//------------------------------//
// Starlight, My Patron 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

It wasn't difficult for Starlight to slip away from Harshwater's room. Whether by some passive effect of the Nightmare Modules or something else, she felt less present than she usually did, and nobody raised an eyebrow as she cracked the door open and trailed Felicity's retreating form down the hall.

Were anyone to ask her to rank the ponies aboard the ship from brightest to dimmest, Starlight would have said that wasn't fair. She sometimes wasn't even sure it was constant, and the more she wanted to be near someone - or the more she couldn't be - the brighter they seemed. So whether Felicity was actually one of the brightest mares on the ship or Starlight was merely invested in her approval over all others', she really couldn't tell. Bright enough, at least, that Starlight was willing to push down any nervousness about what Felicity wanted to talk about in hope of the best outcome.

Felicity had the same body type as Willow, as well. Bigger and heavier-set than most mares without being fat, muscular or disproportionate, she wondered if she would have been predisposed to like her even without whatever the moon glass did to her senses. Her tail was meticulously styled, in contrast to the likes of Valey or Shinespark, and she took visible efforts to keep poise in her step, though Starlight could tell she had very little energy beneath it. It made her want to stick to Felicity's side and help her, though she reached her destination before Starlight could catch up.

"Hello?" Starlight tilted her head, following Felicity through the door. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes, hello, darling," Felicity replied without looking over her shoulder, flicking the lights on with her tail and making straight for her bed. "Would you mind getting the door? There's a few things I'm extremely curious about, though I wouldn't want unnecessary ears to hear. These aren't exactly common questions."

Starlight obliged, nudging the door closed and watching as Felicity collapsed into the bed with a concerned frown. "Are you alright?"

"Frankly, darling?" Felicity gave a wan smile. "No, I'm not. I'm very much not alright. Was I worrying you?"

Starlight bit her lip.

"I'm rather delicate," Felicity explained, laying flat on her side. "My constitution is frankly terrible, and I pushed myself dangerously far during that little skirmish days ago. Thankfully, I think I should get back to my version of normal with a lot more rest, but I wouldn't want to do that again and again without risking something permanent happening. So don't worry too much, if you would?" Her eyes followed Starlight with a question, seeming to ask her if she wanted to help.

"Is there anything I can do?" Starlight asked it, coming closer and sitting down near the edge of the bed.

Felicity smiled, strained to hold it, and finally turned downcast. "I'm very interested to know that as well. Starlight, have you ever heard this song?"

She weakly hummed a few bars, and Starlight instantly nodded. It was the Firefly Sisters' song.

"I dreamed that song," Felicity continued, "very intensely. While I was unconscious from exertion, at that. I hope you don't have a lot of experience with being unconscious, darling, but it's not a place my mind is usually feeling up to dreaming in, and when it is, they're vague and nightmarish instead of coherent and uplifting. And when I first came to, I couldn't quite chase the image of you from the edges of my mind. Talking with our sarosian friends after I got up and about, it sounds they all experienced it while they were awake, taking things to an even further extent."

"And?" Starlight swallowed.

Felicity's smile returned, trying to be comforting. "I'm very curious to know how you did that."

"Why?" Starlight's ears fell. "Because I'm not really sure I know... It just happened. I can't do it anymore. But I did do it."

"Mmm... You can't, can you?" Felicity lifted an eyebrow. "Even if I told you it would help me greatly were you still able?"

"Maybe?" Starlight hesitantly, almost painfully offered. She couldn't do it again, she knew with certainty... unless she found Glimmer again and convinced her to give her back the telepathy. It was technically possible, but she had no idea how. "How?"

Felicity yawned, not even summoning the strength to lift her head. "Let me... Let me tell you a story, darling. You remember the time we first met, when dear Senescey brought you and your friends home after work? The time I told you all the story of how we lost our mother?"

Starlight's ears fell. "Something in Izvaldi, right? About Percival's father? I remember Maple was upset..."

"As accurate as it needs to be," Felicity sadly hummed. "The river was poisoned by a mismanaged mining operation, and it serves as the town's supply of drinking water. I mentioned that my sisters and I all survived. But with the way your mother took that news alone, I didn't think it prudent to mention that we weren't exactly unscathed."

"Oh." Starlight looked away, then forced herself to look back at Felicity. She was still very bright, but now her fatigue and tiredness shone differently in Starlight's ears. For a brief second, the empty feeling in her heart left over from the moon glass that her friends' brightness was destined to fill turned to divine anger, empowering her to use her Nightmare Modules to destroy whoever dared harm something of hers that was so precious... and then her heart flickered back to normal. This was decades ago, and the griffon involved had passed away long ago.

"Now, you're probably wondering where you come into this, but hold on a little longer," Felicity gently urged. "My sisters and I were all afflicted, though their woes are a little less-noticeable than mine. We prayed to the Night Mother, of course. She offers advice and guidance to all of sarosiankind, and we were hoping she might extend that to salvation. There is a legend about the Night Mother, you see... Not only is she hidden somewhere in the world, but any who can visit her in person are granted a wish. Much like Garsheeva and her tournament, only while Garsheeva grants worldly favors, the Night Mother is far more powerful. Powerful enough, for example, to create new bodies for the three of us, unravaged by poison, and transfer our brands, souls and memories so we could return to living normal lives."

Starlight swallowed, realizing where this was going. "The locals thought I was the Night Mother. They said what I did with the song was exactly like talking to her."

A little hope entered Felicity's expression. "That's my first question, darling. Somehow, you've used her powers, and mercifully at that. It sounds as though you saved them all from fighting to their deaths in battle. Not only that, but you've turned up in an area your friends are saying is the secret resting place of Monk Lord Yanavan, and defeated him yourself as well." Her eyes fixed intensely on Starlight, and she spoke slowly and carefully. "Are you my patron?"

Starlight's ears went back. "I hope not?"

Felicity sighed. "Well, I supposed it would be too easy to be true. Besides, your demeanor and hers are very different. That leads me to my second question, then." Her focus returned. "Since you seem to share her powers, can you help us?"

"What?" Starlight felt like a spotlight was being shone in her eyes.

Instantly, Felicity relaxed. "Please, darling, at ease. I don't mean to put any sort of pressure on you. I just..." She looked down. "Starlight, we... have been promised that if we serve her faithfully, the Night Mother will reveal her location to us and allow us to come and have our wish granted. She's confirmed she can do what we ask. And a lot of her goals, we're already sympathetic to, and they frequently align with our own. My heart isn't the prettiest thing, and I'd be the last to call myself a good pony, but I do have a strong dislike of injustice and that frequently gives us overlapping enemies. But... sometimes..." She swallowed. "Sometimes we don't like playing this role, or it goes too far. I would assassinate gods in her name if I felt they deserved it, and between you and me, I've come close already in the cruelest of ways. But that debacle with the hospital didn't sit well with any of us. Particularly since she passed it on like a word of friendly advice, not a job or mission. So I was just... wondering..."

"Oh." Starlight wanted to look away too, but couldn't avert her eyes, instead putting her forelegs up on the bed. Felicity calling herself callous or cruel made her grit her teeth. It was a waste of brightness... right? There was the vague possibility in her mind, born purely of logic, that this sight of hers was clouding her judgement and making it possible to overlook things she really shouldn't, but her heart told her that was impossible. Felicity could be better than that. She had to, because otherwise she wouldn't be able to share that brightness with her. "...How did you think I could help?"

"I really don't know," Felicity apologized, doing nothing to turn her away. "It's just, your friends occasionally talk about that business with the windigoes in Ironridge, and you apparently have a track record for doing things that should be completely impossible. Almost like you can... Forgive me for imposing what I want to see on this, and this is certainly a biased prediction, but almost like you can grant miracles in the same capacity as the Night Mother."

Starlight frowned, staring straight at Felicity's big face and tilting her head. "I don't think so..."

"But there is something special about you," Felicity insisted. "You can't simply speak into our sarosian hearts with the voice of the Night Mother for no reason, darling. It sounds as though you hardly understand yourself or what you can do either, hmm?" Her smile tried to return.

"Not really..." Unbidden, images of the mirror chapel returned to Starlight's mind, the altar bowl's reflection turning to her covered in sigils, rings and runes, with wings of floating geometry hanging at her sides. The altar hard promised her methods existed for her to become like that, hadn't it? But it had also seemed to think it was a test, and given her the modules for rejecting the potential to lord over her friends and anyone else whose companionship she desired.

Wincing, she added, "I'm kind of scared to."

Felicity gave her a reassuring look. "Confusion and uncertainty can be very scary, darling. And you're hardly of an age where you should be heaping responsibilities and obligations on your shoulders. All the same, I think knowing more about yourself might help. I could try my best to help you, if you like? Perhaps we could learn something that would clear up a little fear about how you can do what you do?"

Starlight blinked slowly, carefully regarding her. "...How?"

"Come closer, darling." Felicity patted the bed, stretching a hoof toward Starlight, and Starlight carefully obliged, climbing all the way up. "How much do you know about Mistvale Monks?"

"Nothing..." Starlight hesitantly started.

Felicity forced her head upright, getting a shoulder beneath her. "Mmm. I recall explaining some to your friends while you were missing, but I suppose you wouldn't have heard... Their arts function, essentially, by making your body want to do things. It's exactly how you might think about raising your hoof and it causes your hoof to raise, only in this case, someone who knows the arts... someone like me..." She delicately coughed. "Could merely tap you and cause it to happen ourselves."

Starlight felt a little more hesitant. "You can do this?"

"I can, darling," Felicity softly assured. "Though I'm much more practiced with non-combat uses. Typically, the impulses from monk arts are much weaker than your own mind, so anything too direct can easily be fought off. But we can also do things your mind normally just isn't wired to do. You might remember I tried to help Shinespark after her battle with that other monk in Valey's stead. One thing I can do is... essentially ask your body to tell me about itself. That's quite an oversimplification, but I could potentially learn something about you, if you'd like me to try."

Starlight bit her lip.

"I'd be completely honest about whatever I found, of course," Felicity assured. "And until you said otherwise, it would absolutely be a secret between you and me. Not even the Night Mother would know. And really, I do feel somewhat bad that we sent you to get your horn looked at and nothing was ever found, so at the very least consider it my way of trying to make up?"

"Well..." Starlight hesitated, then crawled closer. She wanted to trust Felicity. She wanted Felicity to trust her. "Okay. See what happens?"

"Of course, darling." Felicity sat up a little more, her forehooves brushing against Starlight's shoulders. "Just give me one moment, here. I'm sure we'll..." Her lips pursed, and her eyes started to widen. "Oh my..."