With a shimmering roar of magic, the ship's comet pulsed, and their descent slowed to a halt several meters above the treetops. When it was stable, Shinespark appeared on the deck in a burst of teleportation with a frown on her face. "Trouble? What's going on?"
"This." Valey pointed a hoof back at where Slipstream lay. "She looks like she got off bad in a fight, and I'd hazard a guess she found us while she was running away. And that means Riverfall has something she was fighting."
"I don't believe I've heard Miss Slipstream discuss being a fighter, either," Gerardo remarked. "If she was engaged in combat, she likely was desperate, or had no choice."
"Valey?" Maple asked, glancing worriedly at the batpony. "How dangerous does Riverfall feel? Can you sense anything?"
Valey's face darkened. "No. And there's only one time my cutie mark is wrong... and that's when I'm not in danger, but my friends are."
Amber bit her lip.
"What do we do?" Willow asked, tense. "If Riverfall is in danger, I won't be any help in a fight. But some of us will need to go down there to see what's happening, right?"
Gerardo cleared his throat, quickly taking charge. "Those of us who can fly are also the best fighters, which would be Valey, Shinespark and myself. However, none of us are Riverfall natives and would not know likely spots to search for trouble, particularly if Valey cannot detect anything. That means one of you three would need to go with us." He nodded at Maple, Amber and Willow.
"I'll do it," Maple volunteered, stepping forward. When Amber raised a hoof to protest, she cut her off: "No. You're still weak from that sword, and of all of us, I have the most experience being in danger and surviving in a fight. My cutie mark might even be useful, and I still have some magic from the crystal palace stored, though it's nowhere near enough to do what I did in the Flame District again."
"Acceptable." Shinespark nodded at her. "I'll go down, since I have magic and will be the best at carrying others. Besides, I can attack at range. Valey, you're with us. Gerardo, you know how to pilot the ship, so stay here and keep it safe."
Gerardo looked ready to protest, then bowed in confirmation. "Very well. Shall I leave you with my sword, just in case?"
Valey shook her head. "We won't need it, and if anything it could be a liability. Better to keep yourself armed in case you need to defend the ship. We have no idea what we're dealing with, here."
"I'm coming with Maple," Starlight demanded. "No questions. If she goes, I go."
Shinespark blinked at her, paused... and lit her horn. "Fine. Amber, Willow, you stay on the bridge with Gerardo. Carry Slipstream in there as well. Let's go."
Her magic expanded, lifting Starlight and Maple in a cloud of blue, and they rose off the deck and into the sky.
The away team descended below the treetops, hovering far above the road in a triangular formation with Starlight on Maple's back. They rotated slowly, scanning the streets as they moved, but there was no sign of battle. Several pedestrians even stood outside their houses talking, though from above Starlight couldn't tell if there were more or less than usual.
"Still no danger," Valey reported, fur standing on end. "Nothing shooting at us, though Slipstream didn't look like she'd been shot at either. This is creeping me out."
"It is..." Shinespark agreed. "Maple, this is why we have you along. Where is trouble likely to be?"
Maple closed her eyes, thinking. "We know Slipstream was involved, so it's likely to be somewhere she was. But I don't know where she stayed..." She swallowed. "What if she was targeted because she came back from Ironridge? We need to check on White Chocolate and Dior, right away."
Shinespark sucked in her breath. "Dior knows how to teleport. He would escape if he were in trouble. Where's White Chocolate?"
"That way." Maple pointed a hoof. "By air, it's not far."
They sped forward, weaving around trees, and quickly came to Willow's residence. Maple guided them down on the roof of a high tower next to it, and soon Starlight's hooves had wood beneath them once more.
"This is it," Maple said, looking down from the edge. "I don't see anyone around, though..."
Starlight lit her horn, calling on a spell she had devised in her travels to feel through solid objects by detecting resistance against her telekinetic field. She swept it downward through the tower, straining to extend her range, for once pushing a different limit of her horn than how much effort she could expend while keeping it active. She scanned the top floor, then the next... and found two bodies, adult-size and slowly wandering around.
"They're safe," she said. "White Chocolate and Faron. I think. I felt two ponies."
Valey narrowed her eyes. "There could be a lot of other reasons to feel two ponies snooping around at a time like this. Wait here a minute; I'll be right back."
She disappeared into a shadow cast by the tree canopy and slithered out of sight, aiming for a window lower down on the wall. Starlight, Maple and Shinespark all stood, waiting apprehensively.
"I feel numb," Maple murmured. "After everything in Ironridge and so many mood swings and then our trip just now, I think my ability to feel scared might be broken. I'm just... ready. To react to whatever happens, and deal with it later."
"That's better than freaking out," Shinespark remarked, sounding even more tense than Maple. "It's a step in the right direction."
Starlight wasn't sure she agreed, but wasn't about to say so. Her own heart was taught with a mix of fear, worry and pre-emptive anger, and her hooves twitched against the rooftop. She was ready to blow out her horn again in a heartbeat if it would help her friends, but until she had a direction to focus it, all that tension went nowhere except swirling inside her head.
"Back," Valey reported sharply, rising out of the floor again. "No trouble. Whitey and that Sosan dude are both there. They say they've just chilled out and stayed at home since we left, and nothing eventful has happened."
"So it's not that." Shinespark grimaced. "Any other ideas? I have no idea what we're looking for or where we're going to find it."
"Still no danger," Valey said, nodding off to the side. "So this is Willow's place, White Chocolate's place, and basically Amber's old place too, right? Probably not anything to do with any of us, then, and me and Shinespark don't have houses here. Wanna go check on Arambai's old hut?"
Starlight hesitated. "Wait," she commanded, an ugly thought swirling to the surface of her mind. "What if...?" She swallowed. "Never mind."
"Starlight?" Maple looked fondly at her, a strained tension in the back of her pink eyes. "You have an idea?"
"No," Starlight muttered, hanging her head. "I just know that a lot of ponies here didn't like me, since there was that time I crystalled someone and then everyone was afraid of me at Dior's breakfast on the ship. So I was going to suggest checking your house, but..."
Shinespark nodded. "It's a better lead than any we have so far. Maple?"
Maple grimly pointed a hoof. "That way."
The town passed quickly beneath them once again, and the buildings grew shorter, heralding the southeastern corner of Riverfall where Maple's house sat. Starlight recognized it from the air, and winced as Valey zipped ahead in a blast of wind.
"Bad news, ladies," Valey growled, quickly flapping back. "That broken door of yours is smashed in and totally off its hinges. Looks from here like it got sloppily burglarized."
"Vandals?" Maple's eyes widened, and she sucked in a breath.
"Yeah." Valey's eyes narrowed. "But no Riverfall upstarts are a match for me. Cover my exits, Sparky. I'm going to knock some blocks off."
With a firm nod, Shinespark set everyone down in front of the house, and Starlight saw that Valey hadn't been kidding. The door was cracked, one hinge torn completely out of the wall and one heavily on its way, and while Gerardo hadn't been kind to it earlier, this was definitely worse than before.
"My house..." Maple's features hardened, and she stomped after Valey into the darkness. "Who did this!?"
Starlight lit her horn for illumination, racing after them, and had to fling herself into a broken table to break her momentum and stop from treading on broken glass. "What...?" she squeaked, voice cracking as she took in the teal-shadowed destruction.
Maple's bakery display case was smashed, its metal bracings holding only shards as if someone had lobbed a boulder through it, or struck it with a crowbar. All the lights in the ceiling had holes gouged through them, and the dainty round tables were split in two, their single legs split, or else their surfaces chopped along the grain. Someone had been there with an axe, as evidenced by the thick cuts in the support pillars and walls of the house that served no purpose but to act as scars.
Starlight picked her way carefully across the ruin, booting her hooves with crystal to avoid cutting them or wedging glass in where it would hurt. She got the spell second try, courtesy of her practice in the tree room and the power of unfocused rage. She passed Maple, who was staring in horror at the wreckage with pinprick pupils, and made her way across a counter that had had something heavy smashed upon it.
The door the the pantry had been axed as well, and from the sweet smell of mixed fruit coming out and the juices that seeped out along the floor, everything in it had been spoiled. Starlight clenched her teeth so hard it felt like her jaw would break and ascended the staircase, the steps also victims of wanton chopping, not sure what she would do when she reached the floor that was truly home.
Above, Maple's stove had been torn out of the wall, hacked free and then smashed upon the ground. The cupboards were open, the hinges on most of the doors wrenched or smashed off, and shards of broken plates littered the dented countertops and the ground. The windows had been punched out, and someone had clubbed the faucet into a twisted sculpture of unusable metal.
"Yo!" Valey's voice echoed from the open door to the bedroom, and Starlight raced forward, crystal boots clunking against the gouged floor.
Inside, horn still the only source of illumination beyond shattered windows and torn curtains, she saw exactly what she hoped she wouldn't: Maple's wonderful bed, slashed and torn, the bedside stands reduced to kindling and bits of feathery stuffing littering the room. Valey was crouched over something in the corner, and when Starlight brightened her horn, she realized it was a pony.
Again, Starlight charged until her horn brought them into view... and likewise gasped. Jamjars was laying against the wall, her mane still mangled after Valey captured her in the barber shop, and Starlight quickly realized the dark patches on her coat she took for shadows were bruises. And Jamjars was awake.
"Ugh..." The filly spat, trying to move before groaning and giving up. "Starlight...! About time you got back..."
"Yo, kiddo." Valey stood close, but didn't touch her. "You okay? What went down here?"
"You're an idiot," Jamjars hissed through her teeth. "Don't say things ponies can... use against you..."
Starlight blinked. "Me?"
"Yes, you!" Jamjars raised her voice, immediately wincing and lowering it again. "After you left, Hemlock was in the big plaza, and he had some Sosan machine that records stuff and played a clip of you talking about how you enjoyed blowing up the dam on everyone and would do it again! He shouted a bunch and talked about how Gerardo's story confirmed you did it and tried to rile everyone up..." She coughed once, winced, and didn't try it again. "Everyone either knew not to listen to him or not to bother you, but there were like five of them who already hated you for whatever reason and..." She groaned again, eyes burning. "Formed a mob. Someone called Mangrove... was the leader, I think. Hemlock wasn't here. He just made trouble. But they came and tore the place apart to get you to leave. Left pretty recently... I tried to fight them and that pegasus came as well, but my magic's not strong enough and I don't know how to fight..." She coughed again. "You probably could have done it effortlessly on your own..."
Starlight felt her horn starting to burn against her scalp, one word carved into her mind with just as much blunt force as the gashes and gouges that marred Maple's house. "Hemlock, huh?"
Valey stood up. "Welp. A name's all I need to bring someone to justice. Starlight, have Shinespark get this kid back to the ship; I'm pretty sure we've got-"
Starlight was gone in a violent crackle of teleportation.
"Hemlock!" Starlight roared, backed by a magical explosion as she appeared in Riverfall's central plaza, the first place that came to mind. She landed with her horn burning; she couldn't see it, but wouldn't be surprised if actual fire had replaced its usual teal glow. A kernel of darkness twinged at its core, and she was sure that right then, personal limits or not, she could do anything.
Gasps and shrieks filled her ears, forcing her to pay attention to her vision. The plaza wasn't crowded for an event, but plenty of mares were hanging out there anyway, and all were staring at her in terror, freezing or turning tail to run.
"There she is!" one cried to her friend. "I told you those fools would just make her mad! Run!"
"I didn't do anything!" another wailed, flinging her head to the ground and covering it with her forelegs, eyes squeezed shut. "Please don't destroy us too!"
Starlight flinched as if struck by a spear. Whether it was intentional or not, sending her into a rage to find and destroy Hemlock like he had destroyed her chances of a life in Riverfall was only hurting her image even more. She had to do something, say something, make the mares love her and not be afraid any more... but her rage survived the onslaught, and she had another goal that was more important. She teleported again.
This time, Starlight appeared on the roof of Arambai's house with slightly less violence than before. Hemlock's rocking chair was there, but it was empty, and a second later it was gone, destroyed by a twisting storm of telekinesis even more finely than Maple's furniture. Starlight's horn twinged again, reminding her that she had a limit, but she didn't care. Times like this were when limits had to be broken.
"Hemlock!" she shouted again, but more for time to think than because he might be nearby. Why would he do such a thing? Granted, he had regularly quarreled with Amber, and their party had ran him over last time they visited Arambai's, but what did he have against her? When had...?
A fuzzy image floated up from the depths of her memory of a falling boat and collapsing crane, and guided by instinct, Starlight left a shimmer of magic where she had been standing once again.
"What the-!?"
Starlight cleared her blue-tinged vision fast enough to react to the fact that she wasn't alone. Her horn stayed lit, ready to project a wall of crystal to attack or shield herself, but somehow, her opponent was caught completely off guard.
"You!" Hemlock exclaimed, pointing a rickety hoof straight at her muzzle. "Can't you take a hint that you ain't welcome here, varmint? Git!" He waved at her like she was a pest to be shooed away.
"...Hemlock." Starlight leveled her gaze at him, imagining that her eyes glowed. "You destroyed my mother's house."
Nearby, the waterfall that formed Riverfall's namesake was still heavy with the extra drainage from the broken dam and melting Sky District snow. While the river level had fallen from what it once was, all that remained of the shore where Hemlock's crane had once stood was the wooden platform it had been built on, and that too had at one point been underwater. It formed an inescapable arena both her and the stallion stood on, an island in the edge of the river, the surface slick with moisture, and she briefly wondered how he had gotten out there on his own.
Hemlock snorted. "I told ponies the truth. Always knew you were trouble. Here in Riverfall, we respect the old ways, and you have no respect for your elders. So leave! You keep threatening to, so finish the job, already!"
"You destroyed my mother's house," Starlight repeated, dangerous. "Why!? And what's this about you and a recording of me?"
"Oh, you mean this thing?" Hemlock suddenly looked insufferably smug, and pulled out a small, boxy device. "Here. Give yourself a listen, varmint."
He clicked a button, and it gave a snowy hiss of static. "I killed a lot of ponies on the dam when I blew it up and washed away Sosa," Starlight heard her recorded voice say. "I don't regret it and would do it again..."
Hemlock smirked, letting it run on repeat. Starlight folded her ears, mouth open in denial. "I don't... When did I say that!?" she demanded, desperately hoping there wasn't an answer.
"After your goon squad kicked me around for sport on my roof," Hemlock bragged. "Old Arambai had a whole bucket full of these things, so I swiped one earlier in case it would come in handy. Young Maple looked distressed when she left with you, so I followed you and recorded what you said. Got this gem out of it." He put the recorder away with the kind of victorious look only old ponies could wear. "What have you to say for yourself, undesirable?"
"You destroyed my mother's house!" Starlight shouted, stomping so hard her hoof slipped on the dangerous surface beneath her. "That's what I have to say! And don't listen in on private conversations! Now what I want to know is why!"
Hemlock pursed him lips, and Starlight realized his own anger was rising. "Upstart! You're supposed to respect your elders, not forget about your slights of them! You may be from another country, but it's like you're not even trying to adopt our ways and manners! You ruined my public image, is what you did!" He leaned closer, leering. "Sabotaged this here crane for the first time I get to use it in years! I had a respected retirement, and the moment I try to come out to do good for a fellow citizen of my town, you come here and maliciously make yourself out to be the hero!"
"What!?" Starlight took a step back, indignant, and scowled. "Your dumb crane broke on its own! I didn't want attention in the first place, and you went and acted like it'd had maintenance in the last seven years and almost sank Gerardo's boat! I wish I had let it sink, you petty joke!"
"You're the jerk!" Hemlock shot back. "And don't you use your contemporary slang on me, hussy! You think destroying an old stallion's image is funny? I hear mares giggling about me and my crane around every corner! I used to be desired, punk! Well, now you're a villain, and you ain't got no home! That's a little thing we respectable folk like to call fairness."
Starlight lowered her head. "I called you a joke, you joke. The kind ponies make fun of for fun. Because that's what you're supposed to be! I thought you were the weird stallion on the roof everyone complained about and pranked while you weren't looking. You were never respected. You're nothing."
"I was too respected!" Hemlock roared. "What do you know about respect!? When I was-"
"I know that you deserve none and get what you deserve," Starlight snorted, interrupting him. "How do you like-"
"Don't interrupt your elders." Hemlock waved a hoof in her face again. "You're just digging your own hole-"
"Don't like me interrupting, do you?" Starlight cracked a grin, the rage beneath her skin decaying into something sickly. Her horn twinged again, but she kept it lit and took a step forward. "Interrupt. Interrupt. Interrupt! Ha ha ha!"
Hemlock raised a hairy eyebrow. "Are those fighting words, vagabond? You here for a lesson? Then sit down and listen, because in the old days-"
"I'm not sure you get it." Starlight's posture straightened, and she felt like she grew several inches taller. "You destroyed my mother's house." Her horn pulsed harder, and she almost staggered as a wave of bitter emotion clouded her vision. "You shouldn't be thinking about teaching. You should be running. And right now, you can't run." She slowly raised a forehoof, feeling as if it was a million miles away. "You. Are. At. My. Mercy."
Her horn overloaded. The discharge of magic caused her vision to swirl and flicker, and a burst of steam erupted from the river around her. When it cleared, she had used the armor spell on a single hoof... but what had formed wasn't armor.
It was a wicked spike, edged sharply into a sword, with twisted, eldritch patterns on the surface that perfectly matched her anger. She held the weaponized hoof aloft, pointing it straight at Hemlock, and for the first time the stallion seemed to realize she was just as dangerous as he had made her out to be.
"You definitely don't get it," Starlight continued, her voice with a strange ring to it... or was that her ears? "Do you want me to be dangerous? Do you think I'm a city-killing monster? If so, you're an idiot to bait me. Why'd you wait all the way out here, in the first place?"
Hemlock was sweating. Ears folded, he stammered, "T-To get a clear look of the sky, for when you landed! I was watching to see if you would return!"
Starlight snorted. "Idiot. If you didn't think I was all that bad, you lied to everyone, and that's dishonorable. Some old-school values you have. I think your values are garbage. I hate you. You destroyed my mother's house. But I am capable of anything. And I wanted to live in peace, but you couldn't have that. So if you won't let me live here... why should I let you?"
She raised her impromptu sword.
"Starlight!"
A distant voice made her turn her head, and her eyes widened as she saw Valey shooting out from between two towers, just close enough upriver to see them over the waterfall. She glanced back between the spike and Hemlock, and something in her already-conflicted heart stabbed. As much as he deserved it, could she execute Hemlock in front of her friends?
That doubt cracked her resolve, and the sword suddenly shattered into bouncing crystal bits that disappeared in puffs of steam. With it, something changed, and the realization of just how much her horn hurt hit her like a boulder in a waterfall. It wasn't just her horn, either; her entire body felt somehow bad. She staggered with a gasp, even as she felt her vision clear and saw the world grow brighter.
"I knew you couldn't do it." Hemlock smirked, catching her attention once again, and Starlight snarled. "No bite to your bark. Haw haw! Now then, hussy, sit down and let me teach you why your elders...!"
He lunged, and Starlight rolled to the side, eyes on his teeth in case he pulled a weapon. They both hit the floor, waterlogged wood dampening her pink coat. Starlight growled, trying to shake away her headache and get back to her hooves. She put one forehoof beneath her, then the next... and then Hemlock was grabbing her, bowling her over with a sliding charge.
"Gotcha!" he crowed, throwing Starlight to the ground. Her horn sputtered to life again in self-defense, Valey still a ways up the river. Hemlock raised a hoof to slap her, and she caught it with two of her own, kicking back and throwing him away.
"Leave me alone!" Starlight cried. "I didn't sabotage your dumb crane! You're insane!"
"And you're disrespectful!" Hemlock reared back again, standing on his hind legs. "Prepare to... Ow! Oh, my back...!"
Starlight saw her chance, lashing out with her own hind legs from her prone position. She struck Hemlock's hoof, and he toppled, thunking on the wet wood and scrambling towards her.
"Get off!" she kicked him away as he thrashed at her, unable to get up. "Leave me alone! Leave my friends alone! Go..."
Hemlock lunged once again, striking her with something bony, and together they slid to the edge of the platform. Starlight rolled to her hooves first, taking a step back as Valey called out again. The batpony was seconds away...
"Raaaugh!" Hemlock's eyes flew open, and he shot upwards, snarling... but his hind hooves slipped on the wet deck, entering the river with a splash. His eyes widened in panic, he slipped further... and before Starlight could react, he was gone, the waters churning as they always had where he had been.
Whud! Valey landed beside her, puffing. "What did you do!?" she demanded, not even giving Hemlock's fate a second look.
Starlight didn't answer, staring at the river where he had vanished. That had been his fault, right? She sought him out, but he was the one who slipped. He was the one who chose such a dangerous arena, and had antagonized her in the first place, right?
Right?
The stallion wasn't all there, her mind told her. And the dam had been going to blow either way, and everyone there was prepared to die. She had hunted Hemlock down. And the way she had felt before, when she prepared to strike him down in cold blood...
"Starlight? Hey, Starlight!" Valey barked. "I have no idea what kind of spell you were using, but it was weirding out my cutie mark, and that's not cool. Unless you think that fool was going to attack me..."
Starlight swallowed, her headache still there. She had to get back to Maple. She had to get home... wherever that way. She needed someone to tell her everything was all right. Riverfall could still work, couldn't it? It could...
Her eyes found the opposite riverbank, and she numbly took in what looked like a purple tail darting out of sight behind a building. Someone had been watching. It was over.
"I'm sorry, Maple," she murmured, collapsing against the wet platform and slowly blacking out. "I'm sorry..."