The rising sun greeted Valey like a beacon, her rain-chilled coat finally granted a reprieve from flying through the night. Her wings flapped on, powering a shivering glide, and she silently wondered how much she would regret it later for pushing herself as far as she had.
Below were fields and orchards, rolling hills and small rivers, and she got the impression she was nearing the southern border of Izvaldi. Stellar time, compared to an airship and counting her detour, but Starlight was still very distant on the horizon. She was making progress, but would need to rest soon, for her ability to fight once she reached her destination if nothing else.
Valey yawned and shuddered. Time to scout out a place she could make herself warm and call her friends... So much for her tournament fight tomorrow.
"Nyaah. I'm managing. Glad I took the last half of that potion, though. Anyway, seriously? You're saying this is Senescey's fault?"
Maple, Amber and Shinespark sat around the sound stone, watching it with concerned smiles. "No," Maple gently insisted. "Senescey says she was told by a dusk statue to nudge us toward the hospital, but that she didn't have any idea this would happen, or that it would target Starlight. She's very worked up about it and trying to reconcile how the Night Mother, who she's trusted all her life, could tell her to do something that would hurt her new friends."
"Right..." Amber agreed. "I didn't see her myself after she ran off, but she definitely looked to be taking it hard. I sure hope it isn't an act."
"Sounds lame," Valey's voice replied. "Yeah... nothing against her, but this is why I think taking advice from a magic statue like that is spooky. Like, it's probably just a big sound stone, right? For all she knows, absolutely anyone could be on the other end telling her to do weird stuff. Could be a maniac, or even some secret manipulative Empire politician. Odds it's someone who actually cares about her are basically zero. As for whether it's an act? Bananas, Ironflanks, you know more about that than me. But, like, from personal experience... even if she doesn't have your best interests at heart, or at least thinks she doesn't, it might be worth it to try giving her a chance anyway. You know. Sometimes the dumb decision can also be the right one? I trust you on how to deal with this, just... remember that your luck with batponies could run out."
Maple folded her ears. "Right..."
"Other than that, though, we haven't learned anything," Amber complained. "So let's say this Night Mother is behind everything. I can't remember where, but didn't someone tell me she might have been on the moon, or something? Where would she want to take Starlight, or what would she want with her? I can't put two and two together, here."
"Yeah, that might have been from me. Lore where I'm from was that she, like, created batponies but is also a weird monster who's on the moon? Bananas, I don't remember. Feels like my head is foggy. Nyegh..."
"Valey, you need some sleep," Maple gently insisted. "And food, and to warm up. Can you get those? You'll be no help to Starlight if you push yourself too far."
"Nnngh... Sort of?" Valey sounded hesitant. "I robbed an orchard just now. Pretty old school, huh?" She gave a weak chuckle. "Belly's full. And I found a farmhouse that's got a fire going, and am hanging out on the roof by their chimney. It's nice and warm, and I left the rain behind a while ago. But, uhh... Guys, I dunno if I can stop. Like, I need to, but can I? What if Starlight...?"
Maple sighed. "Can you rest for two hours? Or how about three? Even if you don't sleep, just... get off your wings, stretch them out and take care of them? It will make you faster in the long run."
"Doing it right now," Valey promised, the tone in her voice making it clear she knew she should be flying.
A small line of ponies stretched inside the lobby of Stormhoof's clinic, all the night's maladies that hadn't been urgent enough to bring in before morning now entering with the sun. A stallion carrying a foal with a cough and a spotted face, a mare limping on three legs, a teen with bloodshot eyes and a coat ragged enough to be a problem all of its own... Several ponies sat behind the check-in desk, splitting the line efficiently between them.
A shadow appeared in the doorway.
The room fell silent save for a crying foal, and the line split cleanly in two as a magmatic gray mare entered the clinic. Meltdown was half the size she had been before, her clunky, ruined suit of armor from two months ago replaced with a sleek, skin-tight amalgamation of glowing conduits and interlocking metal plates. In place of the bulky, melted spikes and fanblades, three jet engines rested on her back and sides, radiator cannons that glowed from within with thermal energy.
"There is an investigation," her bare face announced, the only part of her not covered by metal. "My office has received intelligence suspecting this building of harboring a threat against the Empire. Continue your operations as normal, but don't impede our work."
A line of griffons and ponies entered in behind her, forgoing a military march or uniforms for utilitarian garb, flank and shoulder patches proclaiming their purpose and allegiance. Meltdown met no resistance, the lines of glowing coolant spiderwebbing across her armor and centered around the jet fans pulsing in time with her mood. She strolled forward, some twenty agents in her wake, and soon the check-in desk was back to operating as normal.
Outside a window, a stealthy Gazelle sank back out of sight, strumming his claws together contentedly before his eyes turned further up the building, looking toward the higher-story windows. He had gone unnoticed in watching, everyone in the room's attention captivated by Meltdown... Everyone except a flower pot, where a cleverly-disguised Jamjars was sitting, making the foyer's floral display slightly more extravagant.
Starlight frowned upwards, her eyes tracing along the rounded ceilings of her prison's tunnel maze. These walls weren't bare brick, a small collection of metal pipes bolted to them instead. If gravity had been reversed, the pipes would have formed a stream running along the bottom of a ditch, and she found the more she looked at them, the more they prickled at her curiosity.
They weren't straight pipes, and didn't look like they had been sanely installed, made of hundreds of smooth, tiny segments instead of long, simple bars. Tangled and winding, they sometimes crisscrossed each other, patternlessly hugging against the ceiling and occasionally turning off or twisting in from new walls and directions. At one point, a pipe that looked like it had been broken and organically repaired snaked through a cell grate, and she realized with a chill it was connected to the batpony statue. Were these... sound pipes?
Instinctively, she tried to grow a crystal beneath her hooves, copying how she had seen Puddles use her ice to lift herself up and check them closer, but her horn was turned off and of course nothing happened. She huffed, but it was fine. The protective, hidden and detached feeling from her Nightmare Module persisted, so if there was anything bad about the pipes, they couldn't see her.
Still, her spine tingled when she realized the closest thing she knew that they reminded her of were tree roots.
Valey lay on her back on a roof, bathed in mid-morning sun, feeling warm wood smoke blow across her tail and wring every bit of latent water away. Her coat and mane already felt wonderful, if very pungent, and her wings had been enjoying the rest. Hopefully no one would mind when she got back... No, the bigger issue was that reeking would make it harder for her to hide. Hopefully it would wear off over a day of flying.
She rolled an apple back and forth along her forelegs and chest to amuse herself, debating how best to prepare. She had eaten as much as she felt like, was presently in easy country, and that might change as she got further north... Into her hat the apple went, alongside the sound stone and a small mana battery she used for charging it. She might as well grab a few more.
Finally finished warming, Valey decided she had had enough and spread her wings. They weren't as stiff as they could have been, and she grinned, flipping to her hooves. Sleep could wait a while longer, and she rubbed her eyes to prove it. Time for as much flying as she could manage.