With a ripple of shadow, Valey rose from the floor in the back of her friends' private box, everyone still sitting and watching the competition. "Yo."
"Valey!" Shinespark spun, and Maple and Slipstream too. "You sure got back up here fast."
Valey tapped her nose. "Smelling Starlight. Fast and easy." She took two steps forward and sighed. "Well... guess I'm going onward, huh? You all just watching for a bit?"
Maple nodded. "There's a match with Morena scheduled five fights from now. I thought we'd stay to watch her... and we do have this private box, which makes watching a lot more pleasant than if I was out there. Unless you want to go back to the boat?"
"Nah, I'll stay and watch." Valey shuffled forward, looking over the chairs.
"Here." Maple scooped Starlight into her lap, patting the filly's empty chair.
Valey flopped into the seat, giving Shinespark a grin and Maple a friendly nudge. "So, a private box, huh? You guys didn't tell me you were deciding to shell out. Though actually, I did run into a guy the other day who said he was going to throw some nice stuff my way..."
Maple shook her head. "This was a gift from Gazelle. We saw him very briefly. He complained about his job and then left, but I think he was trying to be friendly?"
"Huh. That's cool." Valey shrugged, settling in to watch a pair of unicorns trying to club each other with telekinesis. "I mean, I hope he was being friendly. Dude kind of owes us after how big a mess that pirate ship turned into. It's like we didn't have any teamwork, or something."
Shinespark frowned. "So... what do you think of the hosts?"
"Mister commentator and mister referee?" Valey narrowed her eyes at the floating projection of the stage, Howe standing smugly off to one side as the unicorns traded furious blows with illusory hammers. "On the one hoof, I have no idea how they got them or what they're doing there whatsoever. On the other..." She leaned back, scratching the back of her neck. "Bananas, they're good at it. Definitely didn't choose poorly. Those dudes may be frauds, but they're frauds who know how to fire up a crowd."
"You think they got the position legitimately?" Shinespark folded her ears. "This is what they do. I was Neon Nova's boss for months. At least, I thought I was. And he was a crowd-raiser."
Maple nodded. "When I was talking to Howe in Ironridge... I forget when, but he told me he was a wandering public speaker for hire. Like a mercenary for saying things instead of fighting. He'd tell any story and back any cause as long as you paid him..." She sighed. "At least they're doing legitimate work now that we cleared their names of piracy charges."
"Still can't believe how giddy Wallace was we pulled that off." Valey winced as one of the unicorns suddenly ignored the telekinesis tussle and punched the other in the nose. "Aww. She had a pretty snoot. Anyway. Yeah, Gazelle and Meltdown just offering to... uhh... Actually, how much you wanna bet they just didn't tell anyone? I wonder if they actually have the power to formally pardon stuff, since Wallace had to wish it from Garsheeva and all..."
"They certainly have the power to informally do it," Gerardo muttered, half-paying attention as his gaze fixated on the fight. "Seeing as Meltdown is the one entirely responsible for enforcing the penalties, as far as I'm aware..."
Starlight's ears flicked at the hologram. "Speaking of power, they're using a lot of magic to run all this. But normally they keep everything dark or unpowered because it's so expensive. I bet Stormhoof aren't the ones paying for this."
Maple fondly ruffled her mane. "That's what you're thinking about? This is a big event, so I'm sure they're either getting help or going all-out. Or maybe Meltdown gave them a good deal."
"Yeah!" Valey interrupted, pumping a hoof and cheering. Dropping his telekinesis for the punch had cost the other unicorn the battle, his opponent maintaining her concentration and using the opening to wallop him until he dropped. "Take that, you bozo! Serves you right!"
Shinespark raised an eyebrow. "Are you choosing who to root for entirely on who you think is more attractive?"
Valey shrugged. "Duh. I mean, I know literally nothing else about them. How else am I supposed to choose? Besides, it's not like I'm making any moves on them or saying it to their face. Lame heresy laws don't apply to just looking."
"Oh. Right." Shinespark's ears folded, and she looked away. "That law about inter-racial relationships. I forgot about that."
"Nyeh. It's fine. Thanks for the sympathy, though." Valey reached across Maple and patted her head. "Probably not like I don't have someone waiting for me a million miles away. Ugggghhh!" She stretched heavily, tilting her head back in a yawn.
"I haven't forgotten about the law," Slipstream muttered, fixation on the ring breaking now that Howe was posturing and a new set of fighters was being led in.
A new set of fighters was ushered in, and Valey's ears slowly flicked and drifted toward Nyala. It took all of two blows for her to decide neither fighter was skilled enough to deserve her attention, and her mind wandered until she finally got up, slipping back to stand behind the golden suit of armor. "Hey. How's it hanging?"
"I'm okay," Nyala's voice replied, the armor remaining inanimate and locked in position. "It's nice to get off the boat every once in a while."
Valey nodded along. "Yeah. Hey, sorry I don't spend as much time with you as I feel like I should."
Nyala's voice sounded disapproving. "That's what you say every time, and I keep telling you it's okay. I don't feel like you owe me anything."
Valey couldn't reciprocate, but if every other time she'd tried wasn't the time to work it out, maybe this wasn't either. She sighed quietly, not moving from her position.
"They're pretty skilled, aren't they?" Nyala remarked, eventually trying to make small talk. "This is probably fascinating for you, since you like fighting so much."
"I don't like it. I'm just good at it. I'm..." Valey started to protest, then frowned. "Bananas. Yeah, I like it. Just not what it usually gets me into. Those guys..." She surveyed the fighters for a moment. "The earth pony isn't mixing up his attacks enough. That's the third time he's tried to press an advantage in a row with a right hook, but the griffon isn't good enough to learn from it so he's getting away with it. And the griffon isn't using his wings at all for mobility, which is dumb, because he's smaller and doesn't have the strength advantage. He is using his talons, which honestly shouldn't be that effective if the earth pony was willing to trade and take a slash for a really good position, but the pony's way too scared of them and I can't tell if the griffon knows this and is exploiting it or is just lucky. I think he's going to lose, but that pony doesn't deserve the win." She shook her head. "Neither of them do, to be honest. But eh, one has to get it."
Nyala was quiet for a moment. "You sure do know your stuff, Valey."
"Yeah." Valey glanced at her friends in the seating. "And I wish everyone would take a hint and learn from it. Starlight's trying and doing pretty well for a filly, and Birdo's got his creepy sword, but it would seriously make me feel better if each and every one of you knew a thing about how to defend yourselves." She turned her gaze up to Nyala. "You're a suit of combat armor! You're, like, designed to trash bozos and beat people up! It's not as good as a flesh-and-blood body, but it sure does have upsides."
"Sorry. I know you don't like being the only one who has to keep us safe." Nyala sounded slightly ashamed. She started to say something else, then trailed off into a sigh and didn't continue.
Down below, Valey's prediction came true, the earth pony prevailing as he landed too many blows for the griffon to take and finally worked up the courage to take advantage of his position. Valey slipped back into her seat, giving Maple and Shinespark a yawn and settling in to watch the rest of the battles.