Scrrrkkkkkk!
The genstone in Maple's hooves flickered to life, and she dropped to the floor with a heavy thud. Static poured through, causing her to wince from the volume and turn her head away... and spot Starlight, standing in the doorway with her tail between her legs.
"Sorry, Maple..." Starlight drooped. "I wanted to-"
She was interrupted by the sound stone as Valey's voice cut through, butchered by clumps of gray noise. "Nngh... What time iscrkkkk!... flanks, is that you?"
Thinking quickly, Starlight stepped inside, nudging the door shut with her shoulder.
"Valey?" Maple's ears folded. "Where are you? We can't hear you at all!"
"...District! Herman was like... scrkkkand I didn't have much of a choice. Sorry about ditching..." Her voice trailed out. "...kind of anti-magic... Too bright for shadow sneaking, and we can't teleport. We can barely-"
She cut out completely, Maple's crystal still spinning inside with energy, and stayed that way for several seconds. When Valey's voice returned, the reception was marginally worse. "Scrrrrrkkk Shinespark to bail us..."
"Where are you?" Maple asked as loudly and clearly as she could. "I can't hear you!"
The sound stone washed with static. Starlight's ears twitched, picking up a pattern like the same thing being said over and over... "Flame District?" She tilted her head.
"The Flame District?" Maple echoed more forcefully into the stone, resting partway on the bed so she could hold it with two hooves.
"Yes! Stupid magical..."
The stone's connection faded completely.
Maple sighed, mane deflating slightly as she set the stone aside and rolled over on her back. "I don't know what to do..." she groaned, laying still.
Starlight walked up next to her and nuzzled Maple's side. "Sorry about earlier," she murmured.
"No... I'm... mmmf." Maple grunted, staring up at the underside of the top bunk and not bothering to move. "I should be able to handle it when someone has evidence against one of my friends. That's not your fault. Sosa needs to stay safe."
Starlight stood next to her, skeptical. "You don't look fine."
A tear edged toward the corner of Maple's eye. "I didn't say I was."
Wordlessly, Starlight paused... and crawled up into the bed beside Maple, tucking her legs beneath herself like a fuzzy lilac cat.
"It's like I can see two versions of myself," Maple breathed shallowly. "One of them is naive and innocent, and follows around this pony everyone, them included, says is bad. I think that because they were nice to me, there's no possible way they really are, and get torn up when someone says it's possible they are bad... even when that's what everyone says already. The other version says the world isn't nice... speaking from experience... and that ponies sometimes betray you no matter how long you've trusted them for. The first side wants me to have friends and be happy. The second wants to keep me from getting hurt. I feel hurt anyway."
"I'm still here," Starlight said, flicking her tail. "Sorry for running away earlier. Again."
Maple gave a wrinkly smile. Starlight said nothing.
"...You heard all that, right?" Maple eventually sighed, rolling towards Starlight until the two of them were touching hooves. "Valey sounded like she was in trouble. What do you think we should do?"
"Why are you asking me?" Starlight lifted her head, surprised. "I just made everyone suspect her! I thought you were going to..." She swallowed, deciding not to finish that sentence. "I mean. I'm going with you, wherever you go."
Maple nudged her. "Because you're observant," she answered. "And smart. Maybe you can notice something I can't?"
"I don't know..." Starlight frowned. "Like what? Some magic way to tell if Valey deserves help? What would we do to help her if she did? Walk all the way back up that dumb mountain to the Flame District? It's probably even still raining!"
"We could... do something," Maple sighed. "Like... we could..." Her eyes flashed. "This is why I need your help! I can't even think of anything right now!"
Starlight shrugged. "Ask Shinespark?"
"Shinespark has a lot more to deal with than deciding whether or not we should trust a pony who's probably not trustworthy all the way on the other side of town," Maple said with a grimace.
"Yeah?" Starlight shrugged again. "There's an answer, I guess. Just leave her alone."
"But, Starlight..." Maple swallowed. "If you don't know whether a pony is good or bad, and they could be either... is it fair to abandon them just because they could be bad? That's... not how I like to see ponies. I need to believe most of us are good, and that it pays to give the benefit of the doubt..."
"You didn't really like Howe much," Starlight countered.
Maple slumped. "He started off by trying to get us arrested. He's shady, I don't think he's honest, he might be insane, and I think he's interested in me. I've given him more benefit of the doubt by letting him follow us than all the rest of Ironridge combined, Starlight."
"...Oh." Starlight looked away.
"But Valey is..." Maple continued, then stopped. "I don't know. I want to say she feels sincere. Not in what she says, but in how she acts... that she doesn't want to be a bad pony. But doesn't everyone want to be good? I don't know why I'm so fascinated with this one mare..."
Starlight hesitated, looking at everything but Maple. "Do you..." Her eyes wandered across an empty dresser, past wood-paneled walls. "Like her, maybe?"
"I'm pretty sure I'm straight," Maple answered. "...At least, I know I used to be. Ever since what happened with my husband, I haven't actually thought about another pony like that at all, of either gender. But no, it's not that."
The room was silent. Starlight's tail thumped once against the bed.
"Maybe," Starlight managed, "since it would be really hard to go to the Flame District to find Valey, and we don't even know where in there she is or what's wrong with her or if we could do anything about it, and since Shinespark wouldn't want to risk helping and helping her could be a risk, and if she was evil she could have been manipulating you to make sure you'd do something when it would make the biggest difference, and since you'll feel bad if you leave her or if you help her and get betrayed, and-"
Maple cut her off with a hoof to the lips. "I know," she whispered, eyes squeezed shut against the threat of tears. "That's what I need to tell myself. That trying to do something would only make us have to backtrack over all the distance we worked so hard to cross, and has the potential to end even worse than doing nothing. Could you imagine if Sosa got destroyed, and Shinespark's plan would have worked except for me? All that damage would be my fault and my fault alone..."
Starlight pressed closer.
"On the other hoof," Maple choked, "all I have is wanting to repay a favor... and trust in a friend. A pony I considered a friend, at least. I don't know if she ever felt that way back."
Starlight opened her mouth to agree... when the door banged open, flooding the room with noise.
"Greetings, friends!" Gerardo Guillaume chirped amicably. "I finally found your cabin! I thought you would appreciate being informed that the meeting has adjourned, we have a plan, and Shinespark has deemed it in everyone's best interests for me to resume my duties as your traveling..." He trailed off forty-one words too late. "Am I interrupting something?"
"And that is why we are not, in fact, under attack from bandits," Gerardo explained to a skeptical Shinespark, ruefully rubbing a pumpkin-sized black eye as Maple and Starlight stood angrily behind. "I merely... misjudged a situation. Rather badly."
"I'll say you did," Maple steamed, Starlight sitting upright on her back like a frowning totem pole. "I can't believe you didn't even knock! It's good to see you're as gung-ho as ever, but this adventure hasn't exactly been kind to us, and I do not take well to those kinds of surprises when I'm trying to get my emotions straightened out!"
"Well..." Shinespark hesitated, apologetic. "Technically, the doors do have locks..."
"...Oh." Maple deflated, folding her ears.
"Here." Shinespark's horn lit sapphire, floating out a small, ornate metal key with a jeweled bit shaped to be easily turnable with a horn or a pony's mouth. "You've claimed cabin two, right? This is pretty much your place now, so you might as well hang on to this."
Maple pocketed the key and smiled, aware that the fur around her eyes was still slightly damp. "Thanks, Shinespark." She nodded. "Now, as the griffon was trying to tell us..."
"Gerardo," Gerardo corrected, sounding even more wounded than he looked.
"We've made our decision, yep." Shinespark nodded. "We're going to evacuate, and we're going to fight. The Spirit will be our primary combat force, so if we were wrong about the bombs going off, there will be less political fallout on us and so the only ponies risking their lives fighting are ones who have already pledged themselves toward something exactly like this. The Spirit have been redirecting our weapons convoys for a long time now, so they're very well-armed for a fight, as well."
"I see..." Maple swallowed.
"There's more," Shinespark continued. "Selma wanted us to target the top of the Water District, bringing an army up the mountainside and across the dam bridge. We need to take that anyway to open the overflow valve and start disarming the bombs, but we know he'll be ready for us. So we're sending only half the Spirit up that way, in case it's a trap. The other half will be organizing themselves in Blueleaf. At my signal, they'll enter the Stone District right next to the main Defense Force base and attack there, trying to deal with things from the rear. Or, in the event that things go sour..." She broke eye contact. "They'll barricade the road and prevent anyone from passing, and act as backup as needed. Remember, we have no idea what our enemies truly want out of this."
"And the individual ponies of power?" Gerardo asked, a question the answer to which he clearly felt bore repeating.
Shinespark nodded again. "We want the lower force to be stronger, since the upper force has a higher chance of falling into a trap or being incapacitated. To that end, they get both Braen and Grenada, regular Spirit ponies and good morale boosters. The upper force will publicly be led by Gunga, though I'll be there in disguise. If something does go wrong, I need to be there for my ponies, and I can't send them into danger I wouldn't face myself. Gigavolt will be in the upper force as well. Gerardo guards you two, wherever you go."
"Because we have a history with him, I'm assuming?" Maple grimaced.
"Welll..." Shinespark rolled her shoulders. "I mean, I'm assuming he's your friend? But also because he's been vetted by Arambai and I trust him to be able to go with you without the need for secrets flying around. Speaking of flying, he's one of the very few fliers we have, alongside Braen and my mom, and the latter is going nowhere near this fight. She's going to stay in Blueleaf with a friend until we're completely sure it's safe."
Gerardo coughed into a wing. "It seems I've become a lot more valuable than I had initially been expecting. Playing into a struggle of warring powers! Hah!" He grinned, then turned apologetic. "Also, I've made a recent faux pas, and I'd like to atone for that before anything gets too uncomfortable between us."
"Just like Howe..." Maple rolled her eyes. "At least you're sincere, though. I forgive you, I guess. But... please make an effort to be more sensitive when making an entrance? Or being loud, period?"
"A herculean effort, but I should be up to the task." Gerardo bowed, turning toward the stairs to the upper deck. "Now, as I have not yet been informed as to the nature of your plans for the day... might we walk-and-talk?"
Maple nodded, beginning to walk. "That's probably a good idea. I hope we don't have to go too..." She stopped in realization. "Wait, where's Starlight?"
In the unnamed airship's engine room, Starlight paced back and forth industriously, staring at the metal consoles on the wall and trying to replicate Shinespark's settings from the previous night. Eventually satisfied she had it right, she turned around, reaching for the recently-reinforced helmet rack.
"What do you think you're doing?" Maple asked crossly from the open doorway. "You just did this last night! I told you, it could be dangerous!"
"An experiment," Starlight replied, lifting a rump helmet in her forehooves. "All the other times I've done this, I've been tired, and my horn was really hurting. All I've done today was a single teleport, so it feels mostly fine. If I fall asleep from it, this place is safe, so you and Gerardo can help White Chocolate without me, and maybe it'll even be easier since he can probably fly with you alone. But if I don't, it means that how strong this is depends on how much magic I used earlier, which could be really important for us to know! It would mean that if I fixed my horn really often, I'd be able to use it all the time and never have to worry about memory loss or anything else from fixing it!"
"Starlight..." Maple sighed, staring at the stubborn filly. "Please let Shinespark handle this? She knows what she's doing, and you don't!"
"Maple, I wanna fix my horn!" Starlight pouted. "And no she doesn't! Not that much, at least. Wasn't she telling us about how little she knows? She's probably going to try something like this anyway! Please?"
Maple set her jaw. "Not unless Shinespark says-"
"Wait, what's going on in here?"
Shinespark's head appeared behind Maple in the door, neck craning to get a look at Starlight. "What are you doing in here?"
Starlight re-iterated everything she had just told Maple.
"Whew..." Shinespark whistled in appreciation when she was done. "We might have a little bit better equipment for that in storage somewhere, but for working with what you know and what you have, you're pretty good at this. Try it, I want to see what happens!"
"Shinespark!" Maple rebuked. "Is that really how you got... well..." Her gaze swept the room, with its sparse wooden walls and massive rail coil hanging from the ceiling. "All this?"
Shinespark grinned. "Doing stuff to other stuff to see what happened? That's pretty much how it works!"
Maple lifted an eyebrow.
"I'm serious." Shinespark shrugged. "You find something and you don't know what it does, but want to find out? Do stuff to it. Whatever you can think of. Watch what happens, and record it carefully. Look for patterns in how it behaves. When you can predict what's going to happen when you do something else, that's progress. Eventually, you get enough data and you can find out the how and the why... and if you're lucky, long before that you'll find something you can make it do that's useful. Science is all about understanding how stuff works!" She turned around. "Now Starlight, you can..."
The helmet was already sitting on Starlight's head. Maple gasped. Starlight shrugged.
"I feel fine," the filly said. "For a second it was like I was being blown on by wind, but nothing happened."
"Blown on by wind..." Shinespark sucked the edge of her hoof. "What direction?"
"Huh?" Starlight squinted. "Well, I think it was..." She pointed a hoof toward the starboard side of the boat, slightly to stern. "That way? Why?"
"Interesting," Shinespark hummed. "That's the direction you went flying last night. How's your horn, by the way?"
Starlight shrugged. "It already felt pretty much fine. I can't tell."
"And your memories?" Maple leaned forward, worry overtaking the frustration in her voice.
"Also fine." Starlight shrugged again. "I guess I was right, though. But that's all I wanted to do! We can get going now, if you want."
"I think we should do that." Setting her jaw, and without further delay, Maple scooped Starlight up, leaving the helmet to Shinespark to deal with and carrying the filly out of the room, up the staircase to the deck where Gerardo was waiting.