"Yep. So that's the story," Valey said, having retreated further from the encampment to talk with less fear of being overheard. "We're still not sure what these batponies' deals are, but it's looking like they were right when they said if we stopped or asked what was going on, we wouldn't leave. I'm having a hard time just ditching these dudes here when, like... I know my injuries, you know? Harshwater really didn't look like she was faking or only had one bad encounter."
"This is very peculiar, though," Gerardo Guillaume replied, sitting on the sound stone's other end with Shinespark and Amber. "I'm trying to think of a reason these sarosians would tell us we wouldn't leave if we knew what was down here... Seeing as they were apparently telling the truth, it feels like a show of good faith, and that's very odd to see coming from a party who is blatantly and baselessly oppressing someone else."
"Did you talk to anyone other than Harshwater?" Amber asked. "Because from what you said, she somehow got here later than everyone else. Maybe there's something going on with these merchants she's not aware of that's made the batponies mad? They could be transporting moon glass, or doing something else offensive."
Valey scratched her head. "Yeah, the fact that neither of these sides seem to have talked is bothering me pretty hard, too. I'm not sure it's impossible that the batponies are good guys, but it's possible both sides are bad guys, too. Bananas, there's nothing to rule out."
"Suppose we did nothing, as the sarosians wish," Gerardo offered. "What would be the consequences? Unless this is a renegade faction, it certainly wouldn't hurt our relationship with Mistvale as a whole."
"Well, first off, there's Harshwater." Valey shrugged. "She seemed... sincerely desperate? I dunno, there was some stuff she left out like what she's doing here and why she arrived later, and it's possible she was once up to something suspicious, but I feel like she was legit scared. If we abandon her here, she's either gonna keep fighting to defend this place until she dies, or somehow survive and then remember us as the dudes who abandoned her. And if we let her fly back with us and ditch everyone in the camp, well..."
"It would be cruel to make her live with that," Shinespark finished. "Failing to save someone who's counting on you, especially a large group. It doesn't sound like there are any good options."
"Provided we care about her," Gerardo added. "Though knowing us, I think anything else would be out of the question."
"Yeah, I'm not ditching her. No way." Valey frowned into the stone. "But... that leaves us with all of three options. I walk into the main camp and try to talk to someone other than her, which probably gets me attacked because to everyone else I'm just another batpony. I fly around in the open, which gets the attention of all the other batponies, and might get them to talk if Felicity's with me but also might get me attacked. And you guys could turn around and bring in the whole ship, which would definitely get us attacked but could also get the merchant dudes on our side. All of these are battles I'm pretty confident I could take by myself without issue. The problem is I could be beating up someone who are supposed to be friends."
There was a momentary silence from the other side of the connection. "This is sticky," Amber eventually admitted. "Valey, I think you need to get the batponies' side of things even if that means letting them know you're here. You said most of them are hurt because Harshwater's been fighting them, right? They might be desperate enough to have a truce if you insisted on not fighting back. If they earnestly want us to leave, tell them you're trying to help everyone else get out and... and translate! So much of this could be bad communication!"
Shinespark's voice wearily cut in. "There's another possibility," she warned, "and that's that for religious reasons, they don't want anyone who enters this valley to ever leave. And they wanted us to stay out so they didn't have their hooves even more full trying to keep us here. There aren't a lot of reasons they'd be targeting what's obviously a boat, especially if they wanted the merchants gone."
Valey folded her ears. "Yeah, well, if that's the case, me and Felicity are already down here. So whether we talk to them or not, they wouldn't get what they want, because I'm not staying."
"Speaking of building a boat, actually, there's something else that's bothering me," Gerardo cut in. "Varsidel is a country without a lot of major rivers. It has only one coastline at its eastern edge, and the primary city there is more of an independent city-state not quite like Ironridge but populated by foreigners and distinctly unique from the rest of the area. Furthermore, its primary trading destinations were Ironridge and the Griffon Empire, and as Ironridge was the world's primary supplier of boats specifically designed for both river and sea travel, well... You see where I'm going with this, correct?"
Valey could practically hear the others blink. "Huh."
"What are a bunch of merchants who fly airships and come from a landlocked country doing knowing how to build a boat?" Amber asked. Her shrug was almost audible.
"I'm not sure that's very important, actually," Shinespark said. "Airships have only been produced reliably enough to take over from water ships in the last ten years. If any of these intercontinental traders had the same job that long ago, they'd have been sailors, and would absolutely know a lot about the workings of boats. Some of them might even be Sosans who left the city to find jobs elsewhere when the airships came."
"Yeah, good point." Valey rolled the sound stone over in her hoof. "Anyway, Felicity stepped away for a moment since being an unfamiliar batpony was spooking Harshwater, and I need her to translate, but once she gets back, I think we're going to fly around and try to pay the other batponies a visit. You guys should start heading back, but not get super close or come below the clouds. I just gotta find her again, and then it's time for a batpony-to-batpony visit."
Felicity swam through the forest, silently disguising her shadowy ripples against the twigs and needles on the floor. Ahead of her, Harshwater limped back into the camp; if she was aware she was being followed, she didn't show it.
Harshwater took a back route, not going immediately to her shelter. All the better, since sneaking wouldn't be possible near the cooking fire... Felicity tailed her through the edge of the clearing, using skills honed through years of experience to come up for breath precisely when and where nobody was looking. Eventually, the pegasus reached the main building's door and pushed it open, strolling inside without bothering to knock.
Quietly, Felicity took up a position underneath the two steps connecting the door and the ground, and perked her ears for voices.
"Hey," Harshwater greeted. There was the sound of water being poured and someone taking a drink.
"I thought you were resting," another mare said. "We need you at maximum strength, Harshwater. Please, do not overtax yourself."
A wooden mug clunked down. "Sounds like you're asking me not to fight them, period." Silence. "That ship saw our signal. Some ponies came down, you know."
The other mare gasped. "Did they...?"
"I think they want to help us," Harshwater said, sounding deeply uncertain. "And I'm pretty sure they can. But just so you know, that ship apparently belongs to Shinespark. So if you still-"
"No!" The other voice raised itself, and there was a shuffling of armor as someone stood up. "We do not need Shinespark's help. This is our land now, and we will deserve it on our own."
"Uhhh..." Harshwater sounded painfully dubious. "You can say that, but before I showed up you apparently had to move camp three times and couldn't even raise a single building. You might call it yours, but I'm the one risking my life and doing all the work."
"It is a communal effort," the other mare insisted. "Everypony contributes what their talents can provide."
Harshwater's voice came from closer to the door. "Yeah, but if what you provide is a dream no one is interested in? Ponies follow ponies who can keep them safe. And you're... not doing all that much to protect anyone. You might not have heard, but ponies are starting to call me the boss when you're not around."
"I keep everyone organized and allowed us to grow beyond a group of castaways whose teamwork extends to getting out of the rain at night. It improves our quality of life and strengthens our hoofhold here. You cannot tell me that is not valuable."
"...But nobody wants a hoofhold," Harshwater murmured. "They just want to leave. I'm sorry, but this isn't a cause I want to be martyred for when Valey is right here. It would be so easy to make her clear out the batponies so we could get on with our lives in the rest of the world..."
"But I cannot do this without all of you," the other voice protested, sounding worried. "If you leave, I will... be on my own."
Harshwater huffed. "Or, you could swallow whatever it is you have to prove, let them help, and leave with everyone else? Just think about it, okay? I'm telling the camp the airship saw us and we have friends."
Felicity furrowed her brow as Harshwater left, limping down the stairs and into the clearing.