It didn't take long for the Equestrian guards to find Valey, Shinespark and Gerardo, waiting at the tear in the railroad where the Immortal Dream's flight had carved a long, perfectly-straight trench through the ground.
"Hail!" Gerardo called, looking significantly better but still badly out of it after a good, long rest.
The guards assembled, putting on a show of dignity even though it was obvious they were covering for injuries and hurting for lost members. "Well met," the leader said, stepping forward and nodding respectfully. Then he waited.
After a long, awkward silence, Valey dared to speak first. "So I'm out of the loop. What are we talking about?"
"...We don't know," the leader admitted, the rest of the guards shuffling behind him. "Her Majesty is presently absent."
"I noticed," Shinespark grunted.
A guard in the back shouted and lifted a hoof in the air, pushing his way forward. "Fine! If you won't say it, I will!" He shoved his way to the front, carrying a helmet with a damaged plume under one wing. "We're stranded," he announced, staring straight at the three northerners. "Our fortress has been compromised and partly destroyed by a large storm. Our Princess has vanished in the middle of a mission. We're low on supplies, in the middle of enemy territory, and have many lost and injured, and while that would be well within our training if it was all, we have two significant incomplete mission objectives: defend the border and do something with you foreigners. And all we know is that the Princess had a plan for you and none of us know what it was."
"Huh." Valey raised an eyebrow. "I thought we were here to negotiate with you guys for the terms on which we could stay here and not go back to the Empire."
"There are no terms we could negotiate," the leader replied, his voice deeper than the stallion who had spoken up. "Who can cross the border is determined by Writs of Harmonic Sanction alone. Her Majesty is the source of those writs. She is the only one with whom you could negotiate for the right to remain here."
Gerardo cleared his throat. "Well, how problematic would it be if we waited here under your oversight until she returns?"
The leader cleared his throat. "That could take weeks. It's a long train ride."
"And we don't have weeks' worth of provisions!" someone shouted from the back. "Just get to the loophole already!"
"A loophole, huh?" Valey narrowed her eyes. "The kind that gets someone in trouble for using?"
The captain stared at her, but it was the stallion who pushed his way forward who spoke. "We can make our own decisions when separated from our chain of command and either our own lives or the success of our mission depends on it."
"Yes..." The captain bowed his head, still nervous. "And you may have saved our lives, even though we were prepared to give them following orders to defend yours. So, unofficially, we have an offer for you."
Shinespark watched him. "We're listening."
"We cannot continue to watch you and secure the border in our present state at the same time," the captain said. "We could prioritize the border, re-garrison the fortress, and attempt to hold it against griffons or any who try to pass through. We would not try or be able to keep you. You could leave and go where you please... but we would point Her Majesty in your direction the moment she returns. It would be on you to ensure whatever you do during that time doesn't lower you in her graces."
Gerardo winced. "That seems like the kind of course of action where we'd simply remain where we are now in the interest of violating as few rules as possible..."
"Would be cool, Birdo..." Valey waved a skeptical hoof. "Except something gives me a tiny little feeling sitting here for another however long wouldn't be all that great on our crew. What's the other option, captain pegasus?"
The captain shuffled. "There is an archipelago far to the southwest of here with a prestigious university. They have cutting-edge communications equipment there which we could use to sound an alarm and summon reinforcements to guard the border. We would have to requisition your boat to reach it, provided she is seaworthy. That would involve you coming too. Provided you stay together and don't make trouble for us, we will take full responsibility for your presence in Equestria and testify to anyone who asks that we thought adequately securing the border against unknown foreigners was a higher priority than repelling known ones who were willing to work with us."
Valey's ears perked. "A university, huh? Tell me more..."
"Kinmari Marine Research Academy. A center of learning and a hub of technical and academic expertise," another stallion cut in. "My little sister goes there. They have an extensive oceanography program, most branches of applied and theoretical science, and even a budding space program! I know where my vote goes..."
Shinespark glanced back out at the Immortal Dream. "And you'd bring us along and keep watching us in exchange for our ship."
"In exchange for passage," the captain corrected. "You can keep your ship. Whether you'll be going anywhere you can't take a boat along will be between you and Her Majesty."
"...The ship is damaged," Shinespark slowly said, thinking. "It floats, but I don't know what it will take to fix the propulsion systems. If you're volunteering to take responsibility for our being here, it's a tempting offer, but we need more time, both to see to our ship and to vet our own crew and ensure none of us would play dirty."
She shot a look at Valey, and Valey knew exactly the duo she was thinking of. "If we wanted to vouch against anyone, how hard would it be for you to kick someone back north with the rest of us backing you up? 'Cuz the ship's pretty crowded as-is..."
The captain nodded, stepping back. "Shall we meet again here, tomorrow, an hour after sunrise?"
Valey shrugged, spreading her wings. "Sounds like a plan, captain pegasus. Anything else?"
The captain turned to his stallions. "Air Cutter, Proud Prow, you go with them."
Two stallions stepped forward, and Gerardo tilted his head. "And to what do we owe this?"
"Air Cutter," the first said, extending a wing to shake with. "Senior weather team coordinator for Cloudsdale prior to enlisting. We have a big enough team of pegasi to do a little weather control, and I'd like to look over your boat and see how much we could make a favorable wind do for speeding us up."
The second offered a wing as well. "Proud Prow. Seventeen years as a naval expert at the north Manehattan maritime center. If you need help getting her seaworthy again, nopony knows the craft like me."
Shinespark raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever worked with mana circuitry?"
Proud Prow returned the look. "Have you ever seen a submarine that works without it?"
"You're good." Shinespark nodded. "We have more to do than nothing, at least. Let's get back to the ship."
Valey winked at the two pegasi as the rest of the guards retreated, hovering and grabbing Shinespark by the barrel. "So you know your stuff, sure. But how fast are you? Race ya!"