The transportation station in the first skyport terminal was dark and desolate as Valey soared in through the pipe to Skyfreeze. There wasn't a trace of emergency power remaining, but the same spectral light that refused to let the eastern valley go unlit filtered in through the blinding snow, giving more than enough illumination for Valey to make her way by.
She flapped over a dead transport cart, sitting at the terminal in an endless wait for passengers who were safe in their homes, and vaulted onto the loading platform, Starlight tucked against her back. Straining her senses and cutie mark to pick up any danger beyond the omnipresent, crushing force of the storm outside, she toggled her pendant again, feeling another flash of green. It no longer felt like she was wearing her sister around her neck. The pendant had been reduced to a tool she could trigger without thinking... and it was a useful one, the sensation of it being active forcing back some of the wrongness in her body that came from a combination of deep cold and lingering injuries. It very well might have physically given her the strength to keep going.
"What's that thing you keep doing?" Starlight mumbled against her coat, holding tight and weathering shivers of her own. "It feels weird. I don't like it..."
Valey blinked. "Uhh... nothing." Of course Starlight could feel it! She had used a higher intensity earlier to burn through her bindings on the elevator; it had a physical effect. Too bad it didn't warm the filly up. Then it would be good for both of them.
Glancing around to distract herself, she spotted several pedestrian tunnels leading deeper into the groaning, glass-and-steel behemoth of a building, sleet pelting against their transparent casings. Which way would have Herman gone... No, which way would Shinespark have assumed Herman went? Tunnel to the atrium? Maybe. Tunnel upwards towards flight loading docks? More likely. To someone who lived in the lower districts and associated both yaks and bad with up...
She took the stairs three at a time, resting her wings in case she needed them more later. The room above was closer to a tube than a dome, evenly-spaced kiosks against the outer wall separating doors to the outside, movable bridges ready to link them with docked airships. The rest of the space was filled with benches and chairs for waiting, support pillars plastered with fliers and announcements, and dead displays meant for showing flight schedules, advertisements, and entertainment.
"Don't see any ponies..." Valey murmured, staring up and down the length of the room from the stairwell where she had emerged. "Don't hear any ponies, but that's this place's fault for being loud... Don't smell any-"
With a building flash, a glowing sapphire streak zoomed past them, slowly braking in the distance before returning and landing in front of them with a shimmer of magic. Valey blinked, then grinned. "Hey, Sparky. Wow, you look even worse than the last time I saw you!"
Shinespark looked back at them, trembling beneath her orange coat, eyes dead and muted. "Valey," she croaked, staring almost as sightlessly as Starlight. "I can't find anyone. I just checked the eastern control tower. Maybe they're in the west one..."
"Okay, hold on..." Valey took a cautious step toward Shinespark. Her mark said the unicorn wasn't at risk of attacking her, but it couldn't tell if her target was about to flee. "You came here because of that bogus note? Listen, girl... You look like a liability to yourself and absolutely everyone right now, and I totally recommend chilling out and actually taking care of yourself real quick. Please?"
"They're here somewhere," Shinespark murmured. "I need to find them!"
Valey rolled her eyes. Had she not read the back of the note? Or did she just not care? "Look, my own reasons for being here are flimsy enough at the moment, but hunting Herman is-"
"My reasons aren't flimsy!" Shinespark interrupted, emotion building in her voice. "The Spirit weren't at Blueleaf! I looked! The Defense Force had a blockade, but they must have teleported past! I already searched the entire other terminal, so they must be in this one! Help me find them! Hurry!"
She grabbed Valey's shoulders, muzzle so close to Valey's own that she could smell the unicorn's breath. "Hold on, what?" Valey narrowed her eyes. "The Spirit? You're not here about Herman?"
"Herman?" Shinespark blinked, a snap of lucidity returning to her eyes. "I'm here about the Spirit! Valey, you know how Braen works!" Haunted, she slumped, staring at the tile floor. "I had to take back my cutie mark to survive. That would turn Braen into an empty suit of armor. The Spirit in Blueleaf would... think their leader had abandoned them. But I was their leader! For so many years, I told them whatever they needed to hear to retain hope, no matter how extreme! But I thought... When I planned for this flood, if the worst happened, I thought Braen would still be there to guide them! I wanted them to defend the Earth District in case the Defense Force were true barbarians and attacked while we were down, but now I'm not there, and they weren't there, and..." She collapsed, covering her head with her hooves.
"Oh, bananas..." Groaning, careful not to throw off Starlight, Valey knelt and tried to prop Shinespark up. "You didn't even go to Skyfreeze, did you? Just the skyport? Just... running after your nutcase bandit squad? I wasted all my time chasing you up there?"
"What's in Skyfreeze?" Shinespark asked, wiping a hoof across her eyes. "Valey, Braen and I taught the Spirit whatever it would take! I always knew we'd have to talk them down some day, because an all-or-nothing world wasn't the one we wanted to build, but I assumed I'd have Braen to do that, and it wouldn't be in the middle of a war, and..." She stared, pleading, up into Valey's slitted eyes. "I shouldn't have sat for so long in that cave. I shouldn't be sitting here now. I shouldn't have told them from the beginning that we could literally get the old Ironridge back by stealing weapons and robbing convoys! Now I can't find them, and they could be here trying to break the skyport, and with the storm and no power the structure is already stretched to its limit..."
Valey sat down. "Huh. Sounds like you've got some serious guilt issues going on, there."
"You think!?" Shinespark screamed in her face, eyes regaining a flicker of their old flame.
"Hey. Look." Valey stared seriously at her. "This skyport is totally creeping me out right now with all the storm stuff and how it feels like it's just gonna collapse or blow away or something. Like it's a coconut and the storm's a crab trying to crack it and get at us. And every minute I'm wondering more and more why I thought it was a good idea to come up here. So... you're important, Starlight's important, I'd really like to keep my butt in one piece... What do you say we bail somewhere warm and not spooky, and if this place falls over and pancakes Herman and all the Spirit goons, we say the wind blew it down and no biggie? Please? Look, I'm actually saying please. I'm ready to cut my losses, here."
Shinespark shook her head, mane limp and ragged from worry. "This skyport is built to withstand a blizzard with no power, but barely. It will be okay on its own, but not with anything else! Besides, the Spirit are my friends. I don't want them going on a suicide mission in my name! Especially not Grenada..."
"Grenada?" Valey blinked. "She's that half-sister who doesn't know she's your half-sister, wears her mane just like yours and probably totally doesn't have a crush on you?"
"Thanks," Shinespark growled. "And yes, she is. I'm not leaving her to die, become a terrorist, or both. We have to find them and stop this." She met Valey's eyes, gripping the batpony in her telekinesis to prevent her from looking away. "Help me. I can't... I'm barely keeping myself together as it is..." She sniffed, chest clenching. "I can't fail Ironridge again..."
"...Fine. But I'm not lifting a hoof to fight. Got it?" Valey lifted her burnt forehoof, waggling it for emphasis. "I'm seriously done with getting kicked around. Don't wanna make anyone else mad right now; I'm just in it to survive."
Shinespark's aura expanded, covering both her and Valey. "Then let's check the western control tower. I'm looking for places where the most damage could be done with technical knowledge, explosives, or both."
"Sure thing..." Valey resigned herself and Starlight to being floated along, suddenly imagining finding the Spirit locked in a duel with Herman.