The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Monk Lord Yanavan

Starlight followed Maple cautiously to the deck of the Immortal Dream. Gerardo was back. That meant Shinespark and Valey were back, and with them... She wasn't ready to talk to Yanavan. Glimmer had warned her to get rid of Nightmare Module emulation mode before him, and she hadn't.

She climbed out onto the deck, redoubling her resolve. She'd just have to not use them for whatever Glimmer said she'd be tempted with. She could do that, right? It would be easy.

There, in the middle of the ship, Valey and Shinespark stood, the former carrying Gerardo's sword across her back and the latter with her horn aglow. Yanavan hovered in Shinespark's aura, locked in by light with nothing to touch to use monk arts or shadow sneak on. For someone who supposedly went down in legend as a monster, Starlight decided he looked surprisingly ordinary.

"Hey, kiddo." Valey took the black sword in a wing, offering it to Starlight. "Thanks for lending us this, but I'm pretty sure Sparky has him under control now. Here's your sword back."

Starlight blinked, hard, and didn't take it. "Wait, my sword?"

Valey furrowed her brow and tilted her head. "Uh, yeah, your sword. What are you talking about?"

"That's Gerardo's sword," Starlight said, pointing a hoof at the offered blade and looking to the griffon for support. "Isn't it?"

Gerardo gave a good-natured chuckle, showing off a talon. "Well, you've certainly lent it to me many times in our adventures, but that hardly makes me its owner." He reached forward and took it from Valey nevertheless, giving it a careful flourish and stowing it in the sheathe at his side. "It's a good blade. If you say it, I'm happy to continue using it."

"Wait, no..." Uncertainty twisted Starlight's heart, and she looked at Gerardo again with worry. "It's always been yours, hasn't it? For years before you came to Riverfall?"

"Are you feeling alright?" Gerardo blinked. "I'd never seen it before meeting you there. As far as I remember, your friends said it was in a crate with you floating down a river, did they not?" His crest flounced at Starlight's expression, and he turned a glance to Yanavan. "This is most unusual. Old stallion, have you been messing with one of our memories?"

Yanavan hovered in Shinespark's aura, watching him and refusing to answer.

"Gerardo's right, as far as I remember," Maple added. "Starlight, you really don't remember having it with you in the mountains?"

Starlight swallowed. "What did all of you see in the cave? In the dream?"

"I didn't have a dream," Valey belched. "It was just kinda hazy for a moment around when we opened that door. I think I remember you going through, or getting pulled through, or something, and then something fuzzy hit me and you were there with this lemon bag and it was over." She pointed up at Yanavan.

Maple bit her lip. "Same as Valey. I thought the door was real at first, but then when I woke up, it was only painted on. I don't think there was anything between that."

Gerardo nodded his assent. "Seems to me like we've got some funny business going on. I certainly can't remember us having disagreement about this before going in that cave." He raised an eyebrow at Shinespark. "What say you, eh? You weren't with us in the cave. What do you recall?"

Shinespark frowned at the sword. "I know Gerardo had it when I saw it first. I never paid attention or looked into where it was from."

"Okay, big guy." Valey nodded at Gerardo, walking over to stand next to Starlight. "As weird as this is, I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually matter or change anything, so let's deal with it later. What do we do with this gnarly dude?" She pointed again at Yanavan.

"That's a very good question," Yanavan rasped from within Shinespark's aura, voice sounding like it hadn't been used in a long time. "You've brought me into the light. What are you going to do now?"

Everyone looked at each other, and by a vote of eyes Valey was elected to talk. She stared up at the imprisoned stallion and cleared her throat. "...Whatever your story is and whatever connection you have with the locals, spill. Not that we trust you, but the alternative is me and Sparky guarding you in shifts while we haul you the rest of the way to the grand temple and let them deal with you instead."

"And hope they're not furious with us for accidentally releasing you," Gerardo added somberly.

"So be it." Yanavan bowed his head. "As long as the Nightmare Modules are destroyed, I will submit to whatever fate you have in store." His eyes suddenly focused on Starlight. "Provided they are destroyed. How did you know of their function enough to replicate them in my dream?"

Starlight bit down on her tongue. Here came the questions she hadn't thought about long enough to answer, that probably would have been easier if she wasn't moon glassed... "That's what those were? The cave showed me. It was a dream, wasn't it?"

"Starlight?" Maple blinked at her. "You dreamed something we didn't, didn't you? What did you see?"

Folding her ears, Starlight ignored her, listening instead for Yanavan. The monk scrutinized her, and soon replied. "It was a dream. I controlled it with the aid of the powers of that cave. But I didn't show you anything you weren't meant to see."

Starlight glared. "What does it matter? Why do you care if the Nightmare Modules are gone, anyway?"

"What does that matter if they're gone?" Yanavan calmly countered. "It only matters if any surviving copies are still here to be used. Otherwise, they're history."

Valey gave Starlight an uncertain look, deciding to let her do the talking. But Starlight could hear her heart in her chest: what did she say? How much did she tell? Felicity already suspected her of something. Her friends knew she had at least one Nightmare Module. At all costs, she wanted to avoid using the rest, no matter what they might do...

Swallowing, she met Yanavan's eyes. "And what if there are ponies who have figured out how to get other copies of them besides the ones you had?"

Yanavan watched her, regarded her... and in just as calm a tone as ever, replied, "Is this true? If so, you have much, much worse things to worry about than me."

"Oh yeah?" Valey raised an eyebrow. "Try us."

Yanavan didn't seem moved. "Who is looking for them, did they send you, why do they want them and which ones do they already have?" His eyes fixed on Starlight. "My dream had nothing to do with showing anyone the modules. You must have known about them from elsewhere. Tell me."

Starlight winced under his gaze. "...Valey?"

"Alright, alright..." Valey rolled her shoulders, preparing to start. "A lot of dudes. You know about moon glass? There were some guys in Yakyakistan, though they're all dead and only got one or two. And then there's some dudes in the Empire, headed by someone with several called Chauncey..."

Comments

[Hap]

Uh... Is she still in the dream?