Valey sat at the edge of a balcony overlooking the mercenary compound's central atrium, her hooves folded on the railing. The ponies around her minded their dignity and honor and didn't rush her down with gifts or requests to tell her how they knew someone from the tunnels, but from the respectful nods and thankful smiles, it was impossible to miss now they felt.
"Heh heh..." She chuckled to herself, her cutie mark giving the barely-perceptible tingle of being surrounded by powerful ponies who could fight, but didn't want to. "Hey, Birdo. Say something philosophical or insightful. Ironflanks isn't here, and I think this moment needs it."
"Ironflanks-" Gerardo caught himself, looking ashamed. "Miss Maple is a regular partaker in philosophic discourse? I didn't know."
Valey swished her tail, forelimbs presently unable to be waved. "Fine, not philosophy. Insightful. Sensitive. You know what I mean."
Gerardo touched the corner of his eye. "I'm afraid I don't, but... ahem. How far we've come to get to this moment, no?"
"Generic, but it'll do." Valey sighed. "This feels weird. And nice, but really weird. I have never, actually never, had an entire fort of ponies who are actually happy with me and glad to see me, let alone completely chill about it. And not because they're in a jam and think I can bail them out. Just without me doing anything. Like..." She looked at the floor below, ponies idly milling between tables. "What do I do with this?"
"As a professional receiver of heroic attention, my advice is to bask and soak it in," Gerardo advised. "While wandering the lonely corridors of the world outside civilization, such are the memories I find most useful to hold onto. That is to say, do absolutely nothing whatsoever. Which you presently seem to be doing."
Valey didn't look back at him. "Eh... Yeah, but that involves doing nothing. I get restless with stuff like that. I guess that's my problem, though. Wanna..." She blinked. "Yeah, I have no idea what to go do now."
"Bask!" Gerardo shrugged happily. "As I said, occasions like this call for doing nothing at-"
"Hey. You two." Darkwind appeared behind them with the stealth of a seasoned veteran who no longer knew how to walk normally. "Did you want to take a look at the nursery? I know the idea came up earlier, so I spoke with the mares on staff, and they had no issues with you coming by. Though, I'm not sure what you're going to find there. Right now, we have a lot of foals, so it could be chaotic, but you're probably good at handling chaos."
"Why not, I guess?" Valey shrugged. "I mean, I think we're just visiting, right? So if you want to show us around..."
Darkwind shook his head. "No. That will be Harshwater's job. Kero didn't use second-in-commands, so we've had to put a new leadership system together now that he's gone. As someone who spent a lot of time around him, I've turned out to be important, so I'll be taking this time to check up on other things. Making sure everyone's getting along, and looking into that plumbing incident. Those kinds of things. I'll be back if you need me."
"Looks like you've got me again!" Harshwater pranced up, regally tossing her mane. "Darkwind says you want to see the nursery?"
Gerado tapped the floor. "Anywhere you recommend, actually. We are humble visitors who lack an itinerary, after all."
"Yeah..." Valey stretched, leaning back and flaring her wings. "Nursery or no nursery. Pretty sure it's not gonna contain any major clues about what that moon glass Kero left is. So just take us somewhere really cool, and..." She yawned. "Awesome, okay?"
"Somewhere epic, huh?" Harshwater smirked. "I know just the room..."
"A sparring room?" Gerardo remarked, sounding pleased over the faint noise of clashing weapons and grunting ponies. "Interesting. Although, it does look somewhat disused..."
They stood at the entrance to a long, rectangular chamber with a low ceiling and padded walls. A few benches and empty racks lined one edge, along with some first-aid kits and a water fountain that was so well-used the bar to activate it had half-fallen off. The room was big enough that probably a dozen close-quarters bouts could have gone on at the same time, but as it was only one pair was fighting; an earth pony practicing with a shield against a pegasus darting with an untipped lance. The lights had been dimmed yet again from their emergency state, and half of the room was in such darkness Valey probably wouldn't have been able to see it if she were a normal pony.
"Eh, we had bigger priorities when unpacking after we tried to leave." Harshwater shrugged. "But some ponies like staying in shape, or fighting for fun or whatever. I was hoping there'd be a bigger battle going on we could watch. Boo."
Valey flexed her forelegs. "Are you asking me to go mix it up? I don't see any of those flash clubs, and the lighting would give me a pretty nasty advantage..."
Harshwater's eyes went wide, and she visibly shuddered. "No! Oh, no, I never want to fight you or even see you fight again. Unless you're on our side, but still." She looked away. "I'll talk it up big when the others are around, but between us... I might have had a nightmare about that fight. Just one, though. But you're scary. I was hoping we could watch other ponies fight. Not everyone in our company is crazily strong, but those who are..."
"Oh." Valey blinked. "Whoops. Yeah, sorry about that. Uhh... You weren't one of the ones I messed up real bad, were you? Sorry, there were a lot of you, and it kind of blends together."
"...You shoved me into a wall." Harshwater frowned. "I tackled you when you were going up the elevator and tried to hold you, and then I couldn't get away and you did something to my vision and..." She shuddered again. "I don't know. But I am not fighting you again."
Valey shrugged. "Oh, that. Yeah, the weird vision with shadow sneaking messes ponies up. Comes with being two-dimensional, or however it works. Want me to do it again? Getting used to it is the best way to be cool with it."
"I just said no!" Harshwater snapped. "But thanks. I had something for you, by the way. Hold on..."
She reached into a storage chest next to an empty weapons rack and pulled out a familiar, stout black flash club. "Here."
Valey blanched. "Oh bananas, I hate these things."
Harshwater shrugged. "They're useful sometimes. How many times have you ever fought a batpony?"
"...Never." Valey stared into the distance, suddenly reminded of a time high in a frozen tower, when she had faced one she very much wanted to fight... and shook her head.
"We hadn't either," Harshwater said. "If you ever have to, it's useful to have an edge."
Valey snorted, taking the club and turning it over. "Yeah, probably. Meh. These things are, like... Couldn't you have used a weapon that would be just a little more useful for me to steal? These things make terrible clubs."
"We needed all the edges we could get!" Harshwater protested. "You're strong! We thought we were all going to die!"
"Yeah, well, same to you," Valey muttered, looking away. "I didn't exactly have a good time either, and I usually like fighting. Thanks, though, I guess. I'll keep this around just in case."
Gerardo stepped up, looking over their shoulders. "It sounds as though it was a regrettable encounter for everyone. I suppose the only resolution is that Herman is dead and we all survived?"
Valey exhaled. "Assuming Herman gave them the job, which I'm hearing nobody actually knows? Something like that. Meh. Hey, we should trash some bozos together, some time."
Harshwater hesitated. "...Agreed."
"Cool." Valey leaned back, watching the two battling ponies go at it, both oblivious to their spectators. Eventually, an idea crossed her mind. "So hey, you guys are from Yakyakistan, right?"
"Most of us." Harshwater shrugged, also watching. "Why?"
"Well..." Valey looked away. "This might be totally random and out of nowhere, but have you ever met or heard of a pony there called Navarre?"
"Navarre..." Harshwater's face scrunched in a frown as she thought. "I don't know. Maybe? I don't think so. Why?"
"Oh, nothing." Valey kept her voice as light and nonchalant as possible. "Just wondering. I've got an old acquaintance from up there who's called that. Figured you might have ran into him. But if not, that's cool too."
Harshwater bared her lips, picking at a tooth with a feather. "Sorry. I can ask Remembrance, but don't know myself. She says she hasn't forgotten a single thing that happened to her for the last however many years since her husband didn't make it back from a mission. Changed her name to that and everything. It's half creepy and half sad, but really useful at times. If we've ever ran into a Navarre, she'd know. Any idea what they'd look like?"
"A dude." Valey frowned. "Don't remember his species. He was pretty dishonorable, so probably not the kind of dude you'd deal with, if I'm reading your group correct."
"Huh." Harshwater nodded. "Well, if I see any dishonorable dudes, I'll punch them good for you. That's the idea, right?"
Valey folded her forelimbs. "Something like that."
The sounds of battle slowly dwindled in the background, and when she looked up, the two who had been practicing were packing their tools away, jovially congratulating each other and strolling off side-by-side. Harshwater stuck out her lip. "Boo, it's just us. Nursery, I guess? Or we could go look for Remembrance?"
Gerardo gave the training room a regretful glance. "Well, now that we're sitting here with nothing to do..." He twirled a talon. "I'm starting to feel like indulging a certain earlier offer for a rematch regarding what happened in the Flame District? I do recall you offering as such, and informing me that you were the one I dueled upon the lift platform before being tragically upended by a blow while my back was turned from someone else?"
Harshwater smirked smugly. "I recall beating you fair and square, and you asking for a rematch. But sure! Valey can be the referee. You want to fight me?"
"Hey, Birdo." Valey tapped the table she was sitting at. "I'm not carrying you back to Skyfreeze, so try to stay conscious this time. And knock yourself out."