"Hey, uhh..." Valey interrupted her trot back into the central guardhouse room where Maple, Gerardo and Fishy were talking to stare out a window. She poked Maple in the side. "Is it just me, or is Starlight out there alone and crying?"
The conversation was instantly forgotten, everyone paying attention. "What?" Maple breathed, rushing to the window... but before she could reach it, there was a knock at the door.
It was Fluffy Fleece, looking badly out of her depth. "Hey," she panted the moment the door was open, "Starlight is over there and I think she needs you."
Maple and Fishy were already out the door. Valey and Gerardo didn't follow.
"What's this all about?" Gerardo queried, watching Maple run to the filly from a distance. "I assume you two stayed outside because you didn't want to deal with potential fallout relating to rude guards..."
"Aren't you going to see for yourselves?" Fluffy asked, pointing out the door. "She's really upset. I tried talking with her, but she has all sorts of problems she's sad about and I had no idea to help. I tried my best, I promise."
Valey shrugged, standing by the door and watching as well. "Too many cooks. If all of us came barreling over, she'd probably be even more overwhelmed... not that I'm not gonna keep an eye on her, of course. Starlight's... a case." She raised an eyebrow. "So who are you? Someone Starlight knew from school?"
"Um, yes." Fluffy nodded, looking small as her attention was suddenly split between a very new friend in need and two creatures more exotic than any she had seen before. "Are... you sure Starlight will be alright?"
Gerardo flexed his talons uncomfortably, and Valey shook her head. "If we're needed, someone will let us know. Like I said, she gets overwhelmed easily." She patted a chair, still positioned by the door. "So take a seat, kid. You look kinda worried. What's going on out there?"
Fluffy shrank again, staying where she was. "I told you, Starlight is crying! She sounded lonely and like she had a lot of other problems and I tried to help, but I don't think they were the kind of things I can really help with, and talking didn't seem to make her feel better."
Valey leaned forward. Whether or not Starlight was fine, this kid's stress was impossible to miss. "Well, the good news is, that's not your fault. Starlight's been through a lot, and she's an unfortunate mix of way too tough and way too fragile, but she's got us looking out for her."
"Will she be okay, though?" Fluffy chanced. "She sounded like she had thought about it, and didn't think she was."
Valey glanced to the side at Gerardo. "Birdo, help me out here."
Gerardo cleared his throat. "Starlight has been suffering from a severe case of not having a community to call home, among other things. While she won't be alright immediately, I think you can rest assured that merely by being a friend who cares about her, you are helping quite a bit."
"Are you sure? That's a relief." Fluffy sagged. "She sounded bored with everything." She looked up, perking. "You were with her, right? Were the things you did actually boring?"
Valey chuckled hard. "Hoo bananas, no. They were pretty crazy at times, and kinda stressful and dangerous, but absolutely the opposite of boring. But, uh, we've done a lot of things, so... you hearing about any one in particular?"
Fluffy nodded, managing to put Starlight's wellbeing out of her mind in the face of temptation from the two adventurers' stories. "Griffonstone! Starlight said it's so far east of here, there's a desert and another ocean between it and where we are. Is it true?"
"Uhhh, heh heh..." Valey adjusted her hat. "Okay, to be fair, Griffonstone was actually one of the more boring places we visited. Which was mostly because I spent most of it stuck in a magical artifact and didn't get to do anything, but that's the way the cookie crumbles."
Now, Starlight was completely forgotten. "Really!? That's not boring!"
"Maybe not to hear about." Valey rolled her shoulders. "But you try waking up one morning and realizing you were gone for a month, and tell me that was the coolest month of your life. Like I said, traveling gets pretty crazy."
"Additionally," Gerardo cut in, "not all of us were magically imprisoned. I, myself, happened to be afflicted with a strength-sapping curse following a harrowing battle with a monster, and spent a good portion of the time crawling around and regaining my strength. By the time I could walk again, I was called upon to embark on a lengthy stroll to a nearby village, where I recruited the help of the local mafia to carry rations and supplies back to our stranded airship. Unfortunately, things devolved on the trip back, and I wound up watching them do extensive battle."
Fluffy's eyes were saucers. "How can you say that's boring!?" she squeaked, voice almost too high to be audible.
Valey flexed. "Because the stuff we've done in other places is just that much cooler. It makes it look boring by comparison."
Fluffy sobered and stuck out her lip. "I can't argue with that unless you tell me."
"Well," Gerardo began, "there was the time I was attempting to sail a boat up a river, and had an incident while fording a waterfall involving a collapsing crane that nearly cost me all my valuables..."
"And the time I beat up a yak," Valey added. "You guys know what yaks are around here? Big, hairy and tough as nails?"
"There was also the time we took on a charitable request and hunted down a famous songstress's stolen heirloom from a petty thief and scoundrel," Gerardo continued, "thereby getting in her good graces!"
"Or..." Valey winked. "The time we visited a city that was just a mile-deep hole in the ground, with all the buildings built into the sides?"
Gerardo cleared his throat. "Speaking of cities, we'd be remiss not to mention the mountaintop temple where day never comes and everything is lit by flowing blue lights."
"Yeah, but that's not as cool as the time I found this dude who had been sabotaging a generator and making a city go without lights or power," Valey interrupted. "He got owned."
"We've also been to an island fortress converted entirely into a great stone castle," Gerardo reminded. "Replete with a sculpted, surrounding city and an arena the size of this town!"
"Stop! That's too many!" Fluffy's wings were buzzing frantically, the filly bouncing in place. "I'm already forgetting the ones I want to ask about! What was the city like? The one with... um, you know!"
Valey leaned back against a table. "Try not to explode there, kid. And telling it all would take a week. Love the enthusiasm, though!" She took off her hat, twirling it on a forehoof. "The point is, yeah, sometimes you do stuff that sounds really cool until you realize you've actually done stuff that's way cooler. Like, lemme tell you, Starlight is a lot cooler than she realizes."
"You don't need to tell me twice." Fluffy huffed, deflating. "So, um... I assume you're Starlight's friends and that you're nice, and I saw Gerardo, but who are you?" She looked at Valey. "And did you really throw Silver Saddle in a dumpster bin?"
Valey casually nodded. "Yep. Right in the rubbish bucket. Didn't quite expect that result, but, you know. I do what I want."
"Why would you do a thing like that?" Fluffy asked. "And how? She's a guard. Everyone says she's pretty strong."
"No real reason." Valey shrugged. "Mostly because she was too big for her boots and was trash-talking me. I trash-talk all the time, but I have the skills to back it up. Tip from a pro: don't try to annoy random strangers to get revenge for being woken up. You never know when they're really, really strong."
"When you put it that way," a new voice said, "you have no moral high ground to stand on."
It was Silver Saddle, her shower mostly complete. She wore a towel in a way that didn't hide her very-wet fur and mane, letting them very deliberately accentuate her features instead. Valey blinked, turning to see her. "Bananas, how long have you been standing there?"
Fluffy glanced at the door. "Since Maple went out..."
"I am slightly chagrinned," Silver Saddle added. "You fully admit that you only did that to me because you were offended by my manners, yet your manner of protest was an exercise of bad manners itself. And now you brag about where you have been and the things you've done, for no purpose other than to impress ponies. I suppose you would hardly be impressed to know some of my own accomplishments and feats."
Valey pursed her lips. "I mean, there's always a chance... But how much experience do you even have? You look fresh out of college."
Silver Saddle grimaced. "That's hardly a fair question to ask when there's a filly present."
"What?" Fluffy blinked. "But didn't you just ask if she wanted to know?"
Valey groaned internally. "Uh, no, that's not what she..."
"Never mind! That's neither here nor there." Silver Saddle waved a hoof, turning for the staircase. "I heard your bragging as well, Valey. You're very impressive. Come and see me sometime when I'm not fully asleep. Perhaps it would be worth our whiles to know each other after all."
Valey stared after her for a long moment. "What just happened?" Fluffy cautiously asked.
"Uhhh... I really don't know." Valey scratched her head, then replaced her hat. "If I didn't know better, I'd say throwing her in a dumpster somehow raised her opinion of me..." She turned around to Gerardo. "Hey, Birdo, think this is a good time to go see how Starlight's doing?"
Gerardo shrugged. "Well, we did just whet our newest fan's appetite for tales of adventure and then deliver nothing to show for it. What do you think, Miss...?"
Fluffy jumped to her hooves. "Fluffy! Fluffy Fleece. And what are you?" Her eyes were fixed on Valey. "Starlight called you a batpony?"
"Oh yeah." Valey stretched, showing off her wings and tufted ears. "It's pretty much what it looks like. I've got these cute-"
Maple appeared in the doorway with a serious look. "Starlight says she's made up her mind about staying."
"Wait, what?" Valey and Gerardo instantly glanced at her. "She has? Going or staying?"
"Staying." Maple took a breath. "She wants me to use the Writ of Harmonic Sanction, and the two of us to stay here."
Fluffy's ears pressed back. "Really?"
"Really," Maple confirmed. "She's waiting outside. And really. We..." She swallowed. "We probably need to talk about what this means and what comes next, don't we?"
"I mean..." Valey hesitantly shrugged. "There's not a whole lot else it can mean. But you wanna go back to the ship and let everyone know?"
"I think we should." Maple looked over at Fluffy. "Do you have somewhere to go? You could follow along, but Starlight might be... not paying too much attention to you."
Fluffy looked caught in a spotlight. "I don't know. Should I? I could go back to school, but then I wouldn't get the rest of the day off... Is Starlight alright?"
Maple smiled gently. "No, but she will be. Fishy is still out there, she'll be coming down to the ship with us. If you wanted to come, one of us could watch you if you want."
"Well... I do want to see an airship..." Fluffy Fleece fidgeted. "Um, okay. Let's go?"
"Well put!" Gerardo praised, trotting out the door. "Indeed, let's go."
Valey left too, watching Fluffy out of the corner of her eye. As much as the kid clearly enjoyed the foreign contact and hearing about where they had been, she sobered up quickly any time Starlight was mentioned. It was like the perfect opposite of Kinmari, where the students went into a frenzy the moment any adventurer was brought up...
She didn't know if she believed Maple that Starlight would be alright any time soon. But she hoped that if this was where Starlight was going to stay, this new, saner perspective from the ponies around her would help. Starlight didn't need anyone losing their heads over her. She needed things that were stable. Hopefully, this would be it.