//------------------------------//
// The Sword's Truth 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Valey managed to walk on her own back to the Immortal Dream's library, though her spine felt like it had been ran through a garbage compactor and all her legs were shaky from hitting the shield, never mind the effects of flying for two days with only a single rest. It wasn't nearly as bad as after she had fought Wallace, at least. Or Herman. She owed it to a lot more than just herself to be on her hooves for the following day's fight, so on her hooves she was.

Shinespark had to be carried, Amber moving to help Maple with the mare. When she exited the hallway, a familiar trio was waiting for her: Senescey, Felicity and Larceny all together, standing in the corner or lounging in chairs.

"Well!" Felicity greeted, looking visibly relieved at their presence, mane wet like she hadn't bothered to dry it after a shower. "That was an experience, wasn't it? We felt a round of congratulations was in order, darlings, and were certain you'd have questions and possibly favors to ask of us now that all that's behind you."

"I heard you got Starlight back?" Senescey crossed and uncrossed her hooves. "I'm... We're very relieved. I promise, we've talked about it now and we're very sorry all this happened in the first place. I know the Night Mother suggested things to me that probably led to me suggesting you take her for a medical evaluation, but I never imagined anything like this would happen..."

Larceny nodded, keeping a careful eye on the room without anything to add.

"Bananas. Yeah, it was an experience... Ow." Valey rubbed the side of a leg with a forehoof, glad it wasn't broken again. "Questions?"

Senescey smiled shakily at Shinespark. "Well, I'm sure I owe you a better explanation for everything that happened, at least. This is an offer from all of us, but if knowing any of our secrets or what we do could help... just if you need to know why..." She folded her ears. "We can't tell you why the Night Mother suggested that, though. None of us know what she's thinking. Just that we trust her."

Valey grimaced. "Yeah, I might know a thing or two about why she suggested that, now, actually. Kind of a weird story..."

Shinespark didn't respond, and eventually Felicity reached across from her chair with a wing and tapped her sister. "I don't think she's capable of responding, Senescey, darling."

"Mhmm..." Maple nodded, Shinespark laying partway across her back. "It's that sword we were telling you about. I don't suppose you'd like to see if it really is similar to Mistvale arts and you can fix it somehow?"

"Wait, you can do that?" Valey blinked. "It is? That would actually be really cool..."

Amber nudged her. "Speaking of, you got kind of wrecked by that crash yourself, girl. Maybe they can touch you up too a notch?"

"Ehh..." Valey folded her ears. "Really not fond of anyone who can do that stuff touching my body, but I probably need to get over myself. And you did just help dunk the dude who's the reason I feel that way." She blew a raspberry at herself. "Bananas, if you had told me back in Ironridge I would ever turn down a magic massage from another mare, I'd have laughed at you until I passed out from lack of breath. Sure, you can do it. Go ahead."

Senescey moved over to Valey, but Felicity focused on Shinespark, climbing luxuriously out of her chair and moving to put her hooves on the mare's back. "Set her down, if you would? Belly down, preferably, and legs out. Now let me see here... First, let's get a feeling for what's wrong with you."

Shinespark was arranged as requested, and Felicity started running her hooves down her, tapping here and there and humming to herself. "Can't really talk about things if you can't talk, mmm? Let's see, that Grandpapa really did quite a number on you, didn't he? A whole mishmash of different..."

She stopped. As if in slow motion, Felicity's eyes widened, a look of surprise spread across her face, and all of a sudden she jumped back as if shocked. "A-Ah!" She sat back, releasing Shinespark, holding a hoof to her chest and panting. "Oh my..."

"Yo, what happened!?" Valey snapped in concern, looking immediately up from Senescey. "What's going on?"

"That... Wow..." Felicity shook herself, getting her breathing back under control. "Felt like stepping into a freezing river when you were expecting solid ground. That..." She regarded Shinespark in awe. "What happened to you?"

"You tell us," Gerardo requested, standing in the entrance of the room so as to make more space for everyone else. "You felt something?"

"Something is one way of putting it." Felicity ran a hoof through her wet mane, then returned to Shinespark, wincing heavily but maintaining contact. "This is... Her body is filled with sorrow. Not just any sorrow, but a ghost or after-image, like she touched something momentarily and the memory of it was burned into her being. So much so that it didn't even want to tell me, like she took a moment to divulge it to me, tried to shield me from it... She..." She put a cheek and then an ear on Shinespark, listening for a moment.

Maple's eyes widened, and she looked from Shinespark to the sword, recovered and strapped at Gerardo's side. "Sorrow?"

Felicity nodded, still feeling Shinespark. "Indeed. There are many negative emotions a pony can feel, some what you'd truly consider as bad or evil, others merely byproducts of living. Oftentimes they're mixed together, but this is... some of the purest emotion I've ever felt, and it's merely the shadow. I can't imagine what sort of thing could have done this to her, but the reason she can't move is because her body is... It's in mourning. She's almost been burned by sorrow, by regret for something that happened. It's... This is extremely intense, just the afterimage. I don't want to imagine what must have inflicted this sadness on her."

Gerardo self-consciously cleared his throat, shifting his sword at his side.

"Is there anything you can do to make it better?" Amber whispered. "At least enough to allow her to talk?"

"I'm not sure." Felicity grimaced, trying another sequence of taps. "The Mistvale effects from earlier in the fight, I can undo, though it's difficult. It's like... Shinespark's body is too busy mourning to do any of the effects I try to impel it to do, you know? This is on a different level from her mind, I might add. Bodies are physical objects. For something physical to take scars from emotion... Well, that's what Mistvale arts do, but it's still something. Fortunately, she's not really feeling up to being messed up by those hostile Mistvale effects, either. Them, at least, I almost have cleaned up."

"Yeah, but the sword?" Valey wandered over. "Forget the geezer, anything you can do about that?"

Amber frowned at Shinespark in thought. "I remember we decided I recovered a lot quicker than usual," she mused to herself. "And one of the connections I made was that I didn't feel as bad about being paralyzed as I could have. It was terrible for you, Maple, and you went through some bad stuff because of it, but I was actually happy for my situation."

Valey latched onto that idea quickly. "Yeah, and you've got stuff to be proud about. Bananas, you saved my tournament run. That's a big deal to you, right? So maybe you're paralyzed. You did awesome, and you did enough. Even if you're out, we can take it from here."

Shinespark's eyes tilted right, agreeing with her.

"Honestly?" Felicity kept working on Shinespark, tapping her forehead. "Yes, I can do something. There's nothing about this that works differently from what I do; it's merely a question of scale. Just, that scale... Well, I'm afraid it might amount to no more than a drop in the bucket. Far less than a strong or determined soul could do fighting against it on its own. And Shinespark has already proved herself quite resilient. I do think Amber's advice is good, though. Trying to feel good about yourself might help it wear off much quicker."

In the corner, Larceny spoke up. "So you're saying that sword did this to her? That it's filled with regret she was exposed to? You know inanimate objects can't have emotions, right?"

Valey hesitated, her mind flickering back to a certain corrupted dusk statue. "You know, I wouldn't actually bank on that..." she murmured. "But yeah, that's spooky."

Amber's voice grew quiet. "So her body is too sad to move because it touched a sword for a split second, which means that sword was even sadder? Forget about what it takes to make a sword sad..." She looked slowly at the sword at Gerardo's side. "Or... no, don't forget about that. How does it happen? Are there things in the world intense enough to fuse emotions into physical objects?"

"Indeed there are," Gerardo replied. "You've never visited a true battlefield, Amber, but if you had you'd be able to feel it. Not just any place there was a skirmish, but some of history's truest conflicts... In the same way that a chapel might feel sanctified through what is done there, the land remembers. There are some places where you can merely go and sit for a while, and even with your eyes closed and no one for miles to tell you, you know something has happened in that place's history."

Maple gave the sword a hollow look. "So you're telling me that thing has such a strong history that just by a brief second of cutting someone, they can't move for a week because their body is in mourning over what it felt? Sadness is already something you feel after something has happened. I know all about it." She glanced to Shinespark. "That's a memory of a memory, from an inanimate object. That sword..." She glanced back to Gerardo. "What was it used for?"

Felicity sighed. "Knowing what I can feel here, darlings, and every filter that emotion has been passed down through? I can't even think of an act someone could commit with a sword catastrophic and reprehensible enough to cause this. A great betrayal? An execution of the innocent? There's no horror, here, or hatred or desire for vengeance. Merely sorrow."

"...Birdo?" Valey raised an eyebrow. "Whatever this thing is, I'm pretty sure whoever sold it to you was not a child merchant selling things for their mother."