"Awww bananas." Valey's eyes narrowed at the paper held before her muzzle. "That's it. Help me up. I am not dropping out of the tournament now."
"As the closest thing you have to a doctor, yes you are." Harshwater dismissed her with a wave of a wing, leaning against the doorframe to the cabin where Valey was resting. "Amber, don't let her up."
"Sorry, Valey." Amber barely even needed to try; Valey's entire neck and back were encased in a huge, stiff bandage that restricted her shoulders and prevented her from getting her hooves beneath her. She was propped with pillows beneath her barrel so she could lie down while standing, back to the sky, and had been this way ever since Harshwater finished dressing her after the blast. "But I think she has a point..."
Valey struggled like a floppy fish, wincing every time an unhealed injury moved. "No! There's no way I'm loafing around and letting this dude be the one to end my streak after everything Sparky and Nyala did to get me past him last time! I owe them! Just heal me faster, or something!"
Harshwater looked down her muzzle at the immobilized mare. "Two broken ribs say otherwise, missy, and your back has enough cuts and burns you'll be lucky if it isn't scarred for life. In fact, I think you're far beyond luck." She sighed at the bandages, not wanting to remember what was beneath them. "No fighting."
"But..." Valey stared feebly at the tournament schedule Slipstream held in front of her. Her first match of the third round was a rematch against Grandpapa.
"Sorry, Valey," Slipstream apologized. "We do still have our hold filled with Mistvale goods, so maybe we could sell them and buy one of those healing potions...?"
"The kind we gave you from our supply in Ironridge?" Harshwater shook her head. "I wouldn't count on being able to find one. Since the Empire confiscated most of Varsidel's trade convoy, they're probably not able to get more, and Varsidel would have kept all they had for the war anyway."
Valey groaned. "Oh yeah? Well... maybe they've got backups! And what do you know, you've barely been in the Empire recently!" Her eyes twitched at the taunting tournament schedule.
"Put that away. It's making my patient restless." Harshwater crossed her wings with a humph. "And I was keeping the merchants who got their ships stolen alive."
"Oh yeah." Valey winced. "Right..."
Harshwater pointed at her. "Don't think I'm happy about this, or anything. If any of you want to try buying a Varsidelian healing potion in Stormhoof, knock yourselves out. But it's probably going to be expensive and not available for just anyone to pick up. And keep in mind every other fighter in the tournament would love to get their hooves on one of these as a contingency."
"Good thing we've got friends in low places." Amber shrugged. "So I guess we keep looking? I do have to say, my legs are getting tired."
Gentle sounds of surf rocked the hull, the Immortal Dream bobbing softly in sheltered waters, finally out of the sky. The sounds of Stormhoof's harbor filtered distantly through the sealed window, and the sun was at the perfect angle in the evening to light up the room without getting in anyone's eyes.
"Same," Slipstream agreed, dropping the schedule. "Me, Amber and Gerardo spent all day scouting the place already. I hate to say it, but if you want us to hurry, we're going to need a second away team."
"Uhhh..." Valey glanced around. "Bananas, who else can go?"
Harshwater coughed. "You're indisposed and I'm in no shape for running around either. Grenada and Shinespark are physically fit, but Shinespark's not getting out of bed and Grenada isn't leaving her and I'm not about to talk them into changing their minds. Maple and Starlight might go, but they have someone to look after too. Crystal isn't leaving this ship for multiple reasons, so that leaves you with everyone who's already gone and Jamjars."
Valey winced again.
"You're not continuing in the tournament." Harshwater turned her back on her, preparing to slouch out of the infirmary. "Not like this. If that's hard to swallow, I guess you know what to work on next."
"Valey wants us to do that..." Maple's ears folded. "And healing potions are that hard to find here?"
Harshwater shrugged. "I haven't looked. Maybe you'll get lucky. Tournament or not, though, it would greatly improve her recovery. She's... not in good shape." She glanced resentfully at the ground. "I'm a field medic and an amateur. I get ponies stable so they can make it to someone who will treat them fully..."
Maple glanced at Starlight and Glimmer. "Girls?"
"Fresh air might do me good." Glimmer stretched, unseeing. "And I do want ways to keep track of things happening in the world. I'd come along."
Starlight wasn't leaving her mother's side; she knew that much. "If you go, I'm coming too."
"Well, it is early evening..." Maple sat up, staring out the window. "A walk does actually sound nice, as long as nobody harassed us. Though I don't know the first thing about shopping for rare potions. I don't even have very much money."
"Won't make a difference." Harshwater blew on her messy mane. "I just need to tell her someone's trying so she calms down. Even if you do get a potion, I'm not giving it to her until after she's missed her battle and dropped out."
Starlight blinked. "What? Why?"
"Didn't anyone tell you how Varsidelian healing potions work when we gave you the first ones?" Harshwater squinted at her with skepticism and almost concern. "They're not all the same. Most of them have similar effects of restoring your body to a healthier or more-complete state, but the purity of the elixirs runs everywhere from ambrosia to literal mud. Using these potions has side effects, and the less pure it is, the worse they are. Namely, you'll be weaker and more prone to re-injury in the spots that were healed, and if you're hurt again, it's likely to be worse. The ones we gave you were some of the best, with very mild weakening. But if you just pick up the first jar you find in a shady black market and then give it to her and let her keep fighting, she's going to get hurt more permanently than she already is."
Maple's ears pressed back. "Oh..."
Harshwater nodded. "With some potions, especially the mid-grade ones and better, the weakness wears off with time. If you got one that was decent and she stayed out of combat, she could make a full recovery in months or even weeks. Just give me a reason to feel less bad about telling her we're trying."
"...You know what?" Maple stood up, banishing the conversation with a nervous smile. "I need fresh air too. Let's go for a walk, girls."
Harshwater sighed in relief as the three got to their hooves, wandering off and muttering under her breath. Starlight glanced around, trying to decide if she should offer Glimmer her usual place on Maple's back since her duplicate was blind...
"Ahem."
"Eeep!" Starlight almost jumped, fur bristling as she realized who had spooked her. High up by the ceiling, watching from a ledge like a vulture, there was Jamjars.
"Hi," Jamjars insisted, appearance different from usual in a way Starlight couldn't quite place. "Can I come too?"
Maple blinked in surprise, then sucked her lip. "I'm not sure I want to be the only adult with three fillies..."
"Since when have you ever asked permission?" Starlight raised an eyebrow.
"Since I have a good idea and want you in on it." Jamjars smirked, hopping down with a thud. "I've been waiting for a chance to make this trick count. Oh ho ho, I've been waiting so long... You remember what I can do with my camouflage spell, don't you?" She winked at Glimmer. "And now that there are randomly two of you..."
Starlight realized what was different about Jamjars seconds before her horn went off: the filly was wearing contact lenses, coloring her eyes just like her own.
"Behold." Jamjars posed, showing off a suddenly-lilac coat and purple mane. "Now there are three of us! Oh, I can imagine the looks we'll get..."
Maple was already looking at the three identical Starlights with surprise, trepidation and no small amount of foreboding.
Glimmer sighed. "She camouflaged herself as us, didn't she."
"Oh, I did." Jamjars licked her shoulder, grooming an errant bit of fur. "Last important part: what's your name?" She flung a hoof at Starlight.
"Um... Starlight?" Starlight tilted her head. "I'm the one you know."
"I knew that! What's your name?" Jamjars' hoof violently flopped to Glimmer.
Glimmer blinked sightlessly. "Well, I keep asking everyone what they want to call me..."
"Fantastic." Jamjars spun on her hooves, marching back and forth before the door. "From this moment on, you are Starlight..." She pointed to Starlight, then back to Glimmer. "You're Lightstar, and I am Jamstars. Objections overruled."
Starlight blinked. "Hey, you can't just-"
Glimmer walked past, and her tail tapped Starlight's nose... or tried to, but she couldn't see and missed by a hooflength. "Lightstar it is. I told you to think up something. You snooze, you lose."
As Starlight narrowed her eyes and Glimmer practiced walking without bumping into things, Jamjars strolled for the door, pushing it open and passing a slightly-dazed Maple. "You okay, lady?" She paused, backing up, and frowned. "Wow. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were..." She stifled a churlish giggle. "Starstruck!"