The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Thought You Were Safe?

Starlight sat upright and still, listening as hard as she could. Something had to have woken her, but all she could hear was her own heartbeat. What had put her on edge? She had been dreaming, and it hadn't been good, but hardly a nightmare either. It was the middle of the night...

Minutes ticked by, and then she heard it: a distant moan of pain, carrying through from the open door to the lounge room.

Starlight rolled to her hooves and stepped urgently to the door, taking care to mask her hoofsteps and not light her horn. More because she was scared than because she had anything to hide from, she peeked around the door.

There was a bundle of blankets on one of the couches by the fires. Starlight quickly tip-hooved over, ears on high alert, until she drew close enough to see... "Valey?"

"Bananas, what's goin' on...?" Valey mumbled, scrubbing blearily at her closed eyes, so tangled up with a snoring Felicity that Starlight would have stopped and stared if something hadn't been wrong.

"Why are you out here?" Starlight whispered. "Did you hear that? And was it-"

A loud crash of falling objects sounded from the open door to Doctor Lost's office.

"What the-?" Valey sat upright sharply, dislodging Felicity and causing her to shift and groan unhappily. "Is that dude up cataloging stuff in the middle of the night?"

"I don't like this," Starlight said, fur standing on end. "You said you have my back, right? Let's go see what that was."

Valey trailed her blearily, but followed Starlight's lead and moved stealthily even being half-asleep. They paused at the entrance. "His archive is open," Valey whispered, peering in. "He definitely closed it yesterday."

Again, Starlight took the lead, moving cautiously to the entrance to the inner archive. "...Hello?" she called hesitantly. "Are you alright?"

There was a swift rustle from within, and Starlight thought she saw a shadow move on the edge of her vision. She instantly lit her horn, bathing the area in bright midnight blue. A few hanging banners and charts waved, as if there had recently been a breeze.

"Not getting danger. It's alright," Valey muttered to her, stepping up and into the archives. "Hey! We heard a crash! Everything alright in here!?"

No response. Starlight followed along, this time letting Valey lead, the shadows shifting around her as the light moved with her perspective. She was the light source, and the shadows always seemed to move to hide between her and whatever was casting them... which made sense, but didn't do anything to calm her nerves.

Valey sniffed, frowned, and turned a corner, and then another. Suddenly, Starlight stopped, bumping into Valey's outspread wing.

"Careful," Valey warned. "Broken glass on the floor."

Starlight stared, her hornlight reflecting off tiny, jagged edges littering the floor. She didn't want to get any of those stuck in her hooves. There were also traces of blood on the floor from someone who hadn't been so fortunate.

Valey leaned down. "Fresh. Is this a shattered display case?"

Starlight's breath caught in her throat, and she lifted her head, having a bad feeling she knew exactly which display case had been broken... but her fears were entirely unfounded. It wasn't the Eylista meteor, just a collection of ancient books that were all askew, like someone had broken in to read them, then left in a hurry.

"What's going on in here?" a mare's voice called from the entrance.

Valey's ears perked, and she stood up. "Who's there? We heard some crashing and came to check it out, but I don't see anyone here."

A beam of light shone through the stacks and aisles of shelves first, and then the pony casting it came into view: Lavender Curtain, a flashlight held under one wing and a nightcap tucked over her mane.

Lavender's eyes slowly narrowed at the scene. "Is this what it looks like?"

"I dunno," Valey grumbled, blearily shielding her eyes from the direct ray of the flashlight. "Did you see anyone come in or out of here? There's a lot of broken glass, someone had to have done-"

Lavender sighed, giving her an impatient, exasperated look. "Is this what it looks like?"

Valey blinked in slow realization.

"No," Starlight firmly protested, stepping in front of her. "We heard something and came to investigate. There was a crash, and earlier I heard someone in pain. None of us are bleeding. See?"

"Show me your hooves," Lavender said lazily, sounding as if she was trying too hard not to be upset. "All of them."

Starlight sat down and held all four hooves out, nudging Valey to follow suit. Lavender came closer, inspecting them with her flashlight, then looked at the shattered case and the bloodstains where someone had stepped with a pierced hoof. "...Alright," she finally said. "Either you didn't do it, or you spent too much effort planning this."

Valey stared at her for a moment, then narrowed her eyes, now fully awake. Finally, she sat back with a sigh. "Bananas. For a moment you had me worried you set us up to get us kicked off the island after yesterday afternoon."

"Don't stop worrying," Lavender said, turning around and heading back out. "This office hasn't been vandalized in all the years I've been here, and it's not a coincidence it happens the night you arrive. Either one of your other friends did it, or someone else did set you up. I'm not a pony who would do that, but I don't like you enough to defend you, either. I'm going to wake Doctor Lost."

Starlight and Valey turned to stare at each other. "Well," Valey groaned, "bananas."

---

"Darling," Felicity said unhappily from the couch, "this really isn't what I wanted to wake up to... or when I wanted to do it."

"Sorry, girl." Valey smiled apologetically, offering a tense hoof to help her up. "But someone sacked the professor's office at three in the morning, and we gotta do damage control. If this gets escalated to those guards, our cushy vacation here is toast."

Felicity paled and hugged a pillow. "Suddenly, I'm feeling faint..."

"Well, alright then." Valey straightened back up. "I guess Starlight and I will take this. Starlight? You good?"

"No," Starlight deadpanned. "Someone broke into that office. Of course I'm not good. But I'm definitely going to help."

"Yeah." Valey stretched anxiously. "I really don't wanna get on the bad sides of those guards..."

Starlight shook her head. "They said they'd already contacted Princess Celestia. Even if they want to get rid of us, she'll still come here and you can talk to her or something. Aren't you more worried about what someone could do with anything they stole from a room of old, unknown magic artifacts?"

Valey rubbed her forehead. "Now that you put it that way, I'm not exactly reassured..."

"Blood pressure rising, darlings," Felicity warned. "I suppose this sad, sleepless sarosian will have to help you get this over with anyway..."

Suddenly, the entry door opened, and Lavender reappeared, followed by a very intense-looking Doctor Lost. He clearly hadn't been freshly awakened, though he wore an over-the-top bath robe and a nightcap with two pom-poms, thoroughly beating Lavender's one.

"So!" the doctor greeted, eyes twinkling with excitement. "I have been summoned in the middle of the night, and the word I have heard is that someone was snooping around in my archives!"

"Not so loud, Professor," Lavender hissed. "If we wake the other students, this will become a lot more chaotic."

"Right. Apologies. Thank you, Miss Curtain."

Valey squinted at the old stallion. "Uhh... not that I'd rather be in trouble, but you make it sound like this is a good thing."

"Oh, please, my dear." Doctor Lost wandered over to Valey and chuckled, slippers occasionally visible beneath his fluffy robe. "I heard there was a break-in at my archives, with two of you spotted near the scene! On the night after you arrived, no less. This can be no coincidence, I'm sure." He glanced toward the office door, and his eyes hardened. "Clearly, there is only one logical conclusion to draw."

Valey held her breath. "And that is...?"

"You've brought that adventurous spirit along with you!" the doctor cheered, starting for the door. "Now that you're here, you've brought our very own adventures and mysteries along with you. Shall we investigate? I can't wait to get started."

Valey and Starlight stared at each other, utterly nonplussed. Felicity joined the staring match by looking over the back of the couch, one foreleg dangling, her look of surprised confusion easily beating either of theirs.

"Hey, wait!" Valey hurried to catch up. "You just got burglarized and you're excited?"

"I believe I mentioned this already," Doctor Lost nonchalantly replied. "Now would you grab a light and help me search for clues? These eyes aren't what they used to be..."

Starlight lit her horn to help, and Lavender followed along with her flashlight, looking almost as bothered by the situation as Valey and Starlight yet for a completely different reason. Even Felicity trailed along, looking determined and businesslike and not at all helpless.

"More than ever," Doctor Lost instructed as they scanned the archives, moving through the aisles, "try not to touch anything. There is enough out of place here that we can establish a trail, and if that reveals a motive-" He instantly stopped, distracted by a barrel that looked like its top had been pried off by force. "Oh my Celestia, is that a second-edition copy of the seminal work on pegasus wing anatomy? The first edition was printed with an unauthorized preface that became one of the most notorious incidents in scientific literary history, making this copy truly the work in its original intended form..."

Lavender raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, uhh..." Valey poked him. "As great as it is that you're having fun, have you seriously never been burglarized before? It happens because someone wants to take your stuff, not because they want to give you an adventure."

Doctor Lost gave her a shut-up-I-know-what-I'm-doing look.

"Right! Okay..." Valey backed off and sighed, finding herself standing right next to Lavender. "Please tell me how big of trouble we're actually in, because this is not how you're supposed to handle this."

Lavender frowned and took a step away.

"I'm still worried about what someone could do with anything they stole from here," Starlight cut in, her horn glowing and her hooves covered by crystal boots to protect her from broken glass. "I suppose we'll know tomorrow. If no one comes out to blame us for this, it'll mean they came here for some other reason instead."

"Darling?" Felicity asked, stepping past them and up to the professor. "Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but there's quite a noticeable pattern..."

Doctor Lost's ears perked sharply. "Have you found something, my dear?"

Felicity glanced at the endless shelves. "I remember thinking to myself the first time I was here how meticulously and caringly you shelved the books here, yet now I'm seeing quite a few of them that are askew. Perhaps there are other things out of order as well, but whoever did this was very interested in your literature."

"You speak the truth!" Doctor Lost gasped, his eyes following her pointing. "Why, these tomes are indeed out of order!"

"Yes," Felicity acknowledged, "and they look like they were skimmed. Chosen at random, somewhat evenly spaced, no time taken to put them back properly. Either someone in a very big hurry, or with the attention span of a six-year-old."

"And the broken display case was full of books too," Starlight added.

"Hmmm..." The doctor inspected book after book, scratching his goatee. "I simply can't find a pattern. Astronomy, biology, art, classical fiction, all of the above in multiple languages... What could they possibly have been looking for?"

Felicity yawned right in the professor's face. "I can't say," she managed, fanning her mouth with a wingtip. "But I, for one, think we've done more than enough work for tonight, and may as well cut our sleep losses while we're behind. May we... please... get back to bed?"

"Yeah, doctor dude." Valey trotted up behind him. "As gnarly as this mystery is, since you don't seem to be out for our blood about it, could we work on it later? Like, say, standing guard tomorrow night to see what happens? That kind of later?"

Doctor Lost blinked. "Whyever would I be out for your blood?"

Lavender sighed and left the room.

"Because that's how things work in the north?" Valey raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I'm used to things being way more cutthroat and vicious than they are in Equestria, but up there, when you get in a situation like this, it's because someone's trying to frame you or something. And to be honest, it's really unnerving me how we're this close to a bad situation and no one's jumped us yet to try finishing us off. When's the other boot gonna fall?"

The doctor adjusted his nightcap. "Simply fascinating. Stories and information like this are why I'm so excited to continue speaking with you. Which obviously couldn't happen if any other houses were horrendously jealous of your patronage here and attempted to get you in trouble with the school board." He winked.

Valey blinked.

As she stood and stared, Felicity swooned across her back. "Darling, I'm very tired..."

"Uh, yeah." Valey staggered slightly under the unexpected weight, bracing herself and propping up the bigger mare. "Thanks for having our back, then. Just please don't ask us to do anything dangerous or stupid to repay it. We're really, really scared of being in hot water."

Starlight nodded, frowning, her horn the only source of light in the room.

Doctor Lost chuckled. "Not only Generosity is allowed to give favors with no expectation of reparation. Though I do hope when this gets sorted out, it ends with us on better terms than we were going in." He checked a giant hourglass. "And would you look at that. Barely an hour left before sunrise! How time flies when you're having fun..."

Valey groaned, propping up Felicity and carrying her back to the dorm room, ignoring the couches this time around.

"What a fun night, indeed," Felicity grumbled from her back. "I feel cheated."

"Bananas, I'm gonna have to get up after being up all night long," Valey complained. "Probably not a good idea to sleep when ponies are up and about after that."

"So much for beauty sleep," Felicity agreed.

Valey trudged all the way back to the bed she had hauled Felicity from hours ago, helping her in and then slithering under the covers herself.

"Really?" Felicity asked, her eyes already closed.

"Really what?" Valey asked, snuggling against her. "I told you I'd stay here until morning, and I'm not about to bail because of bad luck. Besides, I have a headache. I don't feel like figuring out where else I'd stay."

Felicity cracked an eyelid and glanced around at the empty dormitory around them. "Of course you don't. One of these days, perhaps I owe you a talk too..."

---

Starlight had passed by the Eylista meteor several times while wandering the archives looking for useful clues. She knew its location by heart, now, and failed to prevent her eyes from wandering every single time she walked by it. Now, the other searchers had gone to bed, and it was just her and the stone.

"Who am I?" Starlight whispered, asking the rock. "What does Eylista mean? And what happened to me yesterday?"

The meteor reflected her blue light back at her, drained and turned to monochrome gray. It gave no answers, and Starlight had none of her own, save for a tiny, twisting sensation in her heart like a draining little whirlpool she knew would consume her if she let it grow big. She carefully quashed it, pushing back with the memories of her talk with Valey. She wasn't alone. Her friend might have had fewer answers than even she did, but her situation was at least similar, and she had been living it for much longer than Starlight.

Or, if they both came from moon glass, exactly the same amount of time.

Starlight sighed. She was both tired and not, but had seen how worn-out Valey and Felicity were. She needed to get some sleep. All of her suspicions said this didn't actually have to do with them and the culprit really cared about finding something in the archives, and their best bet would be a stake-out... and if her friends would be too exhausted to be there tomorrow night, it would be up to her instead.

Focus on how you can solve problems, not prevent every last one. Think about how cool you are. Valey's advice echoed in her head, and she held onto it like a sword: this was a problem that was already happening, and she was a strong, stubborn filly who could definitely catch someone sneaking around. This was a problem, but it was one she could solve. And if she could do it right, maybe it was a stepping stone toward helping herself and averting her bad future, as well.

Comments

[Oberth Effect]

I feel like this chapter just didn't bother answering any questions, and instead presented us with a bunch more. How was Starlight alerted to whatever happened? Who was responsible for the break-in? Why those specific books? Are the books in the display case special in some way? Is it a set-up? Is the culprit going to be stupid enough to return two nights in a row? Will we see a suspicious pony with an injured hoof tomorrow?

[Phoenix Kitten]

9956200
Sometimes you just have a feeling.
Hazarding a guess, one of the old Laughter house ponies Valey met who are still sore that their star athlete ran off with an adventurer years ago.
The books weren't important I'd gather, just so long as something got stolen and the Dreamers were implicated.
Given the moan of pain and trail of blood, I'd say the display case was an accident. The culprit got beaned on the head by a book while thieving, and after putting it back, stumbled into the display case, shattering it, then shoved the books from it into the spots opened up by their actual haul before fleeing through the broken glass.
No, they got what they wanted, which may have been some books, and the Dreamers implicated as the culprits.
Given the hour, I'd say the culprit could pass off sleeping in as the side effect of late night studying.

As for why steal books instead of the artefacts that are more dangerous. Because Dr Lost seems more interested in his literature than powerful magical artefacts, so they wanted to take something they knew would be noticed as missing.

[alamais]

9956200

How was Starlight alerted to whatever happened?

I read it as the mysterious pained groaning waking her up?

[Oberth Effect]

9956226

Sounds like reasonable guesses. Stealing books makes a lot more sense than just picking seemingly random ones out for perusal, too. Wonder if the professor had any kind of organizational system that would indicate what was taken.

9956229

I read it as the groan happening after Starlight was already awake, although it's certainly possible that wasn't the only time the culprit made a sound.

[KMCA]

Money is on a bat pony. It looks like somepony shadow snuck their way out... That or our resident cook trying to find a way to get his sister back.

[Phoenix Kitten]

9956418
Unless Gazelle is a chef and has been cooking up a storm in his trance, mayhap you meant kook?
That is an angle I hadn't considered, he seems to have mistaken Starlight for Gwyndolin after she passed out and was brought to the hospital, and she did escape the sword with Gwyn's soul. Though I can't recall if she had one orb of obsidian or two.
If she just had the one, which is Valey, then perhaps Gwyn is somewhere inside Starlight and he's looking for a way to get her out.

[KMCA]

9957077
You know... I'm not even going to fix that. I went to bed right after writing that.

[Czar_Yoshi]

9956229 9956200
Yeah, it's this. The sound just happened multiple times, once to wake her and once while she was listening.

[Quinch]

Hmm, Dr. Lost is wearing slippers, which would conceal any immediately visible injuries, has not been freshly wakened at the time of the break-in and knows the area quite well, which would aid in getting away undetected. Poor eyesight too, which might explain bumping into the display case by accident... is he just trying to create a mystery? Also, has his tribe been specified yet?

[sploopy slooder]

i cant tell if this is some actual worrying ominous shit, or some dumb kids pulling a scooby doo villain moment. the laid back school vibe has completely ruined my sense of urgency.