//------------------------------//
// Spooky, Scary Changelings 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

"So you want to know about Lord Gyre," Felicity sighed. "And... how we were able to account for him coming in and making a demand that would make it logical for us to escalate things to the point where we killed him. That's..." She turned to Senescey, then back to everyone else. "Are you really sure? I know we're at your hooves right now, but it's not the most comfortable story."

Valey narrowed her eyes. "I appreciate the thought, but I've learned my lesson about what happens when I tell you I don't wanna know. Spill it."

Felicity evenly met her stare, shoring herself up and not flinching. "We've explained to you on some level how Mistvale Monk arts work, yes? Through physical contact, we send... emotional impulses that can cause reactions in your body on a subconscious or unintended level, from imparting an urge to flee to causing your muscles to freeze. Everything we do is short term and immediate, and the higher-level functions we try to utilize, the more able a strong-willed target is to fight back. I could force your shoulder to itch and there's nothing you could do to fight it, but if I tried to make you walk through that doorway, all you would have to do is overcome the willpower I can put into the desire with your own."

"Short term and immediate." Shinespark nodded. "But this is relevant to Lord Gyre intruding on our ship?"

"It is," Felicity replied. "You see, one common trait of Mistvale Monks is that they rarely fight the same opponent twice. You subdue or pacify, and then either eliminate or escape. In Mistvale, fights are rare, and in Gyre it's dangerous to leave your enemies alive. And almost no one has seen the effects of subjecting the same pony to the same art by the same artist repeatedly over a length of time."

Everyone squinted, tilting their heads and listening.

"I, now, am not like most monks," Felicity continued. "I learned arts as a tool and a form of self-defense, but especially after my time in Izvaldi have never had the constitution for battling. So, I use them for other things. In combination with my brand's useful ability to amplify emotions, I can..." She glanced at Starlight and hesitated. "I can attract some recurring customers, if you know what I mean."

The other ponies glanced around the table with varying degrees of discomfort, Maple putting her hooves over Starlight's ears. Starlight blinked. "What?"

"That's very unscrupulous of you," Gerardo commented. "And no, I'm not interested in a lecture on how it was necessary. I'm sure you have your reasons. If I'm not mistaken, you're about to tell us this had some unintended consequence on Lord Gyre."

"Perceptive, aren't you?" Senescey sighed. "Yes, it did."

Felicity nodded. "We worked for him for quite a few years, mostly in the business of defrauding him and using Gyre's money to finance our own exploits. Pampering him into giving lavish gifts, and the like. And before you ask, if we hadn't, someone else would have. That money was never destined for his people. Over the course of time, however, I began to notice a change in the way Lord Gyre's magic reacted to repeated exposure to my arts. I had seen the beginnings of it in other interactions before, but it was like his body grew addicted to my emotional tweaking. He became more susceptible, and the effects were more compelling and lasted longer. It was like he wanted to be under my control."

Shinespark's brow creased in concern. Felicity cleared her throat and continued. "We never told Gazelle about this. As far as he knows, we goaded him into it using conventional suggestions and trickery. We never told the Night Mother either, and in fact don't know if she knows this is possible... though knowing her, it's likely a closely-guarded secret."

"Do you mean to tell us you somehow gave him the desire to intrude on our ship?" Gerardo leaned closer. "A tale that stretches the imagination..."

"Yes, it surprised us, too," Felicity admitted. "As time continued to pass and Lord Gyre grew more and more attached to me, we started pressing and experimenting with what we could do. I could give him more complex desires that stayed subconscious, and the more I plied him with my arts, the longer the desires would last and the stronger they would become. Less than a month ago, we reached a point where I didn't even have to touch him to influence his thinking, though we had to be nearby and the effect was much more subtle."

Valey gaped. "You mean... bananas, you can mind control people?"

"Not easily." Felicity nodded. "But yes. We blundered our way into it over a decade of service. It was something we tried to avoid using excessively, so as not to draw attention to any odd behavior. But, we did."

"That's all very fascinating," Gerardo remarked, shifting in his seat. "But if he was truly so firmly in your grasp, why kill off such a powerful puppet? Surely you had a lot to gain from leaving someone like that alive."

Senescey coughed. "We killed him for two reasons. The first is that Gazelle wanted us to, and we weren't about to defend him or go against the plan. We still hated Gyre, the province and the lord. The second is that we were scared this would be discovered."

"You have to understand, darlings," Felicity insisted, "the only reason we're telling you this at all is because the only sarosian among your party doesn't know Mistvale arts, and even if we may be morally gray, I have enough faith in Valey's character to know she would never use this knowledge for evil. The effects on the world as a whole if it became known sarosians could do this would be disastrous. The existence of Mistvale arts frightens much of the Empire enough already. If the public suspected we could influence and control their decisions merely through prolonged use of these arts? And imagine those of us who would actually do it. My affairs with Lord Gyre were a single case, and had accidental results. What if someone found a way to turn someone faster? What if it works with arts that seemingly have no outward effects whatsoever? And even if it didn't, what if the public suspected it did?"

"It would destroy everything." Senescey shook her head. "Any hope sarosians have of peace in the Empire. It could start a war. We killed Lord Gyre because we realized what we had and that it had to be destroyed."

Shinespark worked her jaw.

"Welp." Valey folded her forelegs on the table. "That's creepy. I guess you guys really do have something you cared about more than revenge, after all."

"We told you, we're not evil," Senescey insisted. "Less than good, but we didn't want this."

Felicity nodded. "The good of sarosiankind? If we can spare others the hardship we went through, that resonates with us. And we certainly don't want to make things worse for our kind. As we mentioned earlier, we chose a team of assassins to follow Valey into Stormhoof that had no sarosians for a reason."

Gerardo leaned back in his chair. "Well, I must admit I'm curious to hear more about this. If all that is true, at least you have some character. But it sounds like we're back at the same old question of what to do with you."

"We make neither threats nor promises," Felicity sighed. "We wish you well. No matter how this ends, we're loathe to hurt you again. And we have no expectations of your trust. What we did pains us, but we did it knowing it would. We are sorry."

Valey leaned forward. "What I wanna know is why you don't seem to get it. 'Yeah, I hurt you, and I'm sorry but I'd do it again'? What do you want from us? Forgiveness? Acceptance of your apology? Do you not want it enough to show some real remorse? Because you're doing a pretty terrible job of asking. Friends let friends mess up, but that involves them owning up to their mistakes, and this is like the third time now you've said you wouldn't do anything different."

"Apologies for that as well." Felicity gave a crooked smile. "I know the way you're feeling, but please look at it from our point. We were dishonest tricksters with you. Honesty, even if our thoughts are still broken and inadmirable, is the most meaningful thing we have to offer you. If we lied and said we wish we had done things differently, would it show we had learned at all?"

"Well..." Valey bit her cheek. "I mean, kind of? Yeah, thanks for being honest, but it's still like you're not even making an effort for us, so why should we make one for you? Maybe you really feel that way, but have you tried changing how you feel?"

"If only it were that simple." Felicity's face fell. "On that, I truly agree, and wish things could have been different with all my heart. Far worse to avenge our fates than for them never to have befallen us in the first place. Perhaps we could have been better ponies, like you."

"You know you can change, right?" Valey stood up. "Bananas, like I did? Whatever happened to looking at me and thinking there might have been a way to live with the stuff that had happened to you without spending your lives helping Gazelle and the Night Mother and getting revenge? Was that a lie too? Whatever even happened to that promise in the first place? Are you still getting your wish from her, now that you finished out your job?"

Felicity wilted. "No, that... wasn't a lie. And I hope you're right, because we now have the rest of our lives to figure out what to do with."

"Yeah? And what do you want to do with them?" Valey stepped onto the table. "Does growing old alone sound fun? Knowing only yourselves for the rest of your days? Because lemme tell you, life is a whole lot more interesting when you have friends."

Felicity lowered her eyes. "And I believe you. With luck, perhaps we'll be able to find another group to start fresh with."

Valey narrowed her eyes. "Say that again."

"I... what?" Felicity blinked, looking up. "I hoped maybe we would get to put your advice to use in the future. Now that we've had our revenge, perhaps... perhaps we really could make friends to put first. Someday. Isn't that what you hoped for us?"

Valey stepped forward. "Really?" she asked, striding down the length of the table. "How are you so dense? You're expert manipulators, and you have no idea how this works?" She stopped at the end, standing right before Felicity and Senescey, towering over them. "We. Are. Offering you another chance. We haven't thrown you out yet, you're still here, and you still have time to convince everyone here that maybe you can change and are worth changing and might learn your lesson and not do dumb stuff like last night again, and you're going, 'Oh well, maybe next time'!? What are we!?"

"I..." Felicity swallowed, stammering.

"You don't get it," Valey sighed. "You idiots. Bananas, what does it take to show you? You don't get how much better your lives could be, and you're too scared or stubborn or shortsighted or whatever to take a leap of faith and find yourselves somewhere a million times better like I did! Look at them. Look at them!" She swept a wing around the table. "Does anyone here look bored out of their mind by the mere prospect of being around you? Do they loath you and despise you and want to see Gazelle use your heads as playthings? Pfft. No. Yeah, maybe they're a little frustrated, and with the amount of garbage we've been through as a team, that has more to do with the way you're handling this now than that stunt you pulled with Stormhoof."

Felicity and Senescey were left blinking. "She's right," Starlight added.

"Well, that's certainly one way to throw down the gauntlet," Gerardo announced, nodding at Valey. "I imagine everyone will need some time to think things over after that?"

The two sisters glanced at each other, and Valey sighed. "If you wanna make a step in the right direction, do what he said and think things over. Like, actually put some thought into it. Give us a drop of consideration. Bananas, I..." She rubbed her face. "Ugh. I said there was going to be no more me vouching for you, because you tricked me and my judgement is compromised, but I really wanna see you two do better." She fixed Felicity and Senescey again with another look. "So maybe you were rude to us and are having an awful time showing remorse. Maybe you manipulated me into doing it, or something, but I still care about you. It's... frustrating, and the fact that you are doing the opposite of pouncing on it makes me wonder if it's really genuine. Please, please look at yourselves, try to find some remorse, and give us anything to make us feel like you aren't completely hopeless."

"...That's quite the speech," Felicity whispered, putting a hoof to her heart. "We will... give you thought. And we're sorry we weren't better."

Valey groaned, looking to everyone else. "Am I too invested in this? Be honest, here."

Amber bit her lip. "I wouldn't want to fault you for caring, and you definitely do, but... I want to defer to you, and you've said we're no longer doing that. Sorry. I'm going to need a while before I feel strongly about them, and am not sure I want to at all. It would make it harder to be objective, and they still will likely just leave."

"I think you should rest and think on this too," Shinespark decided, grabbing Valey's shoulder in her telekinesis. "Talk to someone. But all of us would rather have trustworthy friends than enemies."

"In the event we want to back up our apology with something more substantial..." Felicity folded her ears. "Is there anything we can do for you, even without trust? Our own manipulation aside, you're very good yourself at pulling heartstrings."

"Uhhh..." Valey scratched her ear. "Anyone?"

Starlight perked up. "You could go get Gerardo's... I mean, my sword that Valey dropped in Stormhoof? We need to not leave that lying around, and you might be good at it..."

She trailed off, seeing blank looks from everyone at the table. Valey tilted her head, face scrunched. "I dropped your what?"