//------------------------------// // Splitting The Party // Story: The Olden World // by Czar_Yoshi //------------------------------// With an irreverent shove, Valey kicked her way through the door into the room she figured Starlight had been in last. It was dark and empty, and she briefly regretted not having a portable light on her before quickly finding a switch. The lights came on, granting her nothing of interest, but she nevertheless made a quick cursory search. Medical cabinets? Full of supplies. Examination table? Looked like it might have been touched once since the cover was changed. Sanitary sink and countertop? Empty save for a drying wet rag. As she passed by them, though, her cutie mark twinged slightly, and she leaned in carefully... Was it the rag? Valey sniffed, feeling slightly lightheaded, and quickly backed away with a scowl. What was that, something to knock someone- In a single second, Starlight's distance from her doubled. "Oh, come on!" Valey stomped with her good hoof, running back out of the room. "Maple!" She nearly bumped into another nurse pushing a tray of tools on a cart down the hallway, jumping out of the way in surprise. The nurse frowned at her. "Ma'am, why are you unattended so far away from your room? With a leg like that, you need to be resting!" Valey blinked. "So far away? Okay, wait a-" The nurse gave her a worried look. "These are examination rooms. Residency is all the way on the other side of the building." "I'm not a patient!" Valey shook her cast. "I'm here with a friend's kid who was getting looked at, or something, and she and the doc who was with her just completely vanished! How do I track down a specific doctor in this place?" "Oh, I..." The nurse's eyes widened, Maple stepping out of the room she was waiting in behind her. "I've never heard of that happening before. If you're sure, you should see whoever you checked in with. I don't have anything that could help you." Valey waved Maple along, giving the nurse a nod. "Yo, seriously, thanks. The right direction's better than nothing." As she took off back along the hallways to the entrance and waiting room, Starlight teleported again. "She what!?" Amber squawked, jumping out of her chair. "Gone. Teleporting. I'd guess further away than Ironridge is wide, right now." Valey rubbed the back of her neck in frustration, tail lashing. "Get up, girls. I don't care whose face I have to pound, I want answers." Shinespark snapped to her hooves, but hesitated. "If she's rapidly getting faster away, what are you looking in here for? You know where she is, right?" "Yeah, but where she is is moving, and faster away than I can fly," Valey growled. "If I could fly. Might be painful while I'm still busted up. I wanna know where she's going!" Amber nodded. "Our ship can fly again, so we can chase her down! Come on, girls! Let's... find out what happened!" The front desk mare looked strangely at the four of them as they bustled out into the hospital's entrance, expression daring them to make her day more interesting. Valey wasted no time rising to the challenge. "Look," she said, hitting the desk with her cast like a club. "We came in here to get my friend's kid checked, and now she and the doc who were seeing her disappeared. Where is Doctor Gru? I wanna see him in front of me right now." The mare looked at her strangely, then down at a gigantic ledger tilted against her desk. "...In an operation with several other doctors scheduled to last two more hours." "How positive are you!?" Valey pressed, too intense for her friends to get a word in edgewise. "Because we totally saw him, so either he wasn't or we saw someone who was pretending to be him. I wanna see him, and he owes us an explanation for where her filly is!" She flung a hoof back at Maple. "Mhmm." The desk mare gave her a slow nod. "I'm sorry, miss, but unless you have any other employees who can corroborate your story, this is a delicate and high-priority-" "Sure thing." Valey tapped the desk. "There was a nurse. Didn't get her name, but she was a tan pegasus. Looked about thirty-five. Real short, strawberry mane, looked like a mom, if you know what I mean. He even sent her away before she could finish her job. Ringing any bells?" The desk mare blinked in confusion, and Shinespark's aura instantly settled on Valey's shoulder and yanked her back. "I'm glad you're feeling like yourself again, but don't use that as a description!" Shinespark hissed. "Ma'am, this is important. She was about this tall and had a swept-back forelock?" "I don't have all of our employees' appearances on record, and I'm not familiar with everyone." The desk mare shook her head. "Sorry. I can open a complaint and management will do our best to get this sorted out, but I do remember you coming in and it would be unfortunate if you got separated from your filly. That's all I can do." "Nnngh..." Valey stepped back, leading the way and hissing under her breath. "She teleported again..." "What do we do?" Maple asked, speaking up for the first time. "Valey, she's getting further away?" "Yeah. Fast." Valey nodded. "I have no idea why but this absolutely can't be good. You got the rest of that healing potion on you?" Maple pulled out a half-full bottle. "Why?" "Gimmie that." Valey grabbed it and chugged it, licking the residue off her lips with a gasp of breath. "Because I'm going after her, and there's no way I'm doing it like this. Oh yeah, feels like it's working already." "You're going after her?" Amber frowned. "But I just got the ship back up! And why not ask Wallace or Gazelle to go instead? Remember, you have another tournament fight soon, right? You think you'll be back in a day?" Valey tossed the empty bottle back to Maple, flexing her wings as they smoothed over and finished the half-completed healing process from earlier. "Screw the tournament. Odds are some bozo did this and targeted her because they had it out for me because of that in the first place. And I gotta go because only I know where she is, and I can outfly that airship when I'm going fast, too. No questions, I don't abandon my friends." Shinespark hesitated. "By that logic, what if something happens to the rest of us while you're out of Stormhoof? Valey, shouldn't we...?" "Hey." Valey put a wing on her shoulder, making eye contact. "You powered up and barreled off to bail me out when I got nabbed by Puddles, right? Exact same thing. I will do awesome, I will get her, and I will be back in record time. If you guys are worried back here, which you probably should be, leave the ship in the sky for a while. It'll be harder for anyone to sneak up there to mess with you. Come after me or don't, but honestly, it would be best if you stayed in Stormhoof and searched around for clues about who did this or what happened. If you figure out where she went, maybe you can send Wallace or even Gazelle down on a crusade to help me hammer them. Pretty sure they'd both do it. And if you do get in trouble here, we have allies, remember? Grapejuice knows the underground and Senescey and her sisters are apparently really strong. Got it?" Maple nodded, reaching in and giving her a quick hug. "We'll keep looking as hard as we can. But we're counting on you." She pulled back, then used her cutie mark again, materializing a sheathed, pitch-black sword in her hooves. "Would it help to bring this?" Valey shuddered. "Bananas no, that thing is spooky. Besides, you'll want a thing to defend yourselves or something, just in case. Though could I have it for a second anyway?" Maple offered it, and Valey quickly slipped it a few inches from its sheath and lopped off the end of her cast. No longer as self-supported, it easily smashed when she put it on a hard surface and punched it, revealing a powdery leg and a broken forehoof with the plates visibly moving, regrowing and merging back together. "Woah." Valey blinked at her healing hoof. "Creepy. Good thing I won't need to use it while that potion does its job. Alright! I'll be back, and I'll bring Starlight with me when I am. That's a promise." Goodbyes and well-wishes echoed in her ears as she ran on three legs for the doorway, preparing to take wing. Starlight teleported again.