"Up and at 'em, everyone! It's morning!"
Valey serenaded the bedroom with a cheerful stomp, rousing everyone who hadn't yet risen. "Honestly, darling," Felicity complained, "have you ever heard of sleeping in?"
"Yeah, sort of." Valey shrugged. "But this island doesn't have much of a night life. I know because if it did, I'd be invited. You're welcome to do whatever, but it's morning and I'm gonna go let this island know who's boss."
A good breakfast later, and Starlight was sitting on the roof with Valey, watching ponies trickle past on the road.
"So," Valey invited, sounding slightly reserved. "I know it's never really a good day to face your fears, and all, but... you ever wanted to talk to that Caballeron dude about that meteor he found? Stuff has been quiet for a day or two, and this isn't a worse time than you're gonna get. If you want to, of course."
"What do I even ask him?" Starlight shrugged. "What do I want to know?"
"If he has any idea what that writing on it means? Elymahoozit?" Valey shrugged back.
"Eylista." Starlight glanced away.
Valey belched. "Excuse you. Well, it's your call. Just thought I'd ask if you want me to come with before I roll away and play with students' hopes and dreams some more. No hurry, though."
Starlight frowned, considering. She wasn't panicked. That was when she usually made hasty decisions about sticking her nose where it didn't belong... like the time she had gone ahead and tried to use her sword to cast Nightmare Modules. She felt a lot better than she had been while using her magic. She could make a rational decision about this... but she didn't really want to.
"If I say yes, he'll tell me something I might not want to know," she mumbled. "But if I say no, I might be hurting myself by ignoring something when I don't know how useful it is. Why can't I just not have a choice in the first place?"
Valey stuck out a lip. "Yeah, you know what that logic leads to?" She pointed a hoof down at the road. "There's, like, some garbage tossed against that wall. Looks like someone's lunch bag. Must be at least a day old, since it's nowhere near lunchtime yet. You wanna go see what's inside?"
Starlight blinked in confusion. "What? No."
"You sure?" Valey warned. "You don't know how useful it is. You could be sacrificing some sort of edge that would help you keep your friends safe by not jumping down there and opening that bag."
Starlight frowned heavily. "No I'm not! It's just garbage!"
Valey gave her a daring look. "You gonna prove it? It's probably garbage, but what if it isn't?"
"That's not the same," Starlight huffed, shoulders slumping. "And you know it."
"Nah, you're right. It isn't." Valey leaned back. "But it is taking that logic to its logical extreme. You don't know the bag has nothing good, you believe the odds of the bag having anything good are low enough that checking isn't worth the time and unpleasantness it would take. Because the fact is time is finite and you can only do so much in your life, and who would want to waste it digging through garbage? The point is, if you try lean too hard towards doing every last thing you can and spending too much time trying to get an edge... no matter what that edge is against, all the missed opportunities are gonna drive you insane. You gotta just let go and not care."
Starlight wasn't sure whether she was more reminded of Glimmer's advice to her or her own advice last night to Jamjars. Either way, she wasn't thrilled, but sighed, admitting Valey was right. "So we shouldn't go, then," she said. "Because I don't really want to know even though I also do, but the odds of it being helpful aren't very good."
"...Alright. You know what?" Valey stood up and stretched. "You said you didn't wanna make this decision. Wished it wasn't yours to make. And you're not happy talking about it, so here's one answer coming right up: I'm gonna go talk to him about that meteorite. Coming?"
Starlight blinked, scrambling to her hooves. "What? Why!?"
Valey shrugged, testing her wings. "Several reasons. For one, I'm legit curious. I'm not sold anymore on the certainty that this comet was a bad thing, and I know for a fact where I came from so it actually concerns me even more than you. And for two, I know you might not like the idea of being from up there... but I think me not being the only one would be legit cool. So, coming?"
Starlight worked her jaw. This was what she had asked for... "Alright." She climbed onto Valey's back. "Let's go find him. You do most of the talking."
"Works for me." Valey flicked a wing, popping Starlight the rest of the way on, and jumped off the roof, wheeling and gaining altitude as she glided toward the school.
"Yo?" Valey knocked on a door. "I've literally spent nearly an hour asking for directions, if you're the wrong dude again I really apologize..."
"The office has his name written on it," Starlight pointed out. "I hope it's not anyone else's."
"Are you looking for Doctor Caballeron?" a student said behind them, stepping out of a bathroom and wearing a bow in her mane.
Valey blinked and turned around. "Uh, yeah, you know him?"
The mare nodded and pointed a hoof down the hallway. "He's teaching, but class gets out in five minutes. Turn right, then third door on the left, if you want to catch him during transition."
"Hey, thanks!" Valey threw her a wave and a wink, then trotted off down the hallway.
Caballeron's classroom was easy to find. The stallion was lecturing near the door, and the door was open, his voice drifting out into the hallway. "Homework can be done with however much collaboration you please, but everyone will need their own essay," he announced. "You will need to cite at least five children's stories, with at least three main points on the similarities between them that could point to a truth below. Make sure to choose your stories on the same subject! I recommend Hearth's Warming or the Elements of Harmony, but any tale of the southern jungles is a personal favorite of mine if you can find them. Anyone who has friends or family with youngsters in the town, you will be primary resources for your peers. Dismissed!"
A stream of students poured from his room, most either groaning or chatting excitedly. Valey picked up snippets of talk about ball games, and still got more than a few winks... The students had cooled their heels now that she had been around for a few days and her reputation as a hard-to-get heartbreaker had spread, but that was merely weeding out the less-zealous.
Doctor Caballeron himself exited last, delayed several minutes by a few straggling students who had similar ideas about staying to chat. When he did see Valey and Starlight, he stopped and blinked. "Oh. It's you!"
"Hey, doctor dude," Valey greeted with a grin. "Any chance you have time to chat? I'm real curious and heard your brain was the one to pick about magical artifacts."
Caballeron seemed momentarily distracted by Starlight, but then he cleared his throat. "Well, a question from you is prestigious, quite, very! Tragically, I have a staff meeting in several minutes a building over..."
"Ah, bananas." Valey made a show of slumping. "Well, any chance you'd be available later in the day? My schedule's got nothing but loitering and nap time."
Caballeron chuckled. "No, I meant tragic for my meeting that they must make do without me. Would you join me for coffee in my office? Magical artifacts are indeed my area of expertise."
"Coffee? Hmmm..." Valey rubbed her chin. "You know, I've never met someone who liked the effect that stuff has on me, so I'll pass and you can thank me later. But yeah, fill my ears instead?"
The stallion unlocked the door they had been waiting at earlier, bowing and leading the way inside. The office was large enough to hold a couch, and he pointed them both to it, Starlight slipping past Valey and taking it first.
"So," Caballeron said once they were seated, taking an amiable position in his office chair. "What is it you ponies would like to know?"
Valey bobbed her head. "Any chance you could tell us about that meteor chunk you donated to the history professor's archives?"
Caballeron's brow instantly shadowed, but a tiny spark of satisfaction flickered in his eyes as he got up to close the door. "I have a feeling," he sighed, "it is not entirely for your own sake that you wish to know."
"Why do you think that?" Starlight whispered.
Caballeron met her eyes, then sighed, sitting back down. "I knew you looked familiar when I ran into you here." He took a deep drink from a thermos. "I would imagine you had quite the surprise, seeing the name Sires Hollow. Is that the only thing you recognized, Starlight Glimmer? Or did they break their promise not to tell?"
Starlight felt physically forced back by his words, as if she had just been hit by a boulder. Anything else he had said faded behind one thing: he knew her full name, and he had just told Valey.
"Starlight Glimmer?" Valey blinked. "Wait, you have a..." She took in the expression on Starlight's face and stopped. "Woah. Are you alright?"
Starlight was alright. Of course she was alright. Glimmer had even told her in person that Valey knowing or not knowing her name wouldn't do a thing to affect the future, hadn't she? This was completely fine.
...She knew she was fine because she still had her saddlebags, and the sword inside them, and a Nightmare Module it could activate that could undo any mistaken words, erasing everyone's memories of them. A Nightmare Module she had sworn never to use. If she was compromised by panic, if she wasn't fine, that would be a lot more than an idle thought crossing her mind.
Of course, Caballeron completely misunderstood the look, but she barely heard whatever he said next. It still felt like someone had shattered a vase over her head.
"Hey." Valey grabbed her shoulders. "What's up? You need a quick out? Give me one sign and I'll have you in the air and far away from here faster than you can blink. Are you still with me?"
"Yes," Starlight breathed, already feeling like she was floating. "I'm okay..."
Caballeron glanced at Valey. "I see this is hard for her. You and I could continue?"
"Not my place to ask, dude." Valey shook her head. "Come on, Starlight. You can do this. Tell me what's wrong."
"It's nothing..." Starlight panted, feeling like she could easily hyperventilate if she wasn't careful... but she was stronger than this. She hadn't used her magic in more than two days. That was nothing next to how long it took her old headaches to rest away, but Valey was right. She had a friend here. She could do this. She could pull herself together...
Through a monumental force of will, Starlight tensed every muscle in her body and took a deep breath, holding it in for as long as she could. Don't panic. Don't panic... She wasn't going to panic. The shock broke all at once over her like a cold wave, leaving her feeling clammy and bad all over yet fully in control of her body. She was okay.
Starlight slumped against Valey. "I'm fine," she reassured, needing something to cling to. "I just got scared..."
Caballeron was watching her in concern.
"Alright, you know what?" Valey put a wing around Starlight, shielding her. "Spill the beans, dude. You know something about her in particular?"
"I was afraid I did," Caballeron sighed. "It is a bit of a story, but what does she already know?"
"More than I do." Valey shrugged.
"Nothing," Starlight mumbled. "I just recognized the name of the place I grew up, and you looked like you remembered me last time..."
"Oh." Caballeron watched her. "And you reacted this poorly already? I am... not so sure you would like to hear about that meteor."
Starlight was through the panic and shock. No matter what he said, it wouldn't start that again. Make her upset, maybe, but you couldn't knock down someone who was already on the ground. It was like ripping off a bandage fast instead of slow. "Tell me about it," she insisted. "It has something to do with me, doesn't it?"
"Well..." Caballeron rubbed the back of his neck, looking deeply uncomfortable. "The truth is, I found a filly who was probably you in the mountains on the day after it fell."
Starlight didn't even suck in a breath. She was right about how it would feel. But she was still-
"Along with a mare and a stallion who were both dead," Caballeron finished. "It looked like a climbing accident. They were so close to their goal, they must have been distracted by the sight of it. Don't ask me what two parents were doing, bringing their little filly into a place as dangerous as that, but, they did. So I took you and the meteorite chunks and carried you back to town, and asked them to tell you that you were adopted and never mention your parents."
No. Starlight was wrong. That hurt a lot more than she was ready for.
"Bananas," Valey whispered, Starlight starting to cry into her side. "Well, that's... not very cool. Her parents literally died in a climbing accident trying to get at this moon glass?"
"Sometimes we have bad luck in life." Caballeron shrugged. "And other times it is truly terrible. She may have gotten off to a bad start, but, look on the bright side. At least she has you now, right?"
"Yeah..." Valey got up, holding Starlight against her. "Hey, I... think I should get her home. Might come back to ask a few questions of my own."
Caballeron nodded. "Of course. Celestia's speed to you, Valey."
"Oh, and, uh." Valey looked over her shoulder, about to open the door. "Any chance you know what the stuff written on it means? Eylista?"
Caballeron frowned and tilted his head. "The diagram, I have come across a time or two in my studies. The phrase, I have never heard of before or since. Though I have always been curious about that myself."
"Huh. Oh well." Valey shifted Starlight atop her back. "Thanks for the talk. See ya around."