Starry woke up the next morning with nerves fluttering in her stomach. After she had cleaned up the couch and tidied up Stone River's apartment, before matching down to the home of Plaket Blue. She tapped her hoof against the door three times before stepping back and staring at the base, butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

She looked up when the door opened to see the smiling face of Plaket Blue, the sea-blue mare tipped her head, rolling waves of seafoam-colored hair falling into her eyes. The blue mare glanced at Starry and Starry couldn't help but feel the nerves prickling in her stomach.

"Hey-" She started, pausing and then letting out a breath of air ", Would you... Maybe like to go into town with me? I- I'm still not used to things around here and... I could use a friend and you've been really nice to me and-"

"Starry-" Plaket stopped her with a laugh ", Calm down- I think hanging out would be great."

Starry let out another breath of air that she hadn't realized she'd been holding, she lowered her head with a sigh and let out a slight laugh.

"Sorry-" She laughed ", I'm not used to this-"

Plaket smiled, trotting out of the apartment and turning to shut the door behind her, locking the door and storing a key under the tiny welcome mat. Starry cocked her head to the side, she had never seen anyone in Canterlot store a key under a door mat.

"Aren't you afraid that somepony might try and steal it?" Starry asked curiously.

Plaket tipped her head to the side, "I have nothing worth stealing."

"Oh-" Starry muttered quietly as Plaket started trotting happily down the hall.

The two mares made their way down the stairs and out the front foyer of the apartment complex, both sending a wave to Stone River as they passed him. For a moment, Starry couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye. Not after the night before. She cursed herself, forcing herself to smile and wave at the stallion, who responded with a smirk and a flickering wave of his wing at the two.

It wasn't until Starry and Plaket heard the doors shut behind them that Plaket let out the slightest of giggles.

Starry glanced at her, a confused smile crossing her face ", What's so funny?"

Plaket covered her mouth with one hoof as she walked, shaking her head ", No- It's just... I've never seen Stone wave with his wing."

Starry cocked her head to the side, her long ears pinned back in confusion ", Why do you think that is?"

Plaket glanced at her, then knocked herself in the head with one hoof, laughing at herself ever so slightly.

"What?" Starry asked, reaching a hoof out and lowering Plaket's back to the ground.

"I forget that you aren't from around these parts-" Plaket responded ", There are a lot of rumors about Stone River."

Starry raised a brow, glancing over her shoulder and letting out a snort, turning back to Plaket with a grin, "There is no way that stallion has rumors about him."

"Oh no-" Plaket said with a shake of her head ", Stone River is common with gossip, he just ignores it. Ponies tend to speak without realizing they are being heard, they just assume everyone knows."

The ocean-blue mare laughed and shook her head.

"Well?" Starry questioned further, the inkling of Canterlot gossip love peeking through ", What kind of rumors?"

Plaket glanced over her shoulder, "Well- From what I understand, Stone was from Dodge Junction and got in with the Equestria Royal guard when he was sixteen, lied about his age I guess-"

"That's very common-" Starry filled in knowingly ", A job with the guard is usually safe so if younger colts join, most aren't worried unless they cause problems in the ranks."

"How do you know that?" Plaket asked curiously. Starry smiled nervously, make friends, chanted in her mind over and over again. And that was what she was trying to do, make friends, and friends are made with honesty and openness. Right?

"My cousin, Rolling Thunder, he's a general in the Roya Guard, Night Division under Princess Despina-" Starry responded with a smile ", He writes a letter to my sister from time to time."

Plaket's eyes widened with awe and she smile, a genuine smile that caught Starry off guard ", You're cousin is a general in the Equestria Royal Guard?"

Starry chuckled, waving a hoof as she walked ", Yes- It's nothing huge."

Plaket eyed her with a slight smirk", Well- As I was saying, Stone was from Dodge Junction, got in with the guards, and about five years back, back with the Cold War with the dragons, he and his battalion were sent into a skirmish in the Dead Lands when they were attacked."

Starry gasped, holding up a hoof to her mouth. 

She remembered the long rants her father could go through during the Equestria-Dragonland Cold War, each territory was too scared to attack first. There was a faint memory, tinged with the sound of her mother playing the piano, of her father ranting about having to make his way to the palace for some sort of hearing.

"I shouldn't have to oversee the hearing of a solider who obviously was a tactical failure to the cause-" Her father had ranted ", When a solider is foolish enough to return with no information as to how his entire squad was murdered."

Starry remembered the word that her father had used, and though she had no understanding of politics at the time, she remembered it sounded... Harsh.

"Just because a treasonous bastard returns to the palace doesn't mean I should have to excuse my life for him."

Treasonous, deserter, that's what her father had been complaining about.

"No one was sure if he was a traitor to the crown or a deserter, or even espionage, but after his case was done, he was declared innocent of treason and was discharged from the Guard for being a deserter-" Plaket tapped her chin thoughtfully ", Then he just- Appeared in Ponyville with enough money to buy and renovate the old complex. Never dated, never married, had no friends, he just... Existed."

Starry glanced at the ground, walking and thinking at the same time, it was odd to say the least.

"And..." Starry hesitated ", He lost his wing in the skirmish?"

"Yeah-" Plaket responded cooly ", At least we think so. I think he's fully innocent, probably a government cover-up by the Canterlot elite and generals to trigger the dragons into attacking so we could destroy them in war."

Starry's head jerked up, staring at Plaket with wide eyes ", What?"

Plaket glanced back at her, pausing so that Starry had to stop with her, "Well- It's just a theory, but my marefriend used to live in Canterlot, her parents were really rich and her dad worked in the palace or something like that, but she overheard her father talking about it before she ran off."

Starry wanted to faint, she needed to sit down for a moment as the realization came to her. The Canterlot Elite plotted a setup against the Dragonlands? How could that be true? Starry pressed a hoof to her head, right where her horn met the center of her skull, and let out a shuddering breath.

"That- That makes sense..." She finally conceded. Plaket tipped her head down to meet Starry's eye, a worried look crossing her face as she helped the unicorn mare stand. Starry gave her a grateful smile and shook her head ", I'm sorry- I just wasn't expecting it."

"It seemed to take you by surprise... Well, more than most ponies at least-" Plaket brushed a hoof over Starry's back, trying to comfort her as best as possible.

"Yeah-" Starry said with a laugh ", Well. My father is Marquess Orion of the Clever family... And all of that? It wouldn't be below my father."