"Huh?" Maple followed the Starlight's gaze down, under the table... to where Redshift was shivering in the heat, back to the table's central leg and taking in her surroundings with a fragile, newly-restored composure. "You're awake down there?" she asked, poking her face down under.
Redshift glanced frantically her way, and just barely managed to keep her mask of defiance from shattering. "W-Where did you take me?" she hissed, trying to sound menacing.
Maple raised a hoof above the table, hoping Valey would take the hint and not interfere. "In a bar on the third level. You're not in danger."
For a long moment, the filly glared back at her. Maple kept eye contact, but remembered to blink, hoping it would make her less threatening. Finally, Redshift managed, "And where are you taking me?"
"To wherever we were when you woke up," Maple answered.
Redshift stared at her for clarification.
"You... um..." Maple bit her lip. "Passed out down below, and we didn't want to leave you there like that, so we carried you with us. We just wanted to make sure you were all right. Now that you're up, you can go wherever you normally would. Really."
"...I don't believe you," Redshift eventually stated. "I set a trap for your friend. You made my friends look like fools because our trap wasn't good enough. We got what we deserved for not being better, but we're your enemies. Why would you want to help me?"
"Because you're a pony?" Maple shrugged. "Because it was our fault that you were unconscious? Because it's a decent thing to do?"
Redshift sat... and snorted. "Fine, then. You're a fool too. Decency doesn't get you anything in Ironridge, and if you believe that, you must not be from around here. Even the pampered Stone District isn't that naive! If you want something, whether you deserve it or not, you take it by force. That's how it works."
"But you don't seem to be leaving," Maple countered with the premonition of a smile. "Something tells me you want it to work this way, even if you don't believe it can."
"Don't give me that," Redshift pouted coldly. "You're keeping me captive. That evil bat is on top of this table, and the moment I come out she'll jump on me and use her dark mind magic again."
Starlight loudly cleared her throat, having jumped down to the floor herself. "If you can get what you want with force, why don't you go make this city a better place? Force it to be a world where being a good pony makes good things happen, and where no one has to lose because of bad luck?"
Suddenly ignoring Maple, Redshift matched Starlight's stare. "You're the filly with the crystals."
Starlight tapped her horn with a hoof, and it let off a faint shower of teal sparks. "Not right now, I'm not. Answer the question."
"...Hmmph." Redshift snorted and turned away. "You've seen the state Blueleaf is in, unless you're blind as well as dumb. One pony can't do anything, not even my dad!"
"You're not just one pony," Starlight countered, growling. "You have a whole pack of friends who were willing to fight a mare who could have killed you all in her sleep for you! When you can't do anything by yourself, try fighting with your friends!"
"We have," Redshift snarled back, face inches from Starlight's own. "Didn't you hear me down there? Me and my friends spend every day going down and patrolling the dark, when the power is on and when it's off, looking for stragglers and trying to convince them to move! We've stolen and made and sold things to get money to buy lights for ponies who are too stubborn to leave, and we've carried up on our backs ponies who wanted to and couldn't! A stallion who fell and broke his leg in the dark, and couldn't even get up to get food! A mare who was having a foal in an old bedroom that we only found because of her cries! And we've found bodies, too! Three of them, that I touched to close their eyes because they spent their last moments trying to see something before they died! So don't you dare tell me I'm not trying."
Starlight took a step back, expression faltering, and Maple pressed back an urge to hug the red filly. "Well..." Starlight recovered shakily. "You haven't fixed your generator, have you?"
Redshift took another step, giving Starlight no quarter. "If we could, we would have. It's blocked by a door only Sky District technicians can open, and even then we have no idea how to fix what went wrong!" She hesitated slightly. "And we were trying, too. After we got our revenge on that bat, we were going to see if she had a card key we could use to open the door. Then we could at least see what was wrong and maybe find somepony here who could fix it. If we could fix this emergency, we could get back to doing what mattered and trying to help Blueleaf with other things..."
Immediately, Starlight pressed back. "She's right there. You can ask her."
Redshift snorted. "No. I told you, Blueleaf doesn't work that way!"
"But it's what you want, isn't it?" Starlight drew herself up to match Redshift's height - they were perfect equals. "A world that's fair? Where ponies help each other just because they can? She said earlier she wanted to see your generator. Go show her! Or do you have not enough faith that good things can happen that you won't even accept one when it shows up in your face with your name on it?"
"If I could trust ponies like her and not expect anything bad to happen, Blueleaf wouldn't need fixing!" Redshift sneered, not backing down. "If I trust you three now, that's just a recipe for losing!"
"Is it!?" Starlight was shouting. "You were a zombie! If we were evil, we could have thrown you off a cliff or tied you up in an abandoned building or any number of bad things, but we didn't! Instead, we helped you! So are you going to get it together and take a chance to help your ponies, or are you going to be a coward who wouldn't solve a problem because she was afraid of working with ponies she didn't like? Huh!?"
"Starlight," Maple hissed, breaking back into the conversation, "remember, we only were keeping her safe while she woke up! Now that she can take care of herself, we don't need-"
Thwack!
"Aaaaugh!" Starlight fell back, both forehooves to her cheek where Redshift had punched it. Her eyes burned, and her horn sparked, struggling to life, when...
"All right, playtime's over!" Valey erupted from the floor between them like a barricade, forcing both fillies back. Her wings lashed out, grabbing Redshift by the barrel, and dragged her half into the shadows, impervious to the thrashing of tiny hooves. "Listen, you little punk," she growled in Redshift's face. "You've seen bad stuff, I've seen bad stuff, we've all seen bad stuff. I get it. Being a little mistrustful of everything, I get too. Especially me; never trust a bat. But the moment you pick a fight with my friends while I'm around, you go from being a rude dude to a screwed dude." She leaned in closer to the filly's terrified face, frowning. "Now, there's two things I'll accept out of you for that. One involves a lot of groveling and hoof-kissing, and the other begins with 'en garde.' Make. Your. Choice."
Maple's eyes widened, and not only because of Redshift's impending fate: that was the first time she could remember Valey calling them her friends. Her musing was instantly cut short by Starlight appearing at her side, stiff and tense and nursing a swelling cheek.
She stepped forward, determined. "Valey," Maple demanded, "let her go."
"Buh?" Valey's eyes crossed. "She just walloped your kid. What do you mean, let her go?"
"I meant what I said," Maple insisted. "It's not worth it. We don't gain anything from hurting her. Let her go. Please." She hesitated, meeting Redshift's quaking eyes... and the filly seemed to be pleading with her, silently begging that she do anything possible to call the batpony off. Maple returned as reassuring of a gaze as she could, then looked back to Valey. "Now."
For a moment, Valey was still, forelegs like tombstones around Redshift's tiny body. Then, she relaxed ever so slightly... and the filly seized her opening, slithering out like a greased eel and darting off beneath another table, losing herself in the forest of legs. Another second passed, and Valey laughed.
"Wow, Ironflanks," she chuckled, wiping her eye in a gross exaggeration as she got back up on her stool above the table. "What a goodie four-shoes. That wasn't even your revenge to call off. It was the kid's!" She flung a hoof at Starlight, who was also scaling her stool. "There's being merciful, there's being pointlessly merciful, and then there's sparing a kill that isn't even yours, which is also the kind of thing I do. Seriously..." She exhaled loudly. "You all right, kiddo? You didn't want to beat that brat up yourself, or anything?"
Starlight tensed... and shook her head. "No," she sighed. "Like Maple said, there's no point. She's had a hard life. It wouldn't be fair to make it any harder."
The atmosphere calmed enough for Maple to remember the bar's regular shouting in the background, and she decided it wasn't a pleasant change. The thought briefly crossed her mind of how strange it must have looked, her on her stool with her head under the table and three other ponies also down there, none using the table for its intended purpose... until she also remembered that, being a bar, strange happenings far odder than that were likely the norm. Eventually, Valey spoke again.
"...So." She fiddled with Randall's discarded mug, which she had picked up off the floor. "What was so important about making friends with her, anyway? All I wanted was for her not to get ran over or foalnapped or something terrible. Why try to convince her to like us, too?"
Maple hesitated. "Because... she looked sad."
Valey sighed heavily, blowing on her loose bang. "You're crazy, Ironflanks, you know that? I hope you do. Anyway, this place is a dump. We should've gotten out of here long ago." She stretched, standing up, and glanced at Starlight. "Kiddo? Need another ride? I have to admit, the whole fuzzy-cuddle aspect is something I can't say no to..."
"I think I'm fine," Starlight answered, looking at the floor. "So where are we going next?"
"To find that generator, I imagine." Maple gingerly got to her hooves. "Assuming we still want to do something about it? I know I do. That filly may have been angry, but she was as honest as I've ever seen. I don't know that I'd ever be able to forget it if I left without at least trying to do something..."
"Eh, yeah, we'll do that." Valey stretched, spreading her wings. "Mostly for the Spirit, though."
"Right..." Maple nodded. "Because if the town is miserable and blames it on the Sky District, they might like the Spirit more... Well, let's get going, then. Starlight?"
Scrkkkk!
With a dramatic flicker, the lights in the bar shut off, bathing the entire room in inky gray. Silence fell just as quickly, and for a second all was still. Then one panicked voice rose, and then another... before a white spotlight switched on, aimed squarely at the stage, which was now clear of musicians. "A-hemmm!" a too-suave, magically amplified stallion's voice boomed. "Ladies and gentlecolts..."