As Valey made her way through the streets of Gyre's capitol, a ring-shaped city around the central castle, she became more and more convinced that the guards she had seen at the entrance were a perfect measure of everyone else. Anyone with a weapon and a uniform in this place fit perfectly in one of two categories: they would watch her do nothing wrong and come after her anyway, or let her get away with anything and just not care.
Panting lightly, she stared down at an aggressive mare whose face she had just kicked into the road, wondering how badly she had scuffed their nicely-pressed uniform. The mare had supposedly had backup... but those backup guards were more interested in snickering to themselves about how she got trounced by a sarosian than doing anything to help.
Valey sighed and wandered away unscathed. A heavy black cloud cover had rolled in, though judging by the desert climate, she wasn't sure if it would rain any time soon. It was like even the weather was mocking Gyre, the cloud blanket serving only to reflect the city's teal manalight and make it never truly night.
Her hooves clacked against a metal-plated sidewalk, the ground gridded for traction but with only dust beneath. She still checked it several times, looking and hoping for a way beneath the ground: Starlight was nearly directly beneath her by now, and moving around a lot. But mostly, her gaze was drawn upwards instead, stacks of metal buildings reaching upward along the sides of the streets with almost mechanically-designed precision. A perfect grid of unopening windows probably heralded a residential complex, and she decided that however tight, corrupt or authoritarian this place reeked of being, it was still a much safer place to live than the Gyre countryside.
How was this place so bright, though? Stormhoof looked extremely prosperous, and it could barely afford to keep itself lit at night, so much so that it was a security risk. Gyre, on the other hoof, was practically glowing with wasted energy, even the alleys having flickering floodlights to keep them from growing dim. The streets had sidewalks that were raised slightly with a curb, and inside those curbs were bright horizontal lights that made the streets themselves glow blue, which was useless as far as she could tell aside from effect. It would probably nicely fit a dictator's sense of style, though.
Did Gyre have the money to afford this? Nothing but a show of splendor for the capitol? It was far too deliberate to be excess and mismanagement. Valey sighed, the buzzing of an old lamp ringing in her... Staircase!
She whipped around, backing up several steps to the last alley she had seen. The alleys in this city were actually remarkably clean, as if some poor fool had been paid to properly wash them. She had seen a door...
This alley was metal, just like everything else in the city, with several stacks of crates and a rolling trolley littered around service entrances to the buildings on either side. But there was also a grated entrance with a roof that sloped downward, padlocked closed and containing her coveted staircase. Was this what Valey was looking for? She peered in, and hoped it was... but it was also covered by enough light that she couldn't shadow sneak. She growled uselessly.
Several creative minutes later, Valey had managed to get one of the crates onto the rolling trolley used for moving them, rolling it right up against the grate until it was firmly in its shadow. Licking her lips, she wriggled under the trolley, slipped into darkness, and quickly swam her way to the other side.
Poof! The staircase was lit from the inside, too, and she was ejected the moment she made it through the bars, sitting up and rubbing her head. She groaned, glad she hadn't gone into a tumble, and looked back at the entrance. If she wanted to get back out of here, she'd have to smash the staircase light... and it looked a lot more armored than the kinds of fixtures she was used to. This had better be what she was looking for.
Maple, Amber, Shinespark, Gerardo, Nyala and Slipstream sat in their reserved box in the colosseum, a somber mood passing over all of them. Down below, a challenger was eliminated, Howe cawing about the end of their Regent-powered tournament run while a victorious earth pony mare patted them sweetly on the head. Maple couldn't speak for her friends, but in the face of killing time, she definitely felt she had somewhere better to be.
"You ever looked at the royal house boxes around the ring?" Gerardo whispered to her, nudging her and Amber's shoulders. The colosseum was like a bowl with a secondary depression for the ring in the very middle, and the walls of that depression were a twelve-sided ring of windows, giving whoever got to sit behind them a prime view of the action.
"Sometimes," Amber answered. "Why?"
Gerardo narrowed his eyes. "Because it looks like we've got a friend. Might be a bit hard for you to see from this distance, but that broad-shouldered fellow straight across from us, with the expansive fur coat? That's Lord Gondolus Gyre."
"Really?" Shinespark instantly entered the conversation, standing by Amber's side.
"Indeed." Gerardo nodded. "I haven't seen him for a while, but he looks no different than I remember. The tournament, particularly the second round, plays out over such a long period of time, most of the royals come and go, dropping in whenever they feel like spectating. Seems he's decided it's his turn to pay us a visit."
Maple swallowed and nodded. "So it's his province that Starlight is in. I wonder what's there for Starlight to be taken to? Or if it's significant that he's away..."
Gerardo shrugged. "Who can say?" He grinned. "At least we know for certain that Starlight won't be forced to face off in any royal duels for the honor of the province, no? It can't be bad for her, having him away."
"Or it could mean anything else," Amber countered. "Or nothing at all. Don't... joke about that? I know you're trying to relieve tension, but we're all nervous."
"Ah. Apology extended." Gerardo winced. "Still, he is here. I wonder what kinds of things he's thinking about..."
"Probably watching the tournament," Nyala murmured. "Like everyone else."
Slipstream gave the suit of armor an apologetic nudge. "You never get much into it, do you?"
Nyala shied back a little. "I don't enjoy fighting. It seems like there are so many better things they could do for entertainment."
Amber wandered over and gave her another nudge, leaning supportively against her shoulder. "Heehee, yeah, Valey told me once about how you went up to a tower of evil scientists this one time and just went on in, completely unarmed. But don't you worry. Even if it's not your style, we've got your back. Right, Gerardo and Sparky?"
Gerardo grinned, patting the black sword at his side. "In the event of trouble: trouble, thy name is mud. We have more than got you covered."
"Yeah," Shinespark added, more focused on the beginning round between two pegasi than anyone else.
Maple watched her, letting her other friends talk with Nyala, and she shuffled over into the space they had left empty. "Not having much luck distracting yourself?" She put a hoof on Shinespark's orange shoulder.
Shinespark's ears went down. "Trying and failing," she murmured. "Hard not to think about Valey and Starlight. I wish we could call them again."
Maple gave her a quick squeeze. "Valey made good time, and is too close to Gyre for us to afford distracting with a call. She'll get Starlight back and contact us again before you know it."
Shinespark just sighed, her posture stiff and rigid.
"We could go for a walk?" Maple offered. "It seems like being here isn't making you happy."
"We could," Shinespark agreed. "...Sure. Just to anywhere?"
"Why not check the schedule board?" Maple suggested. "See if there's anyone we know posted for fighting soon."
Shinespark shrugged in agreement, following Maple up and out of their box.