Starlight, Valey, Gerardo, the Riverfall ponies and the mercenaries all stood awkwardly in the mouth of the tunnel, watching Arambai and Matryona embrace. "That's a very attractive pegasus," Rainstorm eventually remarked.
"Stealthy, too," Darkwind muttered. "I didn't realize she was following us, which is unusual."
"Well, those are her job and talent," Gerardo said with a shrug, pointing to Matryona's cutie mark of an ornate slipper. "It's my impression that she once worked as an exotic dancer for certain purposes. I find her quite an eyeful myself."
Bourbon nodded appreciatively. Amber blushed and looked away. Valey grinned. "Yup. She's still got it, all right. And she's, what, in her thirties?"
Shinespark reddened furiously. "Stop ogling my mother while she's making out! Or at all! And she did not have me as a teenager!"
"Fine, then." Valey rolled her eyes, doing some quick mental math. "Uhh... thirty-nine. Still thirties. Nyaah."
Shinespark planted her face against a wall, coat bristling.
"Woah-ho!" Valey chuckled, grinning broadly. "Did I guess right? I did, didn't I? So anyways-"
Amber gave her a light slap. "Might want to tone down the teasing when the ruling family in Ironridge is right there, you know?"
Valey rubbed her cheek indignantly. "I, uhh... probably deserved that..."
"...Mmm." Arambai and Matryona finally broke apart, turning to see their visitors. "Hello, kids," Arambai greeted, nodding his shaggy head. "Sorry to do that in front of you. Hope it's not too traumatic, seeing an old married couple taking a moment after spending so many years apart."
Matryona nudged him with her chin, teasing. "We're not that old, you know."
"Oh, save it for the you-know-where." Arambai rolled his eyes, then grinned. "So! Everyone made it here all right? No mysterious explosions or foalnappings by groups of cultists? Ironridge just as standing as it was when you came over the horizon? Maple, Starlight, glad to see you felt up to coming along."
"It looked impressive, seeing it from up above," Amber acknowledged, looking eager. "I don't know how we're going to tour the whole thing."
"By sticking to the good parts," Arambai replied. "And that's good. Anyhow, I was thinking since we all were here, we might as well start by getting you situated in your room? Figured you'd like a nice place to stay that isn't on board that stuffy airship all the time."
Starlight frowned. "Is this Herman's old room? The one he gave to Kero, that you said we could have? Has it been cleaned out already?"
Arambai shrugged innocently. "Hey, don't look so sad about it! It might be full of treasure..."
"Well?" Gerardo asked, rolling his shoulders. "Does anyone feel up to spelunking in the lair of an elusive griffon mercenary lord no one seems to have ever seen?"
"Hey!" Harshwater was suddenly back, hovering in front of Gerardo's face. She jabbed a hoof at his beak. "I've seen Kero plenty of times, and he's a lot more handsome than you." She hesitated, looking suddenly guilty. "Okay, a little more handsome. But if you're planning to go rifling through his things..."
Darkwind tugged her tail, bringing her gently to the ground. "He was referring to how Kero has been absent ever since the day before the storm," he said. "That's as good a cause for concern as any. Also, we would be assisting them in rifling through any things."
"Ohhh..." Harshwater's eyes lit up. "Oh, would we really...?" She brightened, folded her wings, and shrugged. "Okay, then. Lead the way!"
"Any objections?" Arambai asked, watching the proceedings with Matryona close at his side.
Maple sighed and hung her head. "Just as long as we don't find anything that gets us into trouble again. I... you know."
Starlight knew, clinging closely to her side yet constantly ready if anything should happen. Her horn felt as strong as it ever did, ready to teleport or fight at a moment's notice.
"Yeah, don't worry about trouble." Valey saluted with a wing, nudging her beret back into place. Her bow was gone, but her mane remained in the same cutesy style it had been forced into in Riverfall. "I'll head in first as a bomb sniffer, and then these guys will help us watch for insider secrets that could turn us into ponies of interest for knowing, or something." She pointed back at the mercenaries. "You dudes will, right?"
Darkwind nodded. "That is our detail."
"Cool." Valey shrugged, moving forward. "Then let's go."
"This place is way less spooky than the last time I was here," Valey remarked as the group walked through the gold-and-marble halls and stairways of Skyfreeze, Amber and Willow's jaws perpetually on the floor. "There are, like... other ponies." She pointed a wing at a passing mare in a business suit, who gave them a respectful berth. "And the view is actually nice instead of an end-of-the-world blizzard. And it's not covered in evil-looking veins of frost, and is actually warm, and there's no creepy emergency lighting everywhere." She blinked. "Hey, the power's on! How'd you do that?"
Arambai nodded. "One of the first things we did was build a conduit connecting the Blueleaf reactor to the rest of the city's power grid. Seeing as the source was removed, but most of the infrastructure remained intact otherwise, it wasn't too hard to pull off. Unfortunately, Blueleaf needs a lot of power for their lighting, so even putting them on a ration, we don't have all that much to go around. The decision was made to prioritize Skyfreeze, for several reasons. First, a lot of ponies actually live here... Governmental types. And without power for the weather shields and climate control, this place would turn into an iceberg and we don't need even more evacuees. Second, it's currently the best-equipped place to set up a new temporary center of government, and we wanted it in top shape."
"It makes sense to me," Gerardo said, tapping a talon. "Though, I can imagine some of the lower-district ponies would see this as a prioritization of the rich, and be far less happy about it."
"Yeah. That's currently our biggest problem." Arambai rounded a corner at the top of a stairway into another hall, leading the way through Skyfreeze's setup. "It's not like we're being wasteful, at least. You'll notice we're walking instead of taking the elevators. Got those turned off for the time being. But the housing... ehhh. I'd say we've got it about fifty percent sorted, so far, and you're not going to like how."
Maple shuddered. "Do I want to know?"
"Selma," Arambai said, and Valey rolled her eyes. "No, really. It turns out that stallion had been planning some sort of coup against the yaks for a very long time. I talked with him about it over these last few days. I doubt any of his plans would've worked, since they were mostly opportunist things. But he had a lot of disaster-preparation going on, and the like. Did you know that down in a very secure, easily-defensible area of the basement of the Defense Force base, he somehow built and stocked an entire bunker designed to serve as a short-term shelter for over a thousand ponies in the event of whatever? Set it up so the only door was inside a fortified control tower in the air conditioning plant, and even made a custom card key so all the standard-issue ones couldn't get inside. And the amount of food he had stockpiled down there... well..." He shook his head. "Let's just say it puts my pantry in Riverfall to shame. And I'm sure most of you have seen that."
Amber's eyes widened. "That much?"
"Yeah." Arambai nodded. "Anyway, with the weather damage to Dangerous Karma's crops, we've taken all that and added it to the city's main food supply, and the good news is we should have plenty to last until we're able to regrow the crops and start a new harvest cycle. The bad news on that end is that we won't have anything left over to export, even once we get an emergency skyport up and running. The mine's gone until we can rebuild a power supply, get it dried out and bring everything back online, and all our manufacturing got washed away... which means Ironridge has exactly nothing left to export. In short, we'll survive, and once the plantations get back in gear we'll have plenty to keep everyone alive and healthy, but that's it. As as economic force in the world, as it stands, Ironridge is doomed."
Shinespark stared at the ground. "Still feels like I should have done better..."
A thick yellow hoof landed on her shoulders. "Hey," Arambai said. "Don't sweat it. Two teenagers and one old stallion who wasn't even there trying to change the fate of an entire city-state this fast on a course to destruction is a tall enough order even without a malicious yak agent actively trying to bring ruin and conquest. You did the best you could, and like I said, we'll make sure everyone survives."
"...I'm going to try to take the ship to the Plains of Harmony," Shinespark announced. "We still have all the designs. We can remake the equipment to make more, and figure out something with the energy source. If we can make a trade route..."
"Sticking with the plan, I see," Arambai murmured. "Well, you do that. It won't be easy, and I won't pretend to stake everything on making it work. But if you can, well..."
"That would be a much-needed boost in your fortunes," Gerardo finished for him.
Amber quickened her pace, stepping up alongside Arambai and Shinespark, this time using Maple for support. "So if there's a bunker designed to hold a thousand ponies," she said, "and you have a problem with refugees..."
"Exactly what we thought," Arambai replied. "And that's what we did. There are way more than a thousand evacuees, unfortunately. Gnarlbough itself had about twice that many, and it's a tiny town by Earth District standards. Copsewood, on the other hoof..." He shook his head. "Also, it's not exactly state-of-the-art in comfort. Who only knows how Selma got the resources he did to build it. My guess is he fudged paperwork, which would've been easy to do with how much the system was getting messed with already..." He raised an eyebrow at Valey, who grinned cheekily. "Might've been stealing from the Sosan resource packages involved in that weapons deal, too. Maybe slipped in some requests with mercenaries or even the Spirit here and there to steal supplies. For the actual labor, who knows? Could've found a way to bamboozle enough contractors without telling them what he was working on. Might have found a way to use magic to help out. Either way, we've got a place now for the elderly and those with large families or young children, which apparently happens quite a lot these days. Some couples just think they're in Riverfall and don't know when to quit."
Bourbon reddened slightly. "What's in Riverfall that makes it special?"
"In that sense?" Arambai winked. "Just a bunch of testosterone-starved mares with a social structure very good at helping to communally raise foals. But let's not get onto that. It looks like we're here."
'Here' turned out to be a hallway just like the others, ice-blue tinted metal trim used against marble columns and floor tiles. The hall ran from wall to wall of the tower, a window at each end, with a clockwise ascending staircase behind them and a counterclockwise ascending one in front. Four villas occupied the entire floorspace, two on either side, and a sign helpfully read 'Ambassador Wing'.
"Yours looks like it'll be this one," Arambai remarked, turning to a door with a plaque stating 'Kero's House'. "So, which one of you wants to hold the security? It's a spell that's tied fairly tightly to you and you alone, and is used for the singular purpose of opening this door, though there are ways for you to authorize others for cleaning purposes and the like. Valey? Maple? Starlight? Who wants the deed to one of the most luxury properties in Ironridge?"
Valey shuffled her hooves. "Eh... I really don't see myself coming back here to hang out, Gramps..."
Maple tilted her head. "Shouldn't you give it to the next Yakyakistan ambassador?"
Arambai shrugged. "Relations between Yakyakistan and Ironridge are a little... difficult, right now. We're working through them. But they've pointed out that this door isn't really sized for a yak, anyway, and both Fire and the new temporary ambassador said they were fine giving it up."
"Well, if it is fine by them..." Gerardo nodded. "Also, there are four rooms on this floor, and I can't help but notice only three major countries that commonly come up in discourse. Unless the fourth is reserved for something, and I imagine it would have been stated if you had an ambassador from a smaller or sub-nation, you should have a spare on your hooves as it is."
"Eh... That one is..." Arambai looked at the fourth room, on the opposite side of the hall and a ways down it. "You'd have to ask the griffon ambassador about that one. Honestly, I don't think anyone knows what its deal is."
Curious, Starlight walked over. Across from Kero's house was the Varsidel ambassador's, with a note on the front suggesting it was currently vacant. Then there was the griffon ambassador's... and finally, a room with a plaque on the front that merely read 'Sunbutt'. Starlight raised an eyebrow.
"...Sunbutt?" Valey read aloud over her shoulder. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Your guess is as good as mine." Arambai shrugged, wandering over. "Everyone I've talked to seems to think it's a prank. Never seen anyone enter or leave. The griffon ambassador says it was initially reserved when the tower was being constructed on a request she brought from someone way higher up in her own government, but has no idea how, why or for whom. I think even she thinks it's a prank. Nice gal, by the way. If you're going to be neighbors, even for just a vacation home, you should talk to her sometimes. Apparently she gets lonely, since the floor is basically otherwise empty."
Starlight nodded blankly, eventually deciding she had no idea what the door meant either and turning away.
"Anyway!" Arambai raised his voice, standing by Kero's door. "One luxury Skyfreeze villa, formerly belonging to an insane yak and a mysteriously vanishing mercenary! Going once, going twice..."
Valey grinned nervously and backed down. Maple politely shook her head, looking awkward. Arambai turned to Starlight.
"If no one else wants it..." She shrugged, stepping forward.
"Well, you did help save the city," Arambai said. "Maybe it'll come in handy later. Now, with the help of Dior and that Maia pegasus from the embassy, I've already primed the security reassignment spells. I have no idea how this will feel, but it should only take a moment. Put your hoof on the door like this..." He positioned her limb using telekinesis. "Now hold still."
There was a flooding burst of magic from Arambai's horn, and Starlight's vision briefly blanked, sparks and bands and shapes swimming in it. She felt a brief fuzziness beneath her skin, and then the feeling subsided, leaving her feeling no different from normal.
"That should do the trick," Arambai announced, gently patting her on the back. "I have no idea how to open it, but just try stuff. I'm probably more curious to see what's inside than you are!"
"Remember, I go first!" Valey shoved her way up to the forefront of the group. "Not getting any danger from this place, but it never hurts to be careful."
Starlight nodded, stepping back and looking at the door. It was featureless and handleless, so how would she make something like that open...?
As if it read her mind, the door hissed and seamlessly glided open, leaving Valey staring into the unblocked room. "Woah," she said, jaw dropping. "I guess I know what this dude spent his time thinking about."