"There you are!" Valey whispered, ears perking as Felicity swam quietly through the forest, clearly looking for someone. "Where'd you go?"
Felicity perked too, beaming when she saw Valey. "Darling! I fear I neglected to plan for how we'd meet up again once I wandered off... Just trailing our new friend while you were calling yours to see how trustworthy she is and what she decided to do with herself."
"Take a load off, I hope," Valey replied. "Anything interesting?"
"Mmm..." Felicity bit her lip. "I think she's genuine, darling. I also learned there's a bit of an unintentional leadership struggle in that camp. Sounds like they have a boss who's actually not that keen on leaving, but doesn't speak for anyone else? Your friends might... encounter a bit of opposition, bringing the ship here, but also a warm welcome. Most likely, it would cause trouble in the camp itself, though I can't guess at how much."
Valey nodded, processing. "Okay. So, the plan is we try to get the batponies' attention and go talk to them. Whatever's going on here, they've clearly got a side of the story too. Sparky and Birdo are bringing the ship closer, but not all the way back. We learn more and play it by ear. Sound cool?"
"Smashing," Felicity agreed. "The one thing Harshwater and this boss seemed to agree on was that the sarosians leaving them alone would benefit everyone. And if there's a chance good communication is all that's standing in the way of peace, I do believe we're the mares for the job."
"Right. So, we need to get their attention." Valey looked up at the clouds, visible through a hole in the canopy. "From what happened to Harshwater, I'm betting flying around in plain sight is the best way to do that, though we'll need to be far enough from the camp that they don't fire that dumb trebuchet at us. It's probably so inaccurate it's completely harmless, but would be a really good way to raise tensions. How good are you for flying?"
"Right now?" Felicity grimaced apologetically. "Well, I'm feeling mostly rested-up after earlier, but I think we've established however much that counts for is questionable, especially if we're gaining a large amount of height. I think the only way is for me to do my best and you to be on guard."
Valey eyed her slowly. "Right... Yeah, no offense but you're the tiniest bit bigger than average and if I have to do a straight height gain with you on my back, that's already a maybe. Never mind trying to fight if these bats turn out to be lemon bags and I'm weighed down. We could dive for shelter in the camp, but that'll just get more ponies in on the fight..."
Felicity winced. "Dreadfully sorry about being a burden, darling. Especially since I am necessary for translation..."
"Nah, it's cool." Valey strolled over to her, spreading her wings. "Remember, these guys are apparently beat-up from fighting Harshwater solo, and I count for, like... sixteen of her in a fight. I'm fresh, too. And if they somehow do have Mistvale arts hidden somewhere, us being close together might be a good thing. Anyway, go? I'm ready to get on with this show."
"Ready," Felicity promised, eyes showing she dearly hoped it was a promise she could keep.
When Valey cleared the treeline, Felicity was still going strong. She hovered under her red-maned friend keeping close watch, and while Felicity's breathing was labored and her progress slow, it wasn't dangerously slow.
They kept rising, drifting away from the camp and out clockwise along the edge of the bay, and eventually were twice as high as the trees in the valley. Valey hovered closer; she could clearly see Felicity flagging and slowing down. Watching her like this, she couldn't believe she had missed the mare's signs of exhaustion on the trip down... though a straight glide was far easier than gaining altitude, and she had been leading the way.
"Sorry..." Felicity gasped, wings beating fruitlessly and face twisted in exertion. "I think I've done my best for this flight..."
Instantly, Valey was beneath her, letting Felicity's legs wrap around her barrel as she shouldered the other mare's weight. "Cool. Save your strength, we've gotta be high enough for them to see. Bananas, you're heavy..."
"All in the flanks, darling," Felicity apologized with a rueful smile. "Still think you're agile enough if it comes to a fight?"
"To dive? Yeah." Valey held them aloft, slowly turning in circles as she surveyed all directions, feeling her cutie mark and especially aware of the clouds inches above. "And that's all it takes to get back to the ground. Now where are you!? Come out, batponies!"
It took less than a minute. Her flank wasn't tingling. A single fanged face poked down, hovering inside the cloud cover, watching them with mixed hope and fear. It pointed a hoof at the camp below and to the side, and said, "Danger."
Felicity cleared her throat, uttering something in Sarosian Valey guessed was a declaration of her ability to speak the language. The batpony watching them looked relieved, and chittered something back.
"Err..." Valey could feel Felicity's grip on her tighten uncertainly, and Felicity's muzzle brushed her ear. "He's asking if we're cursed, darling."
"Cursed?" Valey blinked in confusion. "Bananas, I hope not?"
This didn't seem to calm the sarosian's conflicting emotions. "Help?" he asked, accent thick.
Valey grinned.
Felicity spoke again, longer this time, and the batpony's expression changed several more times, ending on worry. "Stop," he requested, disappearing into the cloud cover.
Suddenly alone again, with a faint sense of danger in her cutie mark, Valey kept up her hover, wishing she at least had somewhere to go or a target to work towards while carrying Felicity's weight. "You get anything more than I did?" she grunted, hoping at least for conversation.
"Hmmm..." Felicity thought for a moment. "I'm afraid my grasp of the language might only be about ninety-nine percent as opposed to perfect, darling," she explained. "It is my native tongue, but it doesn't get used all that often in the Empire... but the tense he used when speaking about us, I believe, implied he expected to see us. And that he expected us to be cursed. It's not a perfect translation, since the variant of curse he used carries some religious connotations that-"
The batponies returned. This time, there were seven.
"Oh. Uh, hi?" Valey grinned awkwardly, recognizing the very round mare who had boarded the ship. Most of the sarosians looked nervous or mistrustful, but this one flat-out watched her with a wounded expression, hurt in her eyes. "Look, it's not feeling great, getting looked at like that..."
Felicity immediately spoke over her, tone hurried. The batponies blinked at each other, back at them... and the round mare said something which Felicity translated. "I told you if you came down, you would get involved."
Valey's eyes widened slightly, the sensation of danger growing on her flank. Surveying these batponies, none of them looked particularly crippled or injured in the short term, though they did bear some signs of combat... but of course they'd send their healthiest ponies first. "No!" she protested, hovering upright and waving her forehooves. "No fighting! We just wanna talk!"
As if in response, her cutie mark spiked dramatically, and she dropped, dodging downwards as the batponies surrounded her on all sides. They dodged too, and immediately a boulder tore through the air, flying up straight through where the group had been hovering.
"Oh bananas...!" Valey spun, seeing the still-swinging trebuchet in the camp below. "How are they so accurate!? Someone down there must have a cutie-"
"Betray!" one of the batponies shouted above her. "Trap!"
Felicity shrieked and ducked against her just as Valey looked up. All seven batponies were glaring at her, and the round one looked sick.
"No!" Valey shouted back, blatantly aware they were about to attack. "I mean... sorry about this!"
Without leaving her time to explain, the sarosians dove. Valey immediately flipped on her back, deftly unclasping Felicity's hooves from her barrel, and kicked off her, careful to avoid the mare's belly. Felicity was launched downward with a yelp of dismay as Valey shot back upwards, vaulting over the ring of hovering ponies and stealing their attention with a yell.
She only had a few seconds, and was grateful when they made her job morally easier and charged. "Ngahhh!" Valey grunted, grabbing the first one's head and shoving her into a spin. She darted backwards, letting the next two hit her at once. Flipping sideways, her hind hoof met one between the legs; as he yowled, she punched the other's windpipe, pulling the hit and letting him know she could have crushed it if she went all out.
Four remained, and they weren't coordinated at all. "No fighting!" Valey hissed, grabbing and spinning one so they crashed into another, flipping over the third's back and chucking them by the tail. For an instant, she was face to face with the round mare, gave her as apologetic a look as she could muster... and then dove, following Felicity's panicked screams.
Her friend hadn't managed to pull herself upright or stop tumbling, but Valey dropped like an arrow, catching up to Felicity easily before the trees. Timing herself against the mare's spins to avoid getting kicked, she lunged in, wrapped her forelegs around Felicity's shoulders, and snapped her wings out, pulling frantically into a swift, sharp glide.
"Eeeeek!" Felicity grappled her back, upside-down as they flew and looking very green. At the last second, as the rocky beach approached, Valey realized there was no way she was going to avoid a crash-landing; while their momentum was safe, she was too heavy and all her hooves were currently occupied.
With a final grunt, Valey flipped on her back, painfully impacting the stones and skidding to a stop, Felicity smashing down atop her. She opened her eyes, reluctant to move and resolving to take new appreciation before ever flattening someone as an attack or joke again.
"D-Darling," Felicity weakly whispered, still clinging to Valey like her life depended on it. "It's taking every bit of ladylike poise I have not to void my stomach all over you right now, and frankly, you deserve it..."
"Thanks," Valey groaned, glad to feel her lungs still working. She could see the sarosians gathering themselves again in the distance. "Think you could get off me, too? I think we're about to have company..."
Felicity went completely limp. Valey sighed, hoping she'd be able to get back upright by the time the fight resumed.