Valey stumbled to a landing outside the southern gates of Blueleaf, alone save for the filly on her back. Elite mercenaries, it turned out, were fast, and between her exhaustion and injuries and Starlight's added weight, Bourbon had effortlessly ditched her in their impromptu race.
"Urgh..." She gingerly folded her wings, testing her weight on her legs. "Yeah, I think I see what she meant about this stuff. Gets you patched up in a hurry, but you can get wrecked again just as fast. Or maybe that's needing a second nap talking... Hrmmmff."
It wasn't that it hurt to fly, or that it took more than a little effort than normal. But when every pump of her wings caused the faintest-possible spark to jump through her cutie mark, it was surprisingly easy to be on edge.
"Don't hurt yourself," Starlight grunted from her back. "I'm one to talk."
"Yeah..."
Sighing, Valey looked up at the city gates, imposingly lit against the darkness that gripped the rest of the city. She took a step toward them. Twinge. She took two steps down the road to the Stone District. Bigger twinge. Maybe it wasn't her body at all so much as what she was flying toward... which wasn't really any more comforting a thought. Still, Shinespark would be following trouble, so if her aim was to find the wayward unicorn, that's where she had to go. Now all she needed was a plan for what to do when she found her. Somehow 'tell the sad pony to go home' seemed a little incomplete.
She made good time down the road, until a chorus of "Halt!" brought her and Starlight dropping like rocks into the shadows. At least being blind prevented Starlight from being boggled by the strange perception of shadow sneaking, Valey mused as she watched like a shark from below the ground, sliding into the tree cover so as to safely surface for air.
Three bedraggled ponies charged up to where she had been, equipped with all the overkill weaponry of the Spirit and not an ounce of skill. Really, if she had set a trap, they would have charged right into it... They blinked around, shaking. "I thought I saw something!" one complained.
"You're always seein' things!" another reprimanded.
"This night is cursed," the third muttered. "There's bad stuff ahoof. 'Course you saw something, and I don't want to know what it was..." He shot a wary glance at the pale, clouded sky, then the bushes around the sides of the road. If Valey had wanted to scare him, he would have been an easy target.
"Nnngh..." The first whimpered, shaking. "Let's get back with the others. We shouldn't have came. We should have stayed home where it was safe..."
"Home ain't safe anymore, idjit!" He found himself bonked with a crackling energy spear. "If we don't defend Blueleaf, them Defense Forcers will raze it to the ground just like Sosa! Or do you think they're gathering at the border just for fun, huh?"
They slunk off, muttering and complaining and badly letting their nerves get the better of them. Valey breathed once it was quiet. "Sounds like a lot more ponies than just the Spirit have been galvanized to action," she exhaled. "And the only thing scarier than a panicked, stupid, well-armed pony is a whole herd of them. Looks like fatty Herman might get his war after all..."
Starlight grunted atop her back, sounding disinterested. Valey continued through the bushes, avoiding the road itself, relying on her cutie mark to avoid accidentally bumping into any ambushers laying in wait.
Eventually, she reached the edge of a large clearing in the road right before the slope up to the Stone District caused the terrain to change, forming a break in the forest canopy and forcing her to stop and assess the situation. It was the same spot she had crash landed with Maple and Starlight early in the day before, but rather than being empty like it was then, the hollow had been turned into some kind of base of operations. Nervous or terrified ponies used supply and weapon crates as barriers, safely lounging behind and trading gossip, advice and unfelt encouragement, while a small few who looked like they knew what they were doing trotted back and forth, carrying things or trying to appear busy.
Valey frowned. "What's with this ragtag bunch? I get that all this stuff would turn out civilians who think they have no choice, but where's the actual Spirit? There were a bunch of them hanging around Blueleaf before the bombs went off..."
Her eyes found their way to a hurriedly-pitched white tent at one side of the makeshift compound, and she started swimming toward it. That looked like a command tent if she had ever seen one. Odds were, if Shinespark was here, she'd be hanging around in there.
The inside of the tent was well-lit, and only abruptly pulling up stopped her from being unceremoniously ejected on the floor when she tried to swim under a wall. Instead, she hid under a crumple where the canvas met the ground, leafy ears cupped and waiting for info.
A set of light tan hooves walked through her narrow slit of vision, moving with a pace and stride length that suggested their owner was short. "Have you had any more luck with convincing our ponies to return home, Fernand?" she asked, voice soft and regal.
"My apologies, Sister. I think I've found all the individuals who can be talked down. The last group I approached looked at me like I was a traitor for suggesting it."
"Hmmmmm..." An airy sigh. "This would be so much easier if they would put their trust in me. I don't know, Fernand... I've done nothing for twenty years too long, and now that I'm trying to change that, it's starting to feel too late. I know having the Chancellor would help, but I wish Shinespark had stayed here instead of running off. The ponies hold her in their hearts, not me."
"Nonsense." Another pair of hooves stepped up, standing very close to the tan ones. "I, for one, doubt that after their atrocities, the Defense Force will follow the official chain of command and listen should Dior tell them to step down, no matter how ceremonially he may outrank Valey, Selma or Herman. If he'll even listen to Shinespark, that is. If anyone's mission is futile tonight, it's hers, and not yours. We will survive, Sister. Our ponies may lack it, but I have faith you'll see them through."
"Fernand, you know how my brand works..."
"And there's an entire city of ponies just north of here counting on us to be safe. That will be enough, don't you think? Besides." A short pause. "Maybe we won't have to fight at all. Maybe the best will happen, and we can just stare at the Defense Force and they won't invade. Or perhaps we could pursue a diplomatic route and offer them access to our power. It's been going steady for a day and a half, and-"
A hoof cut him off. "Thank you, Fernand," the mare said, a smile almost audible in her voice. "But let's return outside. If we're going to do anything to help, it won't be done from in here."
"Agreed. You'll do wonderfully, Sister. It's what you do."
Both sets of hooves departed, and Valey pulled back out into the cool night air, surfacing and clearing her lungs.
"Was that Elise?" Starlight asked, hanging half in the shadows beside her. "I couldn't see."
"Who else?" Valey shrugged. "I didn't exactly get a facefull of her cute bod myself, but I don't forget a voice that quickly. Still, sounds like she's got this place under control."
Starlight's ears twitched. "She said Shinespark was here and left to find Dior. Isn't he in the Sky District?"
"Skyfreeze. Yeah..." Valey breathed. "Didn't say anything about the rest of the Spirit, though. First the mercenaries, now these guys and the Defense Force and the Spirit... Way too many groups of ponies running around with heavy ordinance tonight. Even if you talk a bunch of them down, all it takes is one shooting to send this whole thing up in smoke. I bet that's planned. Let's just... focus on finding who we know how to find. And maybe if we're in the Sky District, Birdo will head there too for some stupid reason and can pick us up."
Starlight tried to give her a flat stare, but was a few degrees off.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Not really the best night to hope for the best..." Shrugging, Valey shouldered Starlight again and moved out, swimming through the shadows and leaving the Blueleaf encampment behind.