722/The Secret of Ponyville

The Secret of Ponyville
Date of Scene:	02 October 2014
Location:	Equestria <KE>
Synopsis:	Bitter Medicine, a dour Alchemical Exalted, visits Ponyville. Where's the grimdark?
Cast of Characters:	Staren, 411, 569

---

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
Gravel has a distinct sound when trod upon by boots. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. This place looks like the /other/ pony place, but... different. A notable lack of walking, or perhaps better called, laughing dead. The bright, colorful surroundings and the seeming peace of the place are not unusual, but in his experience, places like these are always hiding something. So, he asks himself. "What's the secret?"

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     "The secret to what?" asks a nearby pastel purple unicorn pony who was inspecting the days' selection of fruits and vegetables from the vendor. Upon her back is a cute little purple and green dragon. The little dragon is busy munching on an apple. The pony has her head tilted slightly in curiousity, looking the newcomer over.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
Bitter Medicine looks down at the purple pony, the transformative effect of this place failing to effect him, for whatever reason. Perhaps Soulsteel is just an incredibly stubborn metal. The Alchemical grunts in acknowledgement to Twilight Sparkle. His pallid skin, authoritarian attire and Mesoamerican accoutrements, he doesn't exactly project a friendly atmosphere. "This world," he says. "What's hiding behind the smiles and sunshine? Cults? Subversives?"

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     Twilight blinks at Bitter's question. "Um...there is nothing hiding behind our smiles most of the time. There are of course instances where our smiles hide feelings of nervousness or embarrassment, but...subversives? Cults? We have very few, if any, such things here." she says.

     Then, Staren's drone floats up and Staren just starts talking. Twilight blinks as she listens to the long speech, then looks between Bitter and drone. "Pinkie has some sort of secret? Well, even if she wanted to tell, Pinkie...at least, our Pinkie...is very protective of secrets. Loose lips destroy friendships, she often says. But, if she is so inclined, she can of course talk to me."

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
Bitter Medicine is naturally sceptical of Twilight's response. "And you are..." There's no way to tell she isn't just buying into the local dogma! The lack of a soulgem makes it difficult to ascertain her class. "Populat?" She seems more educated than a commoner, but he's loathe to classify her as a Sodalite--this place probably doesn't have Alchemicals to build, so it probably doesn't have said builders. "Olgotary?" She /might/ be an administrator, but why she'd be in such a... small settlement as opposed to working from a larger city raises questions. If it's not obvious, he's not quite used to the lack of class systems in other societies.

     "She didn't just deflect. She /ran./ If she was innocent, why?"

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     Twilight Sparkle smiles up at Bitter. "I am Twilight Sparkle. I am not sure what a Populat or an Olgotary are, but if they refer to my position in the community, I am the local librarian." she says, seeming quite happy about her position in life. She does seem surprised to hear that Pinkie ran, though. "Hmm...that doesn't sound like our Pinkie...but there are reasons to run other than guilt. Fear of how one might be judged, for instance. Fear that one might be accused for something that one had no hoof in...."

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     Twilight Sparkle? Sounds like an Exalted name. "Bitter Medicine," he introduces himself. Maybe /that/ sounds like a pony name. Weird. Either way, a librarian is usually an educated sort, so that means she's either right about her world or part of the intelligentsia.

     "Must be a cultural difference, then," he says to Staren and Twilight both. He's not willing to make this into an ideological debate, or any kind of debate for that matter. It's not his thing! All he knows is, law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear in Autochthonia--at least from Regulators. When people run from him it just makes his job harder and makes him less likely to believe whoever he's pursuing. Not to say that Pinkie is a criminal or that he has any authority over her, but she might be dangerous to the Union--and that /is/ his concern.

     "I can see she's a subset of pony. Populat, Olgotary and other such terms refer to class. Forget not everyone uses a caste system." He sniffs. "Anyway. Hail and well-met. Your hypothesis begs the question. What kind of truth is significant enough to risk alienating your friends? Friendship is apparently magic."

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     Hmm. That -does- sound like a pony name. But, this gentleman is clearly not a pony. Twilight blinks as Bitter speaks about classes. "Oh my...class-based systems of social hierarchy are, in my opinion, unfair to the populace and damaging to the health of the community. Allowing people to take a job they enjoy or are good at rather than simply assigning jobs and positions based on class ensures higher productivity in those jobs." she says before pausing. "...well...assuming those people are not subject to a malevolent punishment system..."

     Twilight then listens to the drone before looking up at Bitter. "If she fears that whatever secret she holds could alienate people more than simply not revealing that secret, that would be significant enough." she contends. "I have myself kept secrets in order to preserve my friendships. Of course...it turned out that keeping the secret was worse for my friends than telling them..." she says.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     "I hear that a lot," admits the Alchemical. "But it isn't used to oppress. Seems like that's pretty common in most of the Multiverse. It's not fair--I agree. But neither is being born on the sleeping body of an ageless being whose love for mortals is greater than his understanding thereof. Machine God supports human life, but not without lots of help and constant work. Hence, class system. If you're good at labor, you're a laborer. If you're good with people, you're a bureaucrat. Efficiency. Productivity."

     And there he's gone and invited debate. Hrmph. On the topic of Pinkie, he points at Twilight in a gesture of acknowledgement. "See?" he says. "Friends probably wondered why you didn't trust them enough to tell them."

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     Twilight hmms as she listens. "Well...it is a bit different if their class is based on their skills and not their family or some other arbitrary condition." she says. Then, she giggles at the last part. "Oh no. The secret was about them. They had both told me to keep their secret. I'm not sure I've had a secret I was worried might cause trouble if it got out."

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
Bitter Medicine says, "Me neither." That's a Starmetal thing, anyway. Hrpmh. Custodians of the truth. "I'm sure it's sometimes necessary. Just doesn't sit right with me." Whatever else he is, Bitter Medicine is a man of principles.

     "Tell me a little bit about your world, comrade Sparkle. Should I expect to have to defend it often? Any frequent threats?" The Alchemical looks around in spite of the unicorn, making note of his surroundings. He even jots down his observations with a pencil on a little notepad."

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     Twilight giggles softly at the use of comrade. "Well, we used to have periodic trouble with Nightmare Moon, but she and her followers have been very quiet for a long while. At least...on our world. I have heard reports that they have caused trouble on other worlds." she says as she watches Bitter taking notes. "Of course, every world has its evils. We had to fight an ancient troublemaker a while back when he escaped his stony imprisonment. He caused trouble for worlds other than ours, as well."

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     Bitter Medicine scribbles it all down, in typically terse fashion. "Nightmare Moon cult. Possibly expanding influence. Discover and crush. Ancient trickster. Incarcerated." The pencil rests against the notepad for a moment, and he casts his eyes upwards to glance at Twilight. "Don't suppose your library has many books on your legal traditions."

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     "Of course it does! Ponyville boasts one of the most well-stocked libraries in Equestria." Twilight says, trying not to sound like bragging. Bragging isn't her thing, after all. That's Rainbow Dash's thing." She nods in agreement with Staren's drone, then looks at Bitter. "I know in the rest of the Multiverse, it is usually the accepted method to kill those who oppose you and destroy all they have built, but here in Equestria we do our best to change the minds and hearts of our enemies. Nightmare Moon, and especially her followers, are merely misguided. We will not hurt them unless they hurt us. And I would ask you to do the same."

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     Staren's drone receives a grunt. "Maybe. A plague rat doesn't need to bite to spread disease." He was built to hunt cults, so naturally, his opinion of them is less than kind. "I'll believe a cult is consolidating before I'll believe it's benign. Call me paranoid, but even 'well-intentioned' cults have subversive and poisonous effects on their societies." It's doubly so in worlds like his, where prayer is a real and tangible thing for gods to consume and gain strength from.

     His argument isn't going to get much play with Twilight--he can see that. He can also see why Staren seems to like her so much. His next words are concessions. "That said... it's your world. You know it better than me. Down the road, if I help you, well. I'll follow your rules, but don't expect a silver tongue. Wasn't built to be nice."

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     Twilight also seems to find that reasonable. "That is alright." she says to Bitter, smiling up at him. "But, if you spend time here on Equestria, I'm sure niceness will soak in through osmosis." she says. Then, the pony looks around before back at Bitter. "Are you hungry? There is a wonderful diner just down main street." she says, motioning toward her favorite fast food place. She always ends up with ketchup on her cheeks when she goes there.

Staren has posed:
    Staren tries to resist the temptation to constantly monitor Equestria. He just wants to help, but... it has its own protectors. Right at this moment, though? Late last night, he encouraged Future Pinkie to talk to Present Twilight. So he's kept a camera drone watching the gate to see if Pinkie would take him up on his offer.

    Instead, the alchemical comes through? Curious, Staren has the camera drone follow him from a distance... but when Twilight arrives, it flies right up. "Pinkie is hiding something. The other day, she was injured, claiming she was thrown out of a unicorns-only place. I've been trying to contact... the Archmagister to verify that story. At least as concerning... according to our sensitive-nosed ally here," the drone turns its camera towards Bitter and then back to Twilight, "She smelled of formaldehyde, as is used to preserve corpses. When we asked about that, she deflected. Something's up. Last night... she said nothing good could come of her telling people the truth. I tried to persuade her otherwise, but... haven't heard from her yet."

    Staren adds, drone turning back to Bitter, "Also, this is a different Equestria. Unless you're suspecting hidden evil /here/, in which case, I am told the answer is 'Friendship is Magic', and my own answer is a sordid tale of evolutionary psychology based on local myths of the distant past."

Staren has posed:
    "What? She's a unicorn. And... yes. There are, possibly, innocent reasons to fear others." Staren's response is a bit short, because... Okay, he expects musicals from Equestria, but /what/, just /what/ is going on in Arkham.

Staren has posed:
    "Well, personally, I believe that if they are really, truly your friends, you should be able to tell them anything and they'll still be your friend. That's why I trust Twilight!" The drone bobs in her direction. "However, that is an unusually high standard -- there are two friends of mine in the Multiverse who meet it. So I have other 'friends', and most people have such, for companionship... I am not sure that Pinkie still /has/ any -- that Future Pinkie still /has/ any friends of the truer -- oh geeze it just spit a fireball! I gotta get the mecha.

Staren has posed:
    The camera just floats there. Staren's engaged in a fight for the moment...
'

Staren has posed:
    "...Well. /That/ was over fast. I figured the Black Lodge would attack us for sure." The drone hovers quietly for a moment. "...You want to take the offense to Nightmare Moon? Hmm... Maybe we should, but..." The drone turns towards Bitter. "As far as I know, she and her followers have never killed anypony. Or really, seriously hurt anypony. That is, I think, reason enough to go easy on her. We want to encourage this sort of behavior in our enemies."

Staren has posed:
    The camera drone bobs assent. "That is reasonable. However, it's worth clarifying: The cult of Nightmare Moon is not like the Cult of Laughter on Future Equestria -- this is more like, three or four ponies living in the woods." The camera turns briefly towards the Everfree, then back to Bitter. "Although one of them /is/ a supernatural force of corrupting darkness. But I think we might be able to reason with her, in time."