"Look, buddy." Valey folded her forelegs, looking down at Chauncey from a hover. "Luna's Artifice, or whatever? I'm not really sure I believe you, but someone making me to be strong? That's cool. But I'm really not interested in helping with whatever divine insurrection you're planning, so maybe leave me out of that, okay?"
Chauncey gave her a look.
"Let me make one hundred percent sure I get what you're saying." Valey pointed a hoof. "This Luna made batponies using the Immortal Dream, and I in particular was made because she really wanted some other artifact's power as a toy and just decided to make it herself. That's what you're saying?"
"You are correct," Chauncey agreed.
"And she's where now, on the moon?" Valey raised an eyebrow. "You know, since moon glass came from the moon? She's also the evil spooky monster mare in the moon Icereach had some old legends about?"
"I've heard legends about that too," Starlight muttered quietly behind her.
"That is the case." Chauncey nodded.
Valey gave him a suspicious stare. "And when did Luna bail and the Night Mother take over? A pretty long time ago, right?"
Chauncey shrugged. "Nine hundred and eighty-five years. It happened concurrently with our present dating system. Many things did, and any scholar of history will tell you that's precisely the point where history fades to legend. It's almost like everyone who's still alive from back then doesn't want certain events to be remembered."
"Neato. But you knew about me, and those stories have to be from back then. Yeah?" Valey tilted her head. "So you're saying I'm a thousand years old, got taken up to the moon and then sent back down, and also when some evil goddess decided to make a cutie mark that mirrored the function of a legendary artifact, they made it look like this." She turned, exhibiting the cartoonish boxing glove on her flank. "Are you serious?"
Chauncey had nothing to protest. "I see no reason to assume otherwise."
Valey actually laughed. "You're off your rocker. Okay, so maybe there really are stories and this Artifice of Luna thing is legit. There are a lot of worse reasons to exist than because some goddess wanted a toy. If that was all there was to it, this would actually be kind of cool. But for someone who talks about using science to figure out how goddesses work, you're a horrible scientist!" She flung a hoof in his face. "All that stuff that's either crazy coincidences or flat-out impossible? You're just shrugging and accepting it? Come on, Starlight. I think we've gotten everything this dude knows."
Starlight watched Valey's cutie mark with a frown. "What's the difference between cutie marks and souls?"
"Buh?" Valey frowned.
Starlight shrugged. "So maybe Valey's cutie mark was made by the Mare in the Moon. That's different from her soul, right? I don't have a cutie mark and I have a soul. So do griffons. But then there are ponies like Puddles who lose their cutie marks and are empty, but also ponies like Shinespark who have their mark taken away, and it's almost like they can live in two bodies at once. You've said a lot about her cutie mark, but what about her soul?"
"I'm afraid that's not my field of expertise," Chauncey apologized with a stern frown. "In every field I've researched, they have been one and the same."
"Including that time your Stanza's song cracked the Firefly Sisters' cutie marks like dinner plates?" Starlight growled. "You're comfortable saying you made them look like that on the inside, too?"
"I never said I was," Chauncey lectured. "Those girls are precious to me."
Valey cleared her throat. "Alright. If we're moving on to heckling because you've got nothing more to tell us, I've got a big one: what's the deal with Crystal?"
Chauncey watched her for a while, reading Valey's expression. "That failed mare doesn't deserve any of your emotion," he finally said, voice flat and uninterested. "She's a setpiece, and should be grateful I let her be used at all."
"Wow. You know she's your granddaughter, right? At least that's what she said?" Valey raised an eyebrow. "Bananas, what's this about? Are you nasty to her because she's a jerk, is she nasty because you're a jerk, or do you both just deserve each other that much?"
"...I've finally done it," Chauncey sighed. "I've lost track of how many times you've insulted me down here, Valey. Are you taking my hospitality for granted? Do you realize how bad of a time you would have if I wasn't infinitely tolerant of your transgressions? Even if you refuse to work with me and be a part of my plan, I would have thought you'd be happy to take a neutral acquaintance in a world that's so against our kind."
"Oh, believe me, I am." Valey rolled her shoulders. "In fact, that's a bigger reason than your shield why I haven't kicked your face in yet. You're completely amoral, but you're right: I do need allies. But being nice and passive and letting me get away with everything?" She glanced at Starlight. "I'm not looking for permission to be a jerk. I'm looking for answers about who I am, and right now, I really am feeling like Mistvale's the place to look. Get some of these stories checked against monks who might not be insane. So if there's anything else you'd like to tell me..."
Chauncey watched her without blinking. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"
Starlight hesitated, then said nothing.
"Nyeh. Shouldn't have come down here when I was hungry." Valey nudged Starlight toward her back, preparing to fly away. "Really need someone who's more all-there if I want answers, I guess. See ya, Chauncey. And don't do anything evil enough that I decide having safe spots isn't worth it."
As the elevator rose, Valey looked at Starlight. "You volunteered to come with me and then never really did anything. Looked like you wanted to ask something at one point too. What's up?"
Starlight looked away. "I thought better of it. I was going to ask since Izvaldi has a hospital and Chauncey is trying to be nice to us if he could have someone look at my horn for real this time."
"Oh. Huh. That's actually a pretty good idea." Valey blinked. "So why didn't you?"
"Because I realized Chauncey might not know I'm from... you know," Starlight mumbled. "And the way he's talking about you, and how I'm different from everypony else makes me afraid he could find out something about me that makes me interesting to him like that as well. And I also realized something else he might find out, thinking about all those moon glass foals."
Valey frowned. "Wait... what?"
"In my old home," Starlight began, "everyone gets cutie marks. You don't just not get them, like here. When I first got here and saw Willow, I was amazed that there was an adult mare without a cutie mark. But those foals... They always get their cutie marks, because it's like their marks already exist and then their bodies are made for them. They can even tell what they're going to be by looking at the mark on the mother's flank when she still has it."
Valey put a wing on her back. "Afraid you might already have one too, huh? And just not yet have manifested it?"
"If I do..." Starlight swallowed. "I-I don't want to know. I don't know how I might, since moon glass has only been here for the last seven years and ponies are way older than that. I feel differently about getting a cutie mark than I used to, especially if it's a part of who I am from the beginning instead of something that forces me to change. But if there's one somehow in me already, and Chauncey studies cutie marks... I don't want him to find it. I wouldn't want to know what it is."
"...Yeah, I can feel that." Valey sighed. "Bananas, all of this is weird. What do you think, kiddo? Think Chauncey's really got the whole story, or is even right? Or that I'll find more if we do go to Mistvale, or if it's just a wild goose chase? Jumping at an idea without thinking, like how your mom sometimes does? Right here, here and now, I could just call it off. Saying some goddess made me a thousand years ago as a toy is better than some of the other stuff I could find."
"These questions make my head hurt," Starlight replied. "I think we should go to the ship, dry off and warm up, and fly somewhere nice and live a normal life for a change. But we can't do that because the world won't let us, because we are special. It's dumb."
Valey scratched her mane. "I'm kinda still holding out that Chauncey is insane and there's some completely innocent explanation for everything. But hey, like that's going to happen. It's the insane ones who are usually the most dangerous. Remember Hemlock?"
"Ugh." Starlight shuddered.
"Yeah, that's my memory too..." Valey stared at the elevator wall. "Bananas. So, we go to Mistvale?"
Starlight raised an eyebrow. "Do you know who you're going to ask and what you're going to ask them? Or where you're going to find them?"
"Well, no..." Valey hesitantly admitted. "But I'm good at winging it."
"Maybe we should ask Garsheeva. Or Princess Celestia, if we ever go back to Equestria." Starlight's ears fell. "There has to be someone who knows everything in the world."
Valey chuckled. "Yeah, but didn't I just say I don't even know what to ask? Bananas, I just feel... lost. Like I've been looking for something so hard I've forgotten what I'm looking for. Probably doesn't help that Chauncey's mysterious and confusing."
"You're looking for a way to live in peace," Starlight insisted. "We all are. But the world thinks we're important, so it won't leave us alone! I wish we could ask the world itself what it wants of us."
"The world's a chunk of rock, kiddo." Valey patted her on the back. "Pretty sure some of it's just gonna come down to bad luck."
"Just bad luck that you're from the moon and I stopped a swarm of windigoes and crossed an uncrossable mountain range?" Starlight raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Well..." Valey winced.
"Someday," Starlight promised. "Someday maybe we'll... I don't know."
Valey picked her up again as the elevator began to slow. "Someday we'll find a place that's actually cool and doesn't have mad scientists or batpony-haters where we can all settle down, hang out and actually chill for the rest of our lives, and it'll be awesome. But until then, we just gotta keep going."