The passage beneath the fruit-loading depot was wide enough for a single small cart, if no hoof traffic was attempting to go the other way. Floored by concrete and occasional drains, with wooden support beams holding up the bedrock roof, it could comfortably allow four adult ponies to walk side by side... but since Howe and Valey were hardly normal ponies and Maple was still unhappy with the former, they walked in a row of three, Valey in the middle and Starlight having resumed her perch on Maple's back.
"So," Valey said as sporadic manalights flickered by overhead, "Pancake! Come on, spill the beans! Did you just like me so much you came back to see me again?"
"Ohh ho ho no," Howe chuckled, raising a wing defensively. "This pegasus likes being three-dimensional, thank you very much. As I was saying before, I spent most of that time just hangin' with my bird bro, Gerardo! Y'know, the cool griffon? I figured I owed him a debt after messing up his plans, so I was sticking with him, doing this and that to help pay it off!" He grinned lopsidedly. "Did you know that bird has a thing for mimes? He asked me to be a mime for a while."
"That doesn't sound like it was taken out of context," Valey coughed.
"Pfft. Well, whatever." Howe swiped a wing. "So, the first thing I did when he came to outside that guard hole? I was right there, checking if he was all right! And then Gerardo was like, 'Oh no, my friends are gone,' and I was like, 'Oh well we better do something,' and my bro Gerardo was like, 'Brother Bird, that's gotta be the best idea I ever heard,' so we teamed up for a bit, and-"
Valey cut him off with a snicker, nudging Maple with her shoulder. "Come on, lighten up! This guy's walking entertainment! It doesn't get much better than this!"
"I'm not looking for entertainment," Maple grunted, plodding along under the weight of Starlight, her newly-confiscated headlamps and two days worth of cramps that had just been given a cart ride of downtime and rainy, damp air to tense back up. "I just... want to get to Gnarlbough... and get out of Ironridge. Howe, if there's a point, please get to it?"
Howe eyeballed her from across Valey's back. "You look down in the dumps, uhh..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, drawin' a blank. I think she called you Ironflanks?"
Valey nearly tripped from laughter as Maple hissed in mortification. "It's Maple!" she half-wailed, just softly enough to keep her voice from cracking. "Valeyyy, I told you to stop calling me that or ponies will actually think it's my real name!"
"Are you kidding?" Valey rubbed a tear from her eyes. "That would be hilarious!"
"Mmmaple, you say?" Howe mumbled, chewing the word in his mouth. "Hey, that is a pretty name. Kinda reminds me, actually, there was this hot pegasus chick up in the Sky District when we went back there for help I'm about ninety percent sure was flirting with Gerardo..."
"Ooh, really?" Valey perked up. "Did you get her name? That could be great if I ever need to really tick him off..."
"Sure did!" Howe gloated, preening. "Slipstream. A pretty name for a pretty, pretty pegasus." He looked up at Maple, blinking. "Say... was the reason you and Gerardo hung out all the time because-"
"I don't want to know what you plan to ask!" Maple loudly cut him off, raising a hoof. "We traveled together because it was convenient, and because someone sort of hired him to be my bodyguard. Howe..." She narrowed her eyes. "I know you know I don't like you, so please, do you mind? I've been under a lot of stress lately, and I feel like... like... my patience is getting thinner."
"Huh." Valey tipped her head in thought, folding one ear. "After the way you decked that guy back there, I'm kinda curious to see what it looks like when you explode."
Starlight leaned into Maple's neck, and she breathed a little easier. Then Howe spoke.
"Look," the pegasus said, "I get it. I know I rained on your parade, and I'm sorry, okay? I'm trying my best to make it up to you! That's why I'm here, even."
Maple raised an eyebrow, signaling for him to go on.
Howe sighed. "Me and Gerardo went to the yak embassy at the crack of dawn this morning. I had some stuff of my own to take care of, but he went and talked up Ambassador Herman and got himself into the Defense Force fort to come look for you by posing as a facilities inspector. Let me come too, when honest? I think he's even more ticked at me than you two."
Swallowing, he continued, waving a hoof. "So anyway, we got to the video recording room, and saw some stuff with you and the cute kid escaping?" He tipped his head. "And it looked like you made it out of that first room just fine, but before that there was some stuff with you opening this box and taking something, and that got Selma rustled."
Maple and Starlight flinched at the same time, while Valey pursed her lips. "Mmmm," Howe hummed. "Sounds like that isn't good news to you?"
"Valey?" Maple asked, voice barely a whisper, having stopped in her tracks in the tunnel. "Does that mean the Defense Force is chasing us? What do we do?"
"You're asking me?" Valey laughed. "I guess you stay the course and hope I'm feeling up to busting up the entire Defense Force if push comes to shove. Stay away from the Stone District, too, that's for sure. But honestly...?" She stretched, cracking her wing joints. "You should figure out something yourselves. Remember, never trust a bat."
Howe shot her a strange look.
"How safe will we be if we stay in the Earth District and Sosa?" Starlight asked.
"Mmmm..." Valey licked her lips. "Stole something from some crates, eh? Still got it? And Pancake, who saw this? Selma, you said?"
Maple bit her lip.
"Selma, Gerardo..." Howe whistled, thinking. "Yours truly, and some nice mare called Sharpie. I think she was an inspector too?"
"Oh boy, Sharpie," Valey giggled, hovering along and rubbing her forehooves. "I love Sharpie, she's the best. So just Selma, though..." She tapped her chin. "The thing about Selma is, the dude's really ambitious. Part of the reason he hates me... most of it, actually, is because I'm officially his equal in rank, and he doesn't wanna share. He has his sights set on Herman's job, you know. Kinda crazy to keep someone like that around, if you ask me, but hey! That yak keeps me too, and makes it work out for him."
She shrugged, flipping over and flying on her back. "Point is, I dunno if Selma will actually do anything about it. If he thinks he can use this mystery thing being stolen to take Herman down a peg, it's entirely possible he'll be less concerned with getting it back and more concerned with making sure nobody finds who stole it... without getting blamed himself, of course." She blinked. "You know anything else about those crates, Pancake?"
"There's two of them?" Howe offered hopefully.
"Yeah, I'll take that as a no." Valey turned to Maple. "How about you, Ironflanks?"
"Maple," Maple growled. "And... I'm thinking."
"Didn't he say he was hired to move them by Yakyakistan?" Starlight offered. "He was supposed to be taking them to the Water District, and someone from Yakyakistan would meet him there to take them. Right?"
Maple nodded.
"Huh. That's cute." Valey closed her eyes, flying by instinct, using her brand to watch for walls. "See, I have a pretty good memory... sometimes. And the stuff Herman wanted me to move when I was back at the base earlier? I'm thinking they might have been these crates that got robbed. So if they really were for the yaks..."
"Then Herman has his big, hairy hooves on them..." Howe spookily warbled.
"Where did you move them?" Maple asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Can't tell you. That's classified." Unapologetic, Valey rolled over.
"And nobody knows what's in them!" Howe added, smirking for good measure. "Because they're mysterious."
Valey opened one eye and frowned. "Didn't you just say those two were poking around in them?"
Howe blinked, then shrugged. "Huh! Yeah, I guess I did! But hey, to be honest? It probably doesn't even matter. Wanna hear how I tracked you all down?"
Hesitating from the sudden topic change, Maple looked carefully at him. "Um... sure?"
"Nice." Howe grinned back, having drawn closer to the center of the tunnel after Valey started flying. "So basically, I owe you one, I owe my bird-bro one, so when we saw that crate get robbed, hoboy, he told me to come warn you and I zippitied out of there while he held Selma off! No clue what happened to them; I was long gone. Anyway, I managed to track down the hotel where you stayed, and they were like, 'Hey, they left for the Earth District,' and I was like, 'Earth District? My best bro ever lives in the Earth District!'"
He reached into his sizable, heavily-gelled mane, and pulled out a small, magical-looking crystal, causing both Maple and Valey to blink in recognition. "Anyhow," Howe continued, "We've got this pair of magic talkie-talkie gems that let us communicate over a distance. You can't have 'em, they're not for sale! So I sent him a beep-boop and went, 'Hey little bro, another bro asked me to keep a lookout for some more bros who got themselves in trouble; think you could keep an eye out for me and let me know if they pass by?' And he's a bro, so he said sure."
At that point, Maple and Valey were looking at each other like they were cats that had teamed up to shred a priceless rug, albeit with polar opposite degrees of remorse.
Howe didn't catch on. "Less than an hour later, he called back, and was like, 'Hey big bro, I just spotted them in a bar in Blueleaf! Want me to keep an eye on them and make the place as safe as can be while you catch up?' And of course I said sure to that, too."
Valey barely suppressed a snicker.
"Problem is," Howe continued, "when I got there? This huge, nasty rainstorm came out of nowhere, which is actually the norm for here but whatever. Anyway, my bro wouldn't pick up, so I spent twenty billion hours wandering around covered streets and buildings that belong in a dumpster before I got a five-second ping of reception from up this-a-way. So I bolted, got rained on big time, and it turns out you were here! All's well that ends well, right?"
"Your friend wasn't called Neon Nova, was he?" Maple asked, drooping.
"Sure was!" Howe winked. "And he's my actual literal bro, too, random fact. You, uh..." He pointed a wing. "Don't look too thrilled about that. I was going to ask, where is he?"
"Meh!" Valey popped her hat and held out the gemstone confiscated from Neon's giant coat. "He gave us this, said to take it with us. He had some... other stuff to worry about."
Howe looked at the stone and whistled. "Other stuff, huh."
"Yeah. Like..." Valey gnawed her lip. "Indigestion. Super bad indigestion."
Howe's eyebrows rose. "Bad indigestion? Are you serious, here?"
Valey lifted one back. "Yeah, too many mangoes. Do you really want me to describe it?"
"Eh heh... Nah..." Howe stood down, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, that's too bad. He's good in a fight! Could've helped you if the Defense Force came knocking. Still, did he have to just give you that without showing you how to use it? I spent so long trying to reach you guys. Like... gimmie that..."
Shrugging, Valey hoofed Neon's gemstone over.
"It's simple," Howe said, tapping them. "You charge them up, they work. Anything'll do. Hold them next to a manalight, an open power conduit, a lit unicorn horn..." He glanced at Starlight. "You've got a unicorn with you, right there! Then they work for a bit, so you just get a password and some code names and you're good to go! They change color if the other end is open, too, so you need to check them often."
"Okay..." Valey swiped Neon's stone back with a wing, shoving it in her hat. "Cool to know. Until I... return it to him, which I'll totally do, I think I'll keep hanging onto this." She tossed a glance at Maple. "Unless you'd rather have a direct line to Pancake, here?"
"I think I'm good," Maple said, grimacing.
"Hey, that's good!" Valey winked. "Because we're almost there! Who's ready to tell Mister Karma about how we might have tied up his most unofficial goon and left him in a garbage bin? Because I sure am!"
"Heh heh heh..." Howe snickered as the floor began to incline upwards. "He got dumpstered..."