Valey was still dripping as she furled her wings on the Immortal Dream's deck, thoughts swirling in her head. If talking with Kero had been good for one thing, it was tearing her focus from Crystal... but now she had thoughts of future visions swirling in her head, of mad monks and of power desired for unknown purposes. Kero had been lying; she didn't trust that griffon with a single melon seed. But about how much? Her head felt like an anvil had been calmly placed inside, and her hooves knew better than her brain did how to get home and let her friends help. She stumbled her way down the stairs, making for the library and the cabins.
She immediately drew to a halt when she saw who was there.
"Hello, chum!" High Prince Gazelle waved lazily from a reading chair, Felicity and Senescey standing mildly at ease nearby. "Fancy place you've got here! Much more amiable than the quarters I usually borrow at sea."
"Buh..." Valey pointed a wing, not sure how much she cared. "What are you doing here?"
"Well... it's funny," Gazelle said, stretching luxuriously. "There I was in Stormhoof, minding my own business and watching the proceedings after the tournament, when what should come along but a huge governmental catastrophe caused by sphinxes who are bad at scheming? So I thought to myself, hmm, this really would be a good time to skip town... since cleaning up after Stormhoof sounds like work I didn't ask for. And who should I run into but my favorite Ironridge heroes?" He winked. "I did you a solid in the tournament, remember? Getting you that private box? Figured you could repay the favor by giving me and my friends a place to lie low for a bit. What do you say?"
Valey rubbed a soggy ear, a little water squirting out from the pressure. "Uhhh... really?"
Gazelle shrugged broadly, spreading his forelegs and shaking his head. "Do I look like the kind of pony to stick around when there's trouble to you?"
Valey winced. "I mean, isn't that basically your thing? Look, I've had a bad idea, so as long as you don't mess us up I just wanna go dry off..."
"Ooh. Harsh but true," Gazelle admitted. "But this is the kind of mess I run away from rather than laugh with impunity while standing directly out of range. You understand, right, old chum?"
Valey glanced behind him at Senescey and Felicity, wondering what they were doing this close to the prince and where Felicity had come from in the first place. "You know what? Knock yourselves out. Just don't do anything spooky, okay?"
Gazelle let her pass with a wide bow, but she wasn't quite out of earshot before he said, "Huh. I expected something feistier."
"I can still hear you, you know," Valey remarked backwards, not looking over her shoulder.
She considered trying her friends' cabins, but Shinespark would barely have her voice back, soft snores emanated from Gerardo's room, and at the smell of food drifting from below, she guessed she knew where Maple was. Jamjars' room had soft voices drifting from it... Starlight? Maybe Amber would be around. She turned to walk back to Maple's room and found herself face to face with Felicity.
"Something bothering you, darling?" Felicity tilted her head, keeping a respectful distance.
"Nope. Just looking for my friends," Valey lied. "So what are you doing here? With the prince dude?"
Felicity chuckled airily. "Tell me you wouldn't take the chance to travel with royalty if offered the same."
"Uh huh..." Valey slowly nodded, feeling very uncomfortable. She needed to find her friends, not come home to a bunch of partial strangers... "You know, that wasn't really an answer."
Felicity regarded her sadly for a moment, then reached out and tapped her with a quick, subtle hoof. Immediately, some of the tension and pressure in Valey's chest lessened, and her head felt a little more clear. "Better?"
Valey blinked at herself, lifting a hoof and turning in a circle. "Woah, what? I mean... wait, hold on, what did you do?"
"A little trick I'm fond of that helps to clear the mind," Felicity replied with a smile. "Were you there when I was explaining my alternate uses for Mistvale arts? I can't remember. You looked weighed-on, darling."
"Yeah, well, I'm also soaked," Valey mumbled. "So unless you can conjure a towel..."
She deliberately didn't point out that Felicity hadn't answered the question, and deliberately didn't ask again. Instead she pushed open a random room that didn't have an occupant, stepped to its freshly-stocked shelves, and gathered some linens, rubbing down first her face and then tying off her mane and tail.
"You're not very difficult to read," Felicity murmured from the door. "Back when we had our very first meeting, I told you my sisters and I were more than ordinary mares, you know. We did offer to tell you everything, and you expressly told us you wanted no part of any skullduggery we partook in. So please don't mistake my dodging about the prince for hostility."
"Oh. Uh, thanks." Valey continued drying herself. No matter how good Felicity's intentions were, even after whatever magic she had used, she still wanted nothing more than to talk to her friends. "Look, if you want to help, could you go get, like... anyone? Sorry. Not really in a mood for chitchat right now."
"How broad of 'anyone', darling? Any specific person you have in mind?" Felicity smiled. "Most of your friends are about here and there, and we flew in on Wallace's airship so he and his team are somewhere too."
Valey waved a hoof. "Yeah, maybe later. Look, like..."
She trailed off. Who did she want? Shinespark and Maple would both be hard to talk about Crystal with, both for different reasons. Gerardo might be intellectually helpful, but she didn't really feel like it. Her next best friend was...
The door across from the one she had chosen cracked open, and Jamjars strolled out, all the contentment in the world on her face. That turned to a frown as she spotted Valey, Starlight standing behind her. "Oh. This room is being used, now?"
"Diiid you want it...?" Valey slowly looked up, returning the frown. "Listen, I just need towels..."
Reading the situation in a heartbeat, Felicity was suddenly at Jamjars' door, peering through. "Ooh, you two are fans of the Firefly Sisters too?"
Something seemed to break in Jamjars' mind, watching Felicity staring into her room and beaming, and her head ticked a little, mouth cracked open. With a very fluid motion, time seemed to unpause for her, and she pushed Starlight out while grabbing Felicity's mane and tugging her into the room. "If you think the collection I have on display is impressive..."
Starlight stumbled, narrowly avoiding a faceplant, then looked back at the closed door. "Does she have any idea what she's getting into?"
"Beats me," Valey sighed. "Look, I'm not really up to processing things that are going on right now. Maybe she was trying to leave me alone or something."
"...Are you alright?" Starlight frowned, entering the empty room.
"Get the door. And nah." Valey looked away. "Look, you, uh... Bananas, why can't the airship just be ours for a moment? Did they really have to choose right now to visit? I really need... bananas."
Starlight walked up beside her, offering another towel. "Something to do with why you're so wet?"
"I'm wet 'cuz I jumped in the fountain to try to clear my mind," Valey groaned. "Listen, I... I don't even know where to start. I found out a million different things, got shoved through a billion more and maybe accidentally did some stuff but I'm not actually sure..."
"Okay, then." Starlight straightened up, taking charge. "I don't know what's going on, but did you find out anything that puts us in danger?"
Valey hesitated. "I, uhh... Well, since we're not in danger yet, I don't think this changes anything?"
"Good." Starlight nodded. "Next question: do you need a hug? It's what Maple would offer."
Valey blinked. "Uhhh..." She glanced down at her soaked fur. "Maybe in a few more minutes?"
"Then I don't know where to start either," Starlight sighed. "At the beginning?"
"I guess? I mean..." Valey cut herself off, swallowing. That would mean talking about Crystal. But not talking about Crystal would mean talking about Kero, and how... "Hey Starlight," she blurted. "Have you ever heard of... of a pony who can see the future?"
"Huh?" Starlight tilted her head, leaning in to catch the words as Valey lowered her volume. "Who can see the future? You mean like you dodging attacks with your cutie mark?" she whispered back.
"Bananas," Valey sighed, ceasing her toweling and slumping down on the floor. "Guess it's really that obvious. I found out that Chauncey, with his whole moon glass foals thing... is apparently searching for a cutie mark that can do that. And that's why Kero and his goons attacked me in Ironridge."
Starlight's eyes widened slightly. "What? That doesn't make sense. Why would they wait so long to go after you? They knew you were there all the time, didn't they? Was your cutie mark a secret?"
"Not really...?" Valey kicked a restless hoof, wishing she could slump lower than the floor. "I mean, I kinda bragged about it all the time. Apparently it was because they were too scared of me to do anything before, but thought that was their last chance..."
Starlight hesitated for a long moment. "So Chauncey wants a pony who can see the future? Or a cutie mark, or...?"
"Beats me."
Starlight's voice got low. "Because I can do that too, remember?"
Valey stiffened. "Wait, you can? Like my special danger sense, or-"
"We talked about it in the hospital, remember?" Starlight whispered. "You told me you had seen a vision while we were by Stanza in Gyre. Something about falling snow and you dying. And I told you I had seen the same thing a long time ago, but we decided to talk about it later. But if that's the same thing and you saw yours with a cutie mark that predicts the future..."
...Great. Whatever this talk was supposed to be doing, Valey's heart was suddenly even more filled with tension. "Yeah, well..." She looked frantically for a way out, aware her brain was probably moving at ten percent of its usual speed. "That might not have been my cutie mark? Look, I don't wanna find out what this means!"
Starlight hesitated. "Your cutie mark was almost glowing while we were down there. I don't know..."
"Just stop," Valey whispered, frozen. "Look, like... Sorry. I just picked a fight with someone I knew would be nasty and am really not comfortable with how it went down, and then got stuffed in another conspiracy smoothie machine before I could even get a minute to clear my head. I just gotta... gotta do something. Bananas, my head feels like a real mess right now."
"Yell into a pillow?" Starlight offered, floating one near.
"Thanks." Valey took it, planted it between her face and the floor, and was silent.
"...Are you going to use that?" Starlight tilted her head.
"Hey, kiddo?" Valey's voice was muffled by the pillow. "Apparently Wallace is around. I think I need to punch something, so see if he wouldn't mind. Also see if he can shoo away that prince and the batponies, and maybe see if Ironflanks wants to take a break from cooking while you're at it. Think any of that's reasonable?"
Starlight swallowed, then nodded. "I'll do it," she promised, leaving with a pattering of little hooves.