//------------------------------//
// Time For Excuses 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Yanavan watched Starlight and Valey with an impassionate gaze, the rest of Starlight's friends looking on with skepticism. "Say who is searching for the Nightmare Modules in the Empire again," he requested, hanging in midair with his wings and forelegs folded.

"A shifty dude called Chauncey." Valey raised an eyebrow, giving him an intense look. "You wouldn't know him, would you?"

Yanavan ignored her. "And which ones does he have?" His slitted eyes settled on Starlight. "All but the fourth and fifth, from the ones you showed me."

Valey glanced at Starlight too. "Yo, so what's this about doing stuff in dreams? If all of us were out cold, you were doing something? I mean, I guess that's obvious, but it involved Nightmare Modules?"

"Yes." Starlight swallowed. "It's a long story. I'll tell you once we're not talking to him." Her ears flicked. "I learned more about what the other Nightmare Modules do."

"Did you somehow get them?" Maple asked, brow softening in worry.

"More than the one I already had?" Starlight shook her head. "No."

It was a necessary lie. Starlight hated lying to her friends, but this was a story she needed to tell in private where they were safe, not when a treacherous monk was listening and might talk her into using them. And as much as it hurt, the moon glass's darkness shielded her, pushing down the pain and letting her get through it with a steady voice and as straight a face as ever.

"I asked a question," Yanavan droned, sounding cross.

"You're also our prisoner," Shinespark growled up at him. "You have no right to the floor, and we'll get around to you when we get around to you."

"You have no grounds for capturing me aside from folklore," Yanavan countered. "And the lore that has reached my ears is that I am imprisoned. You saw for yourselves that wasn't the case when you invaded my home. I've stayed here for thirty years. Am I likely to leave now? Does that merit restraining at swordpoint?"

Valey shrugged. "Sorry, buddy, but we have literally no reason to trust you right now."

Yanavan frowned.

"Look, what did you want to know, how much stuff Chauncey has?" Valey one-upped his frown, briefly sticking out her tongue. "Bananas, I don't know any numbers on these things. How about this: what's it to you? Why does it matter? Why do you care?"

"Idle curiosity," Yanavan chastised. "It's no concern of mine until you remove me further from my home."

"Oh yeah?" Valey stepped forward. "How about this: you're being a passive-aggressive weirdo, not telling us anything and asking a bunch of stuff we have no reason to tell you. All the other batponies here. You care about them, right?"

"Are you blackmailing me?" Yanavan suddenly looked confrontational.

Valey gave her tail a satisfied flick. "No. Just saying, like basically all of them got beaten to death's door in a dumb fight that only happened because of terrible communication. So now I'm asking you some questions, and you'll answer them on pain of us being clued out and doing dumb stuff that offends you. How do you know Chauncey, why does everyone say you're so evil if you're just chilling here, what's the deal with this lake's other batponies, and is there anything you actually care about?"

Yanavan regarded her... and to Starlight's surprise, actually relented. "Chauncey was a high-ranking monk during my time on the lords' council. I assume you're familiar with imperial history in the north over the past fifty years."

Valey blinked, and Gerardo stepped up, clearing his throat. "You're referring to the single-day crusade, are you not?" At blank stares from everyone else, he elaborated with a knowing smile. "Just another episode of intrigue and drama that populate the Griffon Empire's dense and storied past. The previous lord of Gyre, in those years following the demise of Giovanni Goldfeather, sensed a societal power vacuum in the nation caused by his passing just as keenly as everyone else. With the empire's currency system out of sorts after Giovanni's attempts to own every bit of its money, there was room for leaders to create new ways of displaying stockpiled wealth and authority. Lord Gyre attempted to bring his province together beneath him with an extended show of rhetoric against Mistvale. The province would have been worse for sarosians than Everlaste is now. In time, threats and bluster evolved to an army, and after more posturing and riling everyone up, he did the inevitable and tried to invade."

"So what made it only last one day?" Maple asked, standing carefully behind Starlight.

Gerardo winked. "Garsheeva demonstrated how serious she is about her empire not being allowed to make war with the sarosians without her say-so. Lord Gyre could posture all he wanted without her lifting a claw, but the moment hooves and talons were set across the border, she quickly showed that even a sizable army can't lay a scratch on an immortal the size of a barn. She also killed Lord Gyre, who was with the party, leaving his toddler Gondolus to inherit the province and utterly ruining its one point of provincial pride, sending the society into a tailspin into the dump it is today. Ruthless, perhaps, but when Garsheeva acts, she doesn't mess around."

"All of that happened," Yanavan rasped in agreement as the others watched Gerardo with varying degrees of interest. "Garsheeva protected Mistvale. You can see that becoming a problem."

Shinespark's eyes widened. "The Empire can't have been happy with their goddess taking their enemy's side in a war."

Yanavan flicked a wing. "Chauncey was a prominent monk in a movement over the following decades that met that war with questions. Having their goddess appear to fight against them was the Empire's problem. He, and others like him, wanted to know why our goddess was absent in our hour of need, and the enemy goddess intervened on our side instead. They asked, why follow the Night Mother when Garsheeva offered action to defend us instead of words, advice and counsel? Years went by, and arguments evolved. It became more difficult to make a case for abandoning the Night Mother for Garsheeva when loyalists, pragmatists and even the Night Mother herself drew attention to the state of Gyre after her intervention. If the goddess of your enemies treats them without mercy, is she your friend, or would she bring you twice the woe? Soon, those who asked questions began to question the use of the Nightmare Modules."

Valey shuffled restlessly as Yanavan continued. "The high council had in its possession these weapons that were designed and left for us by our creator. Only those who reach the higher circles of the grand temple are aware, but the Night Mother and our creator are distinct entities. Those who shared these sympathies, doubting the Night Mother after the single-day crusade, who were high enough to know of the modules' origin and our commandment from the Night Mother to guard and never use them, began asking why we didn't use the modules for ourselves and elect someone to become a third god or goddess. The Night Mother could continue her guidance, they said, but we would have our own champion to dispense divine intervention."

"You know, that does sound kinda like Chauncey," Valey admitted. "The dude went on and on about finding all sorts of stupid ways to become a god. I don't think he was actually that interested in the Nightmare Modules, though? Kept going on about transferring cutie marks." She patted her flanks. "Uh, brands. You know."

Yanavan looked unmoved. "Chauncey likely had some other reason for disliking the Night Mother than the crusade. As time went on, Garsheeva's actions there became less of a real concern and more a cover for those looking to legitimize their actions. Either way, there came a day when someone inevitably tried to steal the Nightmare Modules."

"Uh huh." Valey nodded along, unconvinced. "So lemme guess: you totally 'stole' them first, or something, and then got all your Monk Lord buddies to back the story up, so they weren't around for anyone to steal anymore. Am I right?" She raised a dubious eyebrow. "Because you totally could have done that without getting chalked up as a weird evil monster that's basically a giant target for bad guys to come commandeer. We already know Chauncey's a bozo, and we're not giving anything dangerous to him, but he was sending parties to look for you."

"That's disheartening," Yanavan said. "It's also not my problem. There are no dusk statues within countless miles of this place. Even should someone of poor character grow so powerful as to rest control of the statue network from the Night Mother, they still would fail to reach me here."

His gaze intensified. "I was a zealous young monk. I took creating arguments as an act of defending my worship of the Night Mother rather than pursuing enlightenment or a better way of doing things."

"I can understand zealotry," Shinespark sniffed. "Now stop beating around the bush."

"One day, those who questioned came and demanded the Nightmare Modules be used for our good instead of sealed away." Yanavan shrugged impassively. "Chauncey was among them. We, the council, refused, and he in particular responded with the most calculated, pointless set of heresy and blasphemy I had ever seen. Then he attempted to steal the Nightmare Modules. He reached one. Zealous as I was, I took the other five to protect them, though he escaped before I could use them to stop him. Recognizing that we had warred in and desecrated the holiest shrine in the grand temple, I made up my mind to shoulder the Night Mother's wrath for the incident, as well as assure this never happened again. One of the Nightmare Modules can damage and erase memories, though it was more powerful than I expected. I erased Chauncey entirely from the memories of everyone present, and corrupted the questioners' thoughts on the Night Mother so severely they were left with emotion with no logic attached at all. I cared about the Night Mother, and believed she would be less hurt by one severe betrayal than the true level of chaos in that room. And so, I allowed myself to be banished to this bay, and here I remain."

Valey tapped a hoof, waiting to see if he would continue. "That it? Great. Bananas." She sighed loudly. "So you're totally blameless and heroic and it's all someone else's fault, right? Dude... I dunno how to tell you this, but you're not winning a whole lot of credulity from me. Hey Sparky, wanna hold him a bit longer?" She glanced over to Shinespark. "I think I gotta go discuss some stuff with everyone who was there before we continue."