The hallway Valey found herself in had a guard on patrol, but his back was to her, and he was too startled to even attempt stopping her as she shot past. "Watch out behind you!" she warned, seriously wondering if the chef was making enough of a nuisance of himself that everyone would forget about her or let her off easily.
She didn't detect him immediately on her tail, but with that many bigger guards potentially close behind, she couldn't rest to carefully assess the situation. There was too much adrenaline for her to concentrate on small changes to her cutie mark, so she simply flapped and flew, hoping the chaos would fall down on her side if it came down to a question of who had done what and figuring all guards could be handled like the last one had.
Small, arched windows lined the outer side of the hallway's curve, showcasing a starry sky outside. Valey grumbled, remembering that her ultimate destination was up and Grandpapa's assertion that all aerial entrances to the keep would be guarded. These ones certainly weren't, and it wasn't like she had avoided attracting the attentions of guards anyway... but she also wasn't even sure she should be looking for Starlight and her friends with this much heat on her. What would she even do once she found them?
Lights warmed to life in the corridor as someone turned on the power, reminding her that this was no time for stalling. She needed to get somewhere where no one would find her, fast, but if she left the keep, who knew if increased security would make it even harder to get back in again? And the rest of the castle island was little better; she'd have to fly all the way to land...
The corridor forked, one path continuing around the ballroom and one extending outwards in an enclosed bridge to a separate, smaller high tower a short distance away. Valey quickly weighed her options and decided if anyone thought she was a high-profile thief or criminal, they'd be more likely to assume she stayed in the bigger keep. Across the bridge she went.
Night air blew in the windows on one side and out the other, rushing across her back in a cool tide that made a welcome aide to her endurance. Panting, she slid into the smaller tower's foyer, scanning the unlit room for cover...
"Hello," a startled voice remarked to her right. "What's got you in such a rush?"
Valey whirled, blinked, saw the guard, and internally groaned. That was one of the weaknesses in her cutie mark: it didn't throw up red flags for neutral parties just because they would be more inclined to take her enemies' side in a fight. She had been going way too fast to catch that kind of subtle difference.
"Uhh..." She swallowed, throat dry, debating knocking him out then and there, but that would be a bad idea. "Look, there's a crazy guy with an axe flying around the ballroom, and he might be coming this way! I was-"
The guard's eyes widened, and he instantly flung a mechanical lever she hadn't seen against the wall. Clang! Heavy grated bars sprang up from the floor, blocking off the entrance Valey had just come through.
She glanced back at the now-sealed bridge, once again employing a method of security utterly ineffective against batponies, and licked her lips. "Uhh...?"
"Thank you for sounding the alarm," the griffon managed, looking slightly more nervous than one of his profession should. "You're welcome to wait here, citizen, or there's a guardhouse three floors up that should be more secure..." He gestured toward a grand staircase leading up. "I must rouse His Highness's guards in the name of defense!"
Valey blinked rapidly. Not only had she ran into another creature who didn't hate batponies, but she had somehow accidentally switched sides and was now under the guards' protection? The Griffon Empire made her head hurt, but she was far too opportunistic not to roll with it. "Oh, bananas, thanks..." she panted, making a show of relaxing and jumping for the staircase. "I owe you!"
She charged up the staircase next to the guard, marveling at his gullibility and lack of suspicion even though she was telling the truth. This was like the time she snuck into Karma Industries and pulled the fire alarm just to see what would happen!
The next floor had two guards, and both looked more suspicious and better prepared than the first. "Wot's going on?" one growled in a deep baritone.
"This citizen says there's an axe murderer on the loose!" the first guard informed them with wide eyes. "I barred the tower and thought to raise the alarm!"
"An axe murderer?" the other new guard asked incredulously. "In Stormhoof? That's preposterous! Why, that sarosian could be an assassin planning to axe His Majesty herself, playing us all for fools!"
Valey rolled her eyes, realizing quick acting was needed. "Yeah, I've got a billion axes in here. Look, you can have my packs if you want 'em, I just don't want to lose my head..." She slipped her saddlebags off and emptied them over the ground, expertly maneuvering with her wing in the process to move Amber's sound stone to her hat without anyone seeing. Three pieces of fruit and the golden card from the bar slipped out, tumbling to the ground. "See? Lunch and some weird thing a hobo gave me in a bar."
All three griffons recoiled. "Kindly put that back where it belongs, if you please!" the deep-voiced one requested. "I have no interest in being tricked into accepting a such magnet for trouble!"
Valey blinked. "What, this golden-"
Clang! With a primal screeching, something metal struck the bars blocking the bridge below, along with shouts and commotion behind. Valey's eyes widened at the realization that Moriarty had somehow not been subdued yet, and all three griffons glanced between each other with sudden realization.
"We should defend His Highness at all costs," the deep-voiced one decided, and the others nodded in agreement.
Before they could act, however, a light flickered from the next staircase up, and an annoyed shout reverberated down. "Guards? What in Garsheeva's breath are you doing down there!? I am pursuing the secrets of ancient lore, and the exacting mathematics and recall involved are beyond your capacities to understand! I pay you to guard my peaceful study, not make boorish rackets! If I come down there and see one griffoness or Sosan bottle..."
A creature in ornamented academic robes stomped down, and Valey blinked, suddenly recognizing the cowardly sphinx from the pirate ship. She had chosen to hide in his personal tower?
"Your Highness, it appears there is a deranged axe wielder at the gates of your tower," the guards informed him, cutting him off as he stared at Valey with a raised paw and a question on his lips. "We recommend-"
The sphinx's ears folded in horror as more clanging and the sounds of a struggle erupted from the room below. "We must flee to the secure upper keep at once!" he demanded, already sprinting up the staircase. "Quickly! To my chariot!"
After half a second's hesitation, the three guards all ignored Valey and gave chase, leaving her alone and forgotten. Returning to stealth mode, she gave her heart a moment to calm, then followed along at a careful pace. Why a flier needed a chariot was beyond her, but such a thing would surely be bulky and have a dark underside for her to hide on...
She reached the chariot room to realize she hadn't noticed an imaginary problem. The sphinx was yelling at his guards from a covered sky wagon, and the three griffons were actually arguing back.
"For Garsheeva's sake, Geribaldi!" one guard exclaimed, visibly exasperated. "Rodriguez called in sick today, and it takes four able fliers to lift a chariot! Just use your wings and fly on your own!"
"Have you lost your minds?" the sphinx, Geribaldi, countered. "I'd be vulnerable to arrow fire! Or thrown axes, as you say! And what about a flying assault, hmmmmm!? You should each be worth at least one and a third normal griffons! Isn't that what I hire you for?"
The guards were at their wits' end when one noticed Valey. "You there!" He pointed a commanding talon. "Help us convoy the Prince! You are conscripted into service in accordance with Stormhoof Decree eight-eight-nine one-four-two!"
Valey blinked. "Like, help you carry that thing? Up the tower?"
"Relying on a sarosian," Geribaldi spat, retreating into the covered chariot and slamming the door. "Weak."
The guards watched her with a mix of fear, stern authority, and hope, and Valey jumped at the chance. "Count me in, I guess," she agreed, taking a position at the chariot and wondering just when her luck would run out.