//------------------------------//
// Life Goes On 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Valey and her friends made their way immediately for the Immortal Dream after leaving Wallace's ship, unable to fly thanks to Valey's condition but still finding the late-afternoon shadows long enough for her to sneak through most of the streets without notice. It wasn't widespread yet, but every now and then, they passed a conversation quietly buzzing about Wallace's bout and subsequent surrender to that previously-untouched challenger. Starlight kept her ears perked, and surprisingly, there was more argument than she thought about the state of Wallace's injuries. Not everyone, it seemed, but plenty of ponies and griffons were willing to wonder if he had been just that hurt and trying to keep it from showing.

"Well," Shinespark remarked, finally trotting up to the corner of the docks where her ship was moored. "Looks like we got back here without trouble!"

"Hmm!" Maple nodded appreciatively, her ears going straighter. "I thought for sure at least someone would know where we lived and come to bother us..."

"You're welcome," a voice cheerfully called from the prow, and Jamjars stuck her head over, watching from the roof of the bridge. "There have been six groups already. I made them get lost."

Gerardo frowned. "Told them to, or... err... made them?"

Jamjars shrugged, looking proud of herself, and hopped down to the docks. "Politely encouraged them. With seawater. They didn't know it was me."

"Uhh..." Valey raised an eyebrow, looking up at Jamjars and then down at the very wet dock surface, holding her hoof cast above it. "Thanks?"

"That's not a good way to make a good first impression," Starlight mumbled into the back of Maple's neck, riding on her back as they entered the boat.

"So..." Maple let out a sigh, standing around once they reached the library and not taking a seat. "Now what?"

Valey groaned, carefully slumping onto one of the plush reading chairs. "Well, we're not booking it to Izvaldi and my butt hurts, so figuring out how badly I need to get back on my hooves would help..."

Maple nodded. "The question is more what we can do about it. Do you want the rest of this potion?"

"Ow. Yeah, maybe. Bananas, every muscle from here to here feels like it was run through a pasta press..." Valey tried to massage herself with her good wingtip and forehoof, wincing as she curled around to make it work. "Yeah, my spine definitely doesn't like that. Ow."

Starlight gave her a look as Maple shifted beneath her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Nyaaah... Ugh." Valey rested her chin flatly on an armrest, blinking unhappily. "This bandage itches. I need a professional masseuse, an all-you-can-eat buffet, and a huge nap... Ironflanks, any chance you know anything about that? Or any of the rest of you, for that matter?"

Gerardo shrugged. "I'm afraid none of those are in my repertoire. Perhaps I'll just clear out so the room becomes less-cluttered?"

Slipstream nodded, following him out, leaving only Shinespark in the room with Maple, Valey and Starlight. "Well, I..." Maple looked at her forehooves. "Sort of? A long time ago I tried to give massages for Willow when she was having her first two foals, but I mostly just followed her instructions and did what she said. I could start dinner early and make something special, though?" She brightened. "What would be the best possible thing I could cook for you? I'll do that!"

Starlight hopped to the floor as Valey thought for a moment. "Uhhh..." She glanced upward in contemplation. "Bananas, I dunno. Something there's a lot of. With a sauce. Thick sauce, uhh, savory." She blinked. "Maybe on biscuits?"

"I'll see what I can do!" Maple beamed, rushing for the staircase.

That left just Starlight and Shinespark. "She's eager to help," Shinespark remarked. "I'd be too, but I have no idea how. I'm still trying to process everything that happened."

"Oh, you're trying to process it?" Valey looked up at her. "Ow. Well, uhh... You're in good company?"

Shinespark moved over and sat down by her chair. "That fight was a surprise, how it ended was a surprise, you hurt yourself, and..." She sighed. "I don't like seeing my friends injured. You were out several hours, and we waited by your bed the entire time."

Valey faintly nodded, her neck mostly held in place by her posture and the chair. "Yeah... thanks. Probably reminded you of Ironridge, huh?"

Shinespark bowed her head and didn't have to answer.

"Nyegh. I'll be more careful." Valey rolled slightly and licked her lips. "Hopefully I don't have to fight Wallace again for a while, if ever. If I go on. Which, I'm apparently far enough in it barely matters..." She huffed, trying to stretch a hind leg and failing to get comfortable.

"Please do?" Shinespark put a hoof over the chair, resting it on Valey's back. "You talked about entering the tournament for my sake, remember. Something you wanted to prove to me. So... try not to get yourself this hurt on my behalf on a regular basis, okay?" She smiled hopefully, than narrowed her eyes, pressing a little with her hoof. "Now how do I do this? I've got nothing better to do and I want to help."

Valey groaned appreciatively, stretching herself out on her belly. "Yeah, cool. Pretty sure you just... ow. Rub whatever feels tense? Wing joints, a little lower..."

Starlight figured the two mares would be fine on their own and had nothing to contribute, so she quietly turned and slipped away.





Starlight sighed, slipping out onto the Immortal Dream's deck and slowly letting the door close behind her. She hadn't spoken much while Wallace was telling Valey how things were. She hadn't needed to. Nothing she could say would change anything that had happened, and as far as she was concerned, whatever going too far was had been left behind a long time ago.

A sea wind tickling her mane and ears, she groaned, folding her forelegs on the railing and resting her chin on those. Public attention. Ponies who would want to hinder them. Really? Just because Valey did something stupid and made a big name for herself, all of them had to be endangered over that? She focused for a moment, imagining herself having Valey's cutie mark and feeling a dark tide of ill events bearing down on them, until she suddenly blinked and grimaced, realizing she was fantasizing about having a cutie mark and mentally smacked herself. Then she wondered why she cared any more, if marks came with real power and hers might be power she could use to protect her friends. Then she realized she hadn't been fantasizing so much as afraid of the possibility, and then she realized just the prospect of being famous still ticked at her nerves on a low, long-forgotten level, and she finally huffed, too many ideas and worries crowding around when she just wanted to be safe.

"Urrrrgh..." she whined, throwing her head back to stare at the cloudless sky. A pony walked past on the dock the Dream's mooring branched off of, and she silently dared them to mess with her by turning to approach the boat... but they didn't. Right now, things were peaceful. She didn't like it when the prospect of that changing prevented her from enjoying the peace.

"Someone sounds stressed out," Jamjars remarked from behind her, earning a flick of her ears. "Care to commiserate?"

Starlight slumped. Jamjars was the last pony she wanted to talk to... but then again, she didn't have a clue who was the first. And it wasn't like she had anything better to do. "Sure. Why not?"