn't good enough to understand. Not the other way around.
10789567
I think they're speaking 'auto-translate' at first and Spanish doesn't get auto-translated, so it was used to prove they're from the other world.
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Um...sorry, but no.
She had walked right by him as she was looking for their ship and hadn't thought anything about him. Jordon also initially was about to ignore her, but he called out to her because he noticed her jacket.
And so Janet enters the picture. The crew will certainly be glad to have another human onboard. Though I'm guessing Janet will have some strings attached with Discord and such. I'm also guessing we won't be getting an easy Gate from him either.
If I remember... bats and their spouses only? Not gonna be easy bringing the gang. Ryan maybe, but deception is a dangerous game. Heck, if the bats still have cultural connections to their original civilization, Jordan might not be welcomed either.
Scratches another Worldgate, unfortunately. Still, it's becoming more likely that there isn't some force or conspiracy preventing travel. Just bad luck. There has to be a good gate somewhere.
I'm guessing the gang's going to piss him off somehow.
And so it begins.
I guess there aren't any Voidseekers left.
Still, Blake can probably only get away with saying that because he can set himself on fire.
Will we see any crossovers with Through the Aurora?
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The first words between them were his saying her jacket was patriotic.
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I guess I'll take the auto-translate explanation, but it's not clear why Spanish wouldn't be translated unless it's not her native language either.
I know this is a boring opinion, but they want to keep traveling when they have made successful entry back to the world? They have safe place, resources in hand and maybe even potential allies in the Royalty since they really might like more Seaponies singing about the place.
Build a base, paint the mountain red, and start preparing some means of getting home from that location. This information they hold is way more important than any pesky "We need to get home quickly". The world gate is in some remote polar region too! Pretty good place to facilitate first contact since you are not stepping on any toes.
But yeah, likely would be a boring option for different kind of a story, and they are just bunch of younglings after all.
It seems that they have met Janet who clearly has been told about their merry group. I wonder what happened to her since she left Ponyville and what the others will think when she tells them her story. I'm especially curious about the group's reaction to Discord.
10790007
While it would be very cute for them to interact, I don't think they're the same worlds.
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Another possibility is that, in her surprise, Janet happened to speak in Spanish instead of English without realizing it. It’s somewhat common with people that speak more than one language, falling somewhat into the category / idea of code-switching.
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Well, if you’re trapped in a world of magical friendship with nations and city-states sorta segregated by species, of course you wind up visiting the nation of the species you got turned into!
A warmth unrelated to the results of the trip, you say. Things are going well.
That's a pretty likely explanation for how every hippogriff explorer who tried bought it.
Don't flip an airship, no way it wouldn't fall out of the sky if you tried.
That seems like an important thing to fix.
Continued progress.
The most unexpectedly American hippogriff ever.
Ahh, that's a pretty good way to send the message.
Janet's back, hell yeah.
I can see why you did it for the story, but any modern phone's gps should have told them where those mountains were. Nice work, I'm really enjoying the story : )
Alright Starscribe, you've sold me on this story with the Stars and Stripes.
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From what I recall, gps isn't very accurate as you get closer to the poles. That may be a reason.
I know a few words in Spanish. "No si habla Espanol." Also "Ich nein sprechen si Deuch." Because I'm a 'Murican.
D'aaw, Kaelynn and Ryan are being all lovey-doovey! I'm excited to see one of their POVs soon to know how exactly how far their intimacy goes, as Kaelynn hinted she totally wants to bone him.
She'd treat someone with an American flag as being poisonous?
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Do you know the history of the USA involvement in Latin America? I mean just taking the name of the content as there personal name is a rather dick move. So yes a loud threat desplay indeed.
"How was your trip?"
"Shitty."
If they took their cell phones to check for cellular signal, why didn't they turn on the GPS function to get Geo-coordinates for that entrance? They should still get GPS signal. They could also save a coordinate locally on their phones for when they DO get back to cellular range. This is not a new function, as I can do it on my phone and it's old.